Month: December 2018

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Bata

What is Bata?

Bata (BTA) is a decentralized and open-source cryptocurrency that was forked from Litecoin core. It was launched in May 2015 with the main focus being to provide privacy and anonymity to transactions. The cryptocurrency name is derived from the term “barter” which means exchange of products for others without using a currency.

The cryptocurrency uses scrypt proof of work hashing algorithm just like the mother coin, Litecoin. However, it differs fundamentally by only having five million coins as opposed to 84 million LTC. The focus was to keep the coin supply limited and ensure the value remains high.

However, the effectiveness of the low supply model in keeping the price of the coin high attracted criticism from the community because the value has remained relatively low compared to others in the market. Here is a closer look at the price performance of Bata coin.

  • The performance of Bata Coin in the market

When Bata coin entered the market in May 2015, the value was $0.0008. Then, the value dropped marginally to $0.0002 by October before taking a sluggish but steady rise. By December 2015, the value had risen to $0.003 and climbed further to $0.01 in April 2016. The value slid back to $0.007 by December 2016 before taking a steady bullish trend in 2017.

By February 2017, the value had grown to $0.03 before taking a sharp bullish trend that shattered the $1 ceiling to hit $1.2 in June 7th, 2017. This was the highest mark in the Bata’s history. Then, the price took a downtrend sinking to $0.4 before hitting another peak of $0.8 in October 2017.

Again, it fell sharply to hit a low of $0.1 by mid-November 2017 before shooting to $1.13 in January 14th, 2018. But this positive show of 2017 did not last. Between the first quarter and close of the third quarter of 2018, the value of Bata took a steady bearish trend culminating to $0.07 by the close of September 2018.

What is the problem that Bata solves?

When Bata was created in 2015, the founders were responding to the community’s cry that financial transactions were overly complex and expensive. Therefore, they sought for a comprehensive solution that could help address the community issues and advance the crypto niche. Here are the problems that Beta solves.

  • Lack of privacy in financial transactions

The conventional financial model is operated in an open manner that makes it easy for people to easily access user info. The banks and credit card companies are required by law to run open and auditable systems that can be used to easily identify the risky parties.

The anti-money laundering (AML) and know your customer (KYC) rules imply that the financial institutions serve as a peeping point for present administrations. Therefore, when you send funds using a bank, the details are known by cashiers, bank management, and political system.

Lack of privacy means you can be an easy target by attackers and even lawyers. Once you are known to have a lot of money in a bank account, a case can be hauled your way in order to force you to seek expensive legal redress. At the end of the case, the lawyers will have made some income from you.

A reliable method of enhancing financial privacy is going the blockchain way. However, even the blockchain strategy does not always guarantee the anonymity that people seek. For example, Bitcoin platform is not as private as people expected it to be after launch.

The blockchain network uses pseudonyms method of encryption which makes it easy for authorities to break through and know individual user’s details. For example, even with the pseudonyms, the IP address can still be followed to reveal the source of transactions. Your details could also be pulled out through transaction analysis.

  • The high cost of sending value especially internationally

The cost of sending value from one region to another through wire transfer is very high. Banking institutions are run as profit-based organizations that seek to optimize returns for shareholders. The financial institutions also raise their charges to cater for various expenses such as rent and wages.

Though the blockchain networks such as Bitcoin and Ethereum have helped to pull down the cost of sending value with a great margin, the Bata development team held that it is possible to cut the charges even further.

  • Poor adoption of cryptocurrencies into the society

While the society appreciates that blockchain is the way to go in solving major societal problems especially in the financial sector, the uptake has been very poor. If you walk down the city targeting to make a purchase with native coins, the chances are that only a few or none at all will be available.

When new coins are announced through initial coin offering (ICO), the people who run to mop them from the market are investors. Most of them target holding the coins until the price moves up before selling at a profit. Therefore, many users especially those interested in the daily application of the coins end up getting locked from away.

How does Bata solve the problem?

To solve the above problems, Bata opted for a multi-dimensional approach. Here are the main strategies that Bata employed to address them.

  • The Onion Routing network

The Onion Routing technology is a method of enhancing anonymous communication in a computing network. Bata uses TOR system by encapsulating the messages in layers of encryption and application of analogous layers. The encrypted data is relayed via nodes referred to as onion routers that ‘peel’ off progressively until the message reaches the final destination.

The TOR system helps to keep transaction anonymous because the involved nodes do not know the ultimate destination. Instead, they only have info to help them hand over to the next node until the message reaches the final destination. Besides, they peel off progressively so that an interested party would not find info to follow once a transaction has been completed.

  • 12P technology

To keep user info and communication as private as possible, the Bata development team also employs the invisible internet project (12P). This is an invisible anonymizing network designed using Java. It operates using the same principle as TOR but it is designed to facilitate real-time communication in a decentralized manner.

The commitment to anonymity made Bata get categorized with other top private coins such as Monero and Zcash. This design has also helped to make the native coin more competitive.

  • Complete decentralization

Most of the problems that Beta seeks to solve are addressed through through decentralization. Bata operates as a network of nodes that run the platform. This means that instead of relying on a centralized organization such as the banking system, the transactions and governance are operated by users spread in the network.

When a transaction is initiated, it is picked by nodes on the platform that follow back to check whether the initiator has ample funds and also prevent double spending. Note that with advanced encryption and use of 12P technology, the miners can only follow back to confirm public address balance as opposed to knowing the details of the private keys.

By keeping away the centralized financial companies, it means that Bata does not have to incur the cost associated with standard transactions. The only cost that Bata users have to incur is paying miners a motivation fee and supporting the network development. Note that users are also involved in setting the price through decentralized governance.

What makes Bata better than it’s competitors?

When Bata entered the market in 2015, the technology was evolving rather fast and new coins were joining the market at a very fast rate. By mid-2018,  more than 1500 coins had entered the market. But Bata is also competing against the conventional financial services providers such as banks and credit card companies. Here are the things that make Bata better than competitors.

  • The Bata coin is completely decentralized. This means that it bypasses the profit-seeking organizations which make the transactions faster and cheaper.
  • By utilizing the proof of work protocol, it users can use and own the Bata network. This is different from the common banking or credit card models where users are not consulted when new features or decisions are being made.
  • The Bata system is a completely anonymous crypto coin. This means that you can save and send money without worrying about getting discovered by third parties such as government authorities.
  • The Bata coin has a very aggressive team that focuses on progressively advancing its network. For example, the team explored and adopted TOR technology that helped to enhance anonymity and security of the native coins.
  • The platform has been in the market since 2015 and demonstrated that its features and structures are stable. Unlike the newer projects that are viewed with skepticism because users do not know whether they will turn into pump and dump schemes, Bata is attracting more users because it has been proven to work.

How can Bata’s be categorized?

Bata is a completely decentralized, anonymous and ambitious project created to help users run their transactions without worrying about third-party seizures. The application of advanced technologies such as The Onion Routing network and 12P technology has made the coin get categorized together with others such a Monero and Zclassic.

What is Bata’s vision on security?

The Bata’s vision on security is to provide users with a completely anonymous and secure platform for sending value. The platform has demonstrated its commitment to achieving the mission through its unique features such as The Onion Routing technology. Other methods used to keep the network secure include:

  • The system utilizes advanced encryption that helps to keep user info free from third parties and attackers.
  • The system runs as a completely decentralized system. This implies that there is no single point of failure because the data is stored by different nodes spread in its system.
  • The development team progressively reviews the security of the network and releases updates to close all gaps that can result in attacks.

Examples of Bata’s use cases/ applications

To know the suitability and effectiveness of a cryptocurrency and its native network, one of the reliable methods is looking at its applications. Crypto networks such as Bata are projected at reaching more people through diverse applications. The following are the main applications of Bata coins and its platform.

  • Bata coins can be used to send value on a peer2peer basis. Like other coins, the Bata tokens can be used to send value on a peer2peer basis. Note that unlike the banking system that comes with restrictions that make it impossible to send funds on weekends and public holidays, Bata coins can be relayed any time of the day or night.
  • The Bata coins can be used to pay for goods and services. You only need to identify a store that accepts Bata coins downtown or online to pay for your merchandise. Note that even in the event that only a different coin is supported, it is still possible to make a purchase by converting to the supported coin using crypto exchanges.
  • Bata coins can be used as a reliable method of investing or saving money. You only need to buy the coins and hold them awaiting the price to go up before selling. To recover your funds, you can sell to buyers either in peer2peer platforms or centralized exchanges.
  • Bata coins can be used to pay for taxes. If you live in a jurisdiction that supports cryptos, it might be possible to pay for government taxes using Bata. One example is Arizona.

After passing bill HB 1091 in April 2018, residents of Arizona can now pay taxes using cryptocurrencies.

  • The Bata system can be used to trade in the markets. If you want to trade cryptos, one option is pairing Bata with another token such as XRP. Note that the process will require you to start by joining the preferred market.

Traders are also required to verify their accounts before they can be allowed to trade in the markets. At this point, it is important to be careful because centralized exchanges can result in the loss of anonymity. Therefore, you should consider using decentralized exchanges that allow users to trade directly from their wallets.

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XCurrency

What is XCurrency?

XCurrency is a decentralized and open-source cryptocurrency created to provide users with a platform for private transactions and instant messaging. The coin was launched on Bitcoin on in 2014 on Bitcointalk by an anonymous group that was concerned that the available crypto platforms were not offering ample anonymity to users.

The XCurrency coin network was the first to provide a blockchain that supported pee2peer multi-user transactions. This model was considered impressive especially for businesses that wanted to coordinate their operations on crypto networks anonymously. Here is a closer look at the XCurrency price.

  • The XCurrency price performance in the market

When the XCurrency coin entered the market on 23rd May 2014, its price was $0.096. In four days after launch, the value shot to $2.71. But the positive show did not last as the value crashed to $0.75 by early June and continued on a steady decline to hit a low of $0.01 in December 2015.

The price remained low until the close of January 2017 when it started rising steadily. By June 2017, the price had grown to reach $0.7. On August 29th, 2017, the value burst through the one dollar mark after about four years.

The positive show continued throughout August and hit the highest mark of $3.36 in the coin’s history. This was massive 37,233% growth between January 2017 and early September. But the positive show did not last. Between September and December 26th, 2017, the value dropped steadily to hit a low of $0.8.

The main concern about XCurrency is that it ceased from market operations after December 2017. The community, especially those with the native coins, has been stuck with tokens they cannot sell because most exchanges are delisting XCurrency. It will be interesting to see the course that the team will take to revive the coin that was so vibrant before going underground.

What is the problem that XCurrency solves?

The early cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Litecoin were seen as the ultimate solutions that people had waited for years to get liberated from the conventional financial trap. Despite their impressive ushering of the blockchain era, they also faced a myriad of challenges. Here are some of these issues that XCurrency addresses.

  • Poor scalability

While the idea of blockchain technology is indeed impressive, the pioneering protocols were bulky and soon became major bottlenecks. Take the case of Litecoin. Like Bitcoin, Litecoin uses proof of work consensus protocol that requires all or most of the nodes to come to a consensus before transactions can be completed. The effect is very low transaction rates.

Besides, the pioneer protocols were designed to rely on very small block sizes that make it very difficult to support many transactions at any one moment. For example, Bitcoin has a maximum block size limit of 1MB. These considerations have made the pioneering crypto networks to suffer from poor scalability.

The Bitcoin network can only support 7 transactions per second while the second largest network, Ethereum can only run 20 transactions every second. Even other more recent coins such as Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin can only handle 60transactions/ second and 56 transactions/ second respectively.

If you compare these rates with other industry leaders such as Visa and PayPal, it demonstrates that blockchain networks need a lot of improvements. For example, Visa can handle in excess of 20,000 transactions/ second. XCurrency was created to help improve the scalability.

  • Centralization of financial services

When you make a transaction via a credit card, western union, PayPal or bank wire transfer, the operations are centralized. These organizations are designed to run in line with local laws that require details for all clients to be captured and easy to audit. Besides, the management and data are also managed from a centralized data center.

The impact of this centralization is the high risk of getting your info and attacked by malware. For example, the danger of attack by malware such as Ransomware always looms. If the malware attacks and the bank fail to pay the ransom demanded by cybercriminals, your data and even stored funds could get into jeopardy.

The other danger of centralization is mismanagement. When you store funds in a centralized financial organization, it is entrusted on the leadership of the institution. In the event of mismanagement, the bank could run bankrupt. Such a situation risks losing your money or locking it for a long time.

  • The high cost of mining

When XCurrency was launched in 2014, the cost of mining native coins especially those using proof of work protocol was very high. Take the case of Bitcoin. As the mining difficulty of Bitcoin grew steadily starting from inception in 2009, the tech community created advanced application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) equipment that could help miners to generate very high computing power.

The problem with ASICs is that they are very expensive and out of reach for most miners. This means that mining is left in the hands of a few wealthy entities. If a lot of coins fall into the hands of a few entities, there is a danger of 51% attack.

  • Poor penetration of cryptocurrencies into the community

Though a lot of coins have hit the market, it is interesting to realize that society knows very little about them. For example, by mid-2018, there were more than 1600 coins in the market. However, very few traders in the market accept the coins. The only place where you will easily get people talking about the coins is the crypto forums such as Reddit or Bitcointalk.

Most of the coins in circulation are under investors who have a lot of money to invest when new coins are released into the market.  For example, the investors rush to mop the coins from the market when an ICO is announced. The process of purchasing the coins from the exchanges is complex and many opt to stay away.

How does XCurrency solve the problem?

To address the above issues, XCurrency adopted a raft of measures that made it referred to as the ultimate coin in the niche. Here are some of the methods used to address the issue.

  • Proof of stake consensus protocol

XCurrency deviated from most coins being released at the time that employed proof of stake protocol. Instead, the XCurrency development team opted for a simpler yet highly effective proof of stake protocol.

Unlike the proof of stake protocol that relies on computing power, the proof of stake consensus model requires one to have some stake in the network. For example, you only need to buy some stake XCurrency coins to be able to mine the network and participate in its governance system.

The proof of stake protocol is also preferred because it consumes less power and users can mine using standard computers such as CPU and GPUs. This has been a major step in helping to distribute the coins evenly in the society.

  • Completely decentralized

To address the issue of the centralized financial system, XCurrency is a completely decentralized platform. This means that it relies on a set of nodes spread in its network across the globe. This implies that when a transaction is initiated, it is processed by miners as opposed to a centralized banking system.

The good thing about the decentralized system is that all transactions are cheaper and completed faster compared to wire transfers. Because both the sender and receiver are in the network, cash transfers are near instant. They are also cheaper because there is no third party organization involved.

  • The application of mesh network

Mesh Network is a distributed and self-organizing network that utilizes cellular. It is a type of infrastructure that is carried by nodes that connects with each other dynamically. This means that your phone can serve as a node in the XCurrency platform.

The mesh network was considered a major breakthrough for the XCurrency cryptocurrency because it allows users to stake the network using their phones. As a node, you do not have to wait to get back home to connect to your blockchain or run transactions. Your mobile phone serves as a full node.

What makes XCurrency better than it’s competitors?

When the XCurrency was introduced into the market, the developers appreciated that the competition would be severe because of the new coins entering the market. Therefore, they uniquely designed its features and employed the following strategies that make it better than competitors.

  • The platform operates as a completely decentralized system. This means that there is no single point of failure in its system and the operations complete faster than the standard financial organizations.
  • The XCurrency is a system that provides users with an encrypted network with an encrypted framework for sending value. When you join the network and run transactions, the details are encrypted so that no one can easily know about your details.
  • The XCurrency system provides users with a reliable system to use and own the network. When you stake the network by acquiring some coins, you become one of the owners. This means that you are part of its system that can help to confirm transactions and vote in its governance system.
  • XCurrency coin has been in the market for years and its systems have been proven to work. Unlike the newer networks whose features are yet to be tested and proven to work, XCurrency has been in operation since 2014.
  • Its unique features demonstrate that its development team is a committed group capable of guiding the blockchain niche to the next level. For example, XCurrency was the first to implement the X11 staking wallet.
  • The platform has an impressive mobile app that allows users to link with the XCurrency network on the go. Whether you are on holiday or simply away from the computer, the mobile platform allows users to follow their coins, send, and receive the native XCurrency coins with ease.

How can XCurrency’s be categorized?

XCurrency is an ambitious crypto project that helped to step the stage for faster growth of cryptocurrencies to the next level. The team demonstrated that with commitment, it is possible to craft winning features and get more people to use the crypto networks. For example, the development team effectively implemented the proof of stake protocol that helped newer coins to look away from the expensive proof of work consensus algorithm.

What is XCurrency’s vision on security?

When XCurrency was released in 2014, the crypto network had become under major attacks. For example, three years earlier, the attack at Mt. Gox saw over 600,000 Bitcoins getting siphoned away. To keep the XCurrency platform safe, the development team opted for the following strategies:

  • The application of proof of stake protocol helped to reduce the danger of 51% attack.
  • The development team progressively reviewed the network to identify gaps and seal them on time.
  • The network operates as a completely decentralized platform to make it difficult for attackers to strike using malware such as ransomware.

Examples of XCurrency’s use cases/ applications

The focus of improving the blockchain technology in operation around 2014 by the XCurrency development team sought to increase the coin’s use cases. Here are some of the applications.

  • The native coin can be used to pay for services and products in stores that accept it.
  • You can use the XCurrency coins as gifts to close friends and family members.
  • The XCurrency coin, like other tokens such as Ripple can be used to pay for transaction fee when trading in the markets.
  • You can use the XCurrency to save money by purchasing the native coins. You only need to buy the native coins and hold them awaiting the price to go up.

NOTE: It is important to appreciate that though the coin and its network have an impressive model, the fact that it has been absent in the market means that purchasing the coins could be difficult until the exchanges agree to list it again. Therefore, it is important to be careful when purchasing the coin to avoid getting stuck with a coin that you cannot sell.

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https://www.reddit.com/r/CryptoCurrency/comments/2a64ue/xcurrency_changing_the_way_the_world_views/