Author: Norah Amboko

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Ixcoin

What is Ixcoin?

Ixcoin is a decentralized and open-source cryptocurrency based on the Bitcoin core. This implies that it shares a lot of features and characteristics with Bitcoin. The cryptocurrency operates through a set of nodes that help to run transactions on the network.

The cryptocurrency was created in 2011, about three years after Bitcoin was launched. It has a maximum supply of 21 million coins just like Bitcoin. This has made some people in crypto communities refer to Ixcoin as the alternative to Bitcoin.

The main difference between Bitcoin and Ixcoin is that the latter has a bigger block size and mining reward. While Bitcoin’s block reward started at 25 coins, Ixcoin started at 96 coins. Then, it halves after every four years. Other details of Ixcoin include:

  • The coin uses proof of work (PoW) consensus protocol
  • Ixcoin difficulty adjustment is done after every 2016 blocks
  • The Ixcoin uses a merge mining  feature to help users mine it and other proof of work coins
  • The block reward halves after every four years

A closer look at the Ixcoin performance in the market

While Ixcoin was launched in 2011, its trading history in the market is only captured from 2013. On May 15th, 2013, the value of Ixcoin was $0.01. The value grew steadily in the subsequent months to hit an all-time high of $0.18 early December 2013. But the positive show did not last.

Between January 2014 and April the same year, the value sunk to $0.02 and continued dropping further to reach $0.01 in October 2015. Then, the value remained within the range of $0.006 and $0.08 between December 2015 and mid-2017.

Starting in October, the value of Ixcoin started rising exponentially. The steady rise saw the value shoot to $0.69 by January 10th, 2018. It is important to note that almost all coins in the market reported a surge in demand and price towards the end of 2017 and early 2018.

In 2018, the price of Ixcoin took a  bearish trend dropping steadily from $0.69 in early January to $0.11 in April. After a slight rise in May 2018, the price continued with the downward trend that culminated to a low of $0.01 by the close of 2018.

The ability of the coin to rise and become a major force the same way Bitcoin rose over the years has divided the Ixcoin community. For example, as an alternative to Bitcoin, some argue that it is possible for the coin to rise again. However, others posit that the Ixcoin platform and coin have little to offer in comparison with others such as EOS and Ethereum that have complex systems to support decentralized apps and smart contracts.

What is the problem that Ixcoin solves?

The design of Ixcoin was mainly targeted at helping address some of the issues that were being experienced at Bitcoin and traditional financial organizations. Here are some of the problems that Ixcoin solves:

  • The high cost of sending value using traditional financial organizations

If you want to send funds abroad using the traditional financial organizations such as banks, the cost is punitive. The organizations charge high transaction charges to cater for shareholders returns and meet the operational expenses.

If you take the case of a banking institution, it has to meet costs associated with regulation, rent, and wages. Therefore, their services have to be charged a higher rate.

In addition to the high charges, banks also take a lot of time to process transactions. For example, wire transfers can take up to four days depending on your location and that of the recipient.

  • Centralization of financial services

Most financial services offered by traditional organizations are highly centralized. The user information and their funds are held in centralized locations that make them an easy target for attackers.

If attackers such as wannacry ransomware manage to access the centralized data centers, the chances are that those with savings in the bank could risk losing them. But it is not just a cyber attack that can cause problems for your savings.

If the bank leadership mismanages the finances and the organization becomes bankrupt, you are likely to lose the savings. If it will be possible to access the deposit, the chances are that it will take a lot of time. This is the anomaly that Ixcoin seeks to correct using its network.

  • Poor motivation for miners in other networks

If you take a closer look at many coins such as Bitcoin that use proof of work protocol, the mining rewards halves after some time. At Bitcoin, the mining reward started at 25 BTC and halved to 12.5 in 2012. By the close of 2018, Bitcoin mining reward was 6.25 BTC. As the mining reward decreases, the mining difficulty keep increasing and making it less interesting for miners.

It might reach a point when the reward will be too low such that no one will be interested in mining. This scenario could come faster than anticipated because of the fast-growing list of available coins that people can mine.

  • Lack of privacy when using traditional financial organizations

For people who love sending value using the standard banking system, the chances are that their details are known by a long list of people. Because banks operate in line with the local laws, the management is required to install appropriate know-your-customer structures. This involves gathering as much info about clients as possible.

If you have some cash in a banking system, the cashier, banking manager, and the country’s leadership can easily pull out your operational history. This puts you at risk of getting targeted by lawsuits.

A lawsuit can suddenly haul itself to your doorstep forcing you to seek legal assistance. The info could also be used for targeted advertisements to make you purchase specific items or services.

How does Ixcoin solve the problem?

To address the above issues, Ixcoin developers picked the Bitcoin core and improved it. Here are some of the methods they use to solve the outlined issues:

  • Higher mining rewards

One crucial thing about cryptocurrencies is that they rely on miners to run different transactions. Therefore, failure to motivate miners appropriately could compromise the efficiency of a network. To ensure that miners on the Ixcoin are motivated, the development team opted for two methods.

One, they set the reward per block at 96 coins. This is a high number especially for miners who want to mine the coins and hold awaiting the price to move up.

Two, the network has a feature that allows merge mining. Merge mining is a system that allows the mining resources to be used for mining the main network and others simultaneously. This means that even if the reward of Ixcoin goes down, miners will still find it profitable to stick around because it is possible to mine other coins.

  • Complete decentralization

The main method used to address the outlined issues is complete decentralization. This focus was adopted as a method of advancing Satoshi Nakamoto’s original idea of a completely free system where funds could flow without restrictions.
Ixcoin operates as a network of nodes that run and govern the system. A user only needs to join the network as a node to start mining the network and participating in its governance system.  However, it is important to appreciate that mining the Ixcoin system requires advanced equipment that can generate high computing power.

Decentralization implies that though transactions are completed on a peer2peer basis without involving third parties. Therefore, they are faster, cheaper, and anonymous. Indeed, even the miners who follow back to confirm you have ample Ixcoin to spend can only know the balance of the public address.

  • Bigger block size

One of the main reasons that make Bitcoin transactions slow is its small block size. Since a smaller block size can only hold limited data and a new bock is generated after ten minutes, scalability is a major issue. To address the issue, Ixcoin features a larger block size that allows it to run more transactions while maintaining the block time of ten minutes.

What makes Ixcoin better than it’s competitors?

Though Ixcoin entered the market when the number of crypto coins was relatively low, the landscape has changed so much. By the close of 2018, there were more than 1600 crypto coins in the market. Here are some of the things that make Ixcoin better than competitors:

  • The Ixcoin system operates as a completely decentralized system. This means that it is owned, protected, and run by users on its network.
  • The Ixcoin community has been growing steadily because of its association with Bitcoin. Some people believe that Ixcoin is an improvement of Bitcoin and, therefore, the better option.
  • By employing advanced encryption, it implies that users of the Ixcoin system can operate anonymously without worrying of getting discovered by third parties.
  • The network is more profitable than others such as Litecoin because users are allowed to mine several cryptos using the same computing power.
  • As a completely decentralized network, it implies that users are able to run transactions on a peer2peer basis. Therefore, transactions are cheaper and faster.
  • The Ixcoin crypto follows the Bitcoin model closely. This means that most of the wallets and facilities that support Bitcoin are also likely to support it.

How can Ixcoin be categorized?

Ixcoin can be categorized as a fully decentralized crypto designed to replicate the success of Bitcoin. Its unique design and improvements make it better than Bitcoin and impressive to miners. Despite this, the value and community of the coin have been relatively low compared to Bitcoin.

What is Ixcoin’s vision on security?

The Ixcoin vision on security is to become the most secure crypto network in the market. Here are some of the methods used to keep the coin secure:

  • Advanced encryption that helps to keep user info free from third parties
  • Regular system update that identifies and closes  gaps that can increase  vulnerabilities
  • Decentralization that ensures there is no single point of failure that attackers can use to gain access

Examples of Ixcoin’s use cases/ applications

As the cryptocurrency niche continues expanding, faster adoption is only possible by increasing the use cases. Here are the main use cases of Ixcoin:

  • Ixcoin coin can be used to pay for goods and services in stores that support it. Even if only a different coin is supported; it is still possible to pay with Ixcoin by changing it to the supported token. Note that changing Ixcoin to another coin in the exchanges will be charged a fee.
  • You can use the Ixcoin platform to save funds instead of using a banking system. You only need to buy the native Ixcoin and store them in your wallet. To recover your funds, simply sell the coins in the markets.
  • Like Bitcoin, Ixcoin can be traded in the markets that list it. Trading cryptocurrencies such as Ixcoin will require you to join the crypto exchange of choice and open a trading account. You will also be required to form a crypto pair with other coins such as Ripple or Loopring before executing a trade.
  • Ixcoin can be used as a platform for sending value. You only need to have ample coins to send and the public address of the recipient. This means that both the sender and receiver must be on the Ixcoin network.
  • If you live in jurisdictions that support cryptocurrencies such as Singapore and Arizona, it might be possible to pay for government services with Ixcoin. For example, Arizona residents are allowed to pay their taxes using cryptocurrencies.
  • Like Bitcoin, you can use Ixcoin to pay the transaction fee when trading in the markets. The transaction charge is the cost that traders have to pay for using a crypto exchange such as Binance of Poloniex.
  • Many people are using cryptocurrencies such as Ixcoin as gifts. Instead of buying a hard asset, consider sending your close friends some Ixcoin. Then, they can opt to hold or trade the coins in the market.

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Zclassic

What is Zclassic?

Zclassic is a decentralized and open source cryptocurrency created to offer optimal privacy and selective transparency to users. In their website, Zclassic development team markets it as a fair and impartial coin that provides users with optimal value and privacy.

Zclassic was forked from Zcash in 2016 by Rhett Creighton. Creighton was concerned that the 20% of the native Zcash coins (ZEC) that went to founders after mining compromised the whole idea of decentralization. He removed the 20% founder’s reward (about 22 lines on the Zcash’s code) to create a new coin referred to as Zclassic (ZCL). Therefore, Zclassic is a replica of Zcash minus the founders’ reward.

Like Bitcoin, Zclassic has a total of 21 million coins that will only exist in its network. Besides, it uses proof of work consensus protocol and equihash hashing algorithm.

In the white paper, Creighton pointed out that the primary goal of Zclassic is remaining as similar as possible to Zcash but to ensure that all the rewards from mining go to miners. Though this could look like a great idea, it also has a downside because there is limited cash to support development. This could translate to very poor experience.

  • A closer look at Zclassic price history

The price of Zclassic (ZCL) in the markets can be traced back to November 2016 after Creighton forked Zcash and released the coin into the market. Zclassic did not have a problem of initial distribution because it was distributed through an airdrop to all ZEC holders.

Immediately after hitting the market on November 10th, 2016, the price of ZCL was $5.27. Then, it dropped by about 800% to $0.56 and remained below $0.6 until February 2017. In May 2017, the value of ZCL rose to $8.6 before falling to $1.7 by mid-2017.

Between mid-November and January 7th2018, the value of ZCL shot up to unprecedented levels of $235. This growth resulted from Creighton’s announcement that he was going to team with another ZCL developer to revitalize the coin. He also released a manifesto on Zclassic pointing that he planned to merge Zclassic with another Bitcoin fork.

NOTE: The suggestion to merge Zclassic with Bitcoin Private (another coin) did not go well with developers. Creighton was accused of taking advantage of the blockchain ecosystem and was kicked out of the Bitcoin private project.

In February 2018, the value of ZCL dropped steadily to hit a low of $88.88 before climbing to $169 on March 18th, 2018. After the second peak, the price of ZCL crashed in days hitting a low of $7.8 on March 6th, 2018 and sank further to $4.6 in 11th April 2018.

The price continued on a downtrend in the remaining part of 2018 to hit a low of $1.43 by the close of November 2018. This is lower than the point when ZCL entered the market. It will be interesting to see the direction that Zclassic will take after the community is increasingly becoming concerned about Creighton’s love for forks.

What is the problem that Zclassic solves?

The blockchain technology has been evolving at a rather fast rate. However, issues keep emerging at every step. The following are the main issues that Zclassic solves:

  • Centralization of resources in crypto networks

As new blockchain networks hit the market, it is easy for the larger community to fail reading through the finer details of operations. However, even with the impressive design of Zcash network, one cryptographic expert, Rhett Creighton, was quick to note that a lot of resources were being directed to the founders as opposed to miners.

At Zcash, 20% of the miners’ rewards are directed at rewarding the founders.  This means that 20% of the coins that will be mined about 4 years after launch would go to founders. It also implies that the founders will have an upper hand in the decisions made about the blockchain.

Rhett Creighton felt that this model was going against the original principal of decentralization as espoused by Satoshi Nakamoto. However, concerns have been raised about simply scrapping the rewards because the network could end missing funds for development.

  • Lack of privacy in blockchain systems

One of the main challenges that have dogged the blockchain networks in the globe today is lack of privacy. The primary goal of creating decentralized networks was to ensure that people could send funds without worrying about third-party seizures. However, this has become a mirage as technology evolves making it easy to pull individual details of people in various networks. We demonstrate this using the largest network, Bitcoin.

When Bitcoin was created in 2009, people joining it thought that they could easily run transactions without worrying that third parties could know about them. However, you can no longer claim that transactions are secret when operating on the Bitcoin network.

The Bitcoin network uses pseudonyms that only hide the user’s name. However, other details such as IP addresses are not hidden. This implies that transactions from a specific location, home, computer, and address can be filtered to know about a specific user.

Third parties can also carry transaction graph analysis to uncover hidden transactions. This means tracing multiple transactions directed to a specific address. If one of the senders transacting with a specific address is known, it will be easy to uncover others.

Lack of privacy in top networks such as Bitcoin has resulted in migrations to other coins such as Zcash and Zclassic that put a lot of weight on anonymity.

  • The high cost of sending value in the crypto networks

If you send funds through a conventional financial institution such as a bank, the cost is high. Banks and credit card companies are designed with a profit based model. Therefore, they always look at avenues to increase the transaction fee as a way of optimizing value.

Remember that the transaction charges are also targeted at helping to help the institutions meet costs such as wages and rent. The Zclassic founder felt that people were paying too much to send funds but rarely got value for services. In some cases, transactions take up to 4 days because conventional financial service providers have to comply with anti-money laundering (AML) and know your customer (KYC) requirements.

How does Zclassic solve the problem?

To address the above issues, Zclassic founder and entire development team adopted a raft of measures that also targeted to position the coin strategically amidst fast-growing competition. The team was especially focused on presenting itself as a better option than the immediate competitor, Zcash.

  • Zclassic did away with the 20% founder’s rewards

Rhett Creighton forked the Zcash code by clearing away the lines that effected 20% founders’ reward. This implies that miners working on the Zclassic system take the entire reward for mining new blocks. In the first four years, the miners’ reward is 12.5 ZLC. This reward will half after every four years.

The improved rewards to miners imply that there will be more nodes supporting and securing the Zclassic system. However, this could also mean a potential challenge when the miners’ rewards halves after every four years. The same miners that Rhett Creighton wanted to impress could opt for other coins with more rewards.

The development team is also likely to suffer from poor motivation because of limited funds available to drive their operations. Unless Rhett Creighton and the development team address the issue, the chances are that Zclassic could get overtaken by others for poor user experience.

  • Zero-knowledge proof technology

Like Zcash, Zclassic employs encryption technology referred to as zero-knowledge proof to guarantee users of optimal anonymity. This technology is a method of authenticating transactions without exchanging passwords. Therefore, an attacker cannot simply target hacking your system to acquire a password and pull out personal details.

In Zclassic, the zero-knowledge protocol allows one party (prover) to prove to another party (verifier) that he knows a specific value (call it X), without giving other info apart from the fact that he knows the value of X. The basic principle of the technology application in Zclassic is that other details apart from knowing the value being transferred are trivial.

Using the technology, people Zclassic system are assured that when they relay transactions, there is no way they can be followed back. Even if it is a trader who has sold items to a client, there is no method that can be used to follow the buyer.

  • Complete decentralization

The problem of centralization in the financial system has made cryptographic experts look for alternatives that can help to pull down the cost of transactions. Zclassic is a completely decentralized network. This means that it relies on nodes spread on its system to store data, confirm transactions, and secure it.

Complete decentralization implies that when you send funds, they are relayed on a peer2peer basis. This model implies that the transactions are completed faster and are cheaper. Indeed, it does not matter whether you are sending funds from one continent to another. The transaction will be instant. The only thing that you will need is to have both the sender and receiver in the same network.

What makes Zclassic better than it’s competitors?

When Zclassic was created, it wadded into a fast-evolving industry. In about ten years from 2009 when Bitcoin was launched, more than 1600 have entered the market. Here are the main things that make Zclassic better than competitors.

  • Zclassic is a completely anonymous coin. This means that users can send and receive funds without worrying of getting discovered by third parties.
  • The Zclassic system provides users with a cheaper and faster platform for sending value across the globe.
  • As a completely decentralized system, the Zclassic network provides users with total freedom of operations. This implies that unlike the conventional systems that remain closed in weekends and holidays, the Zclassic system is always open to users.
  • Zclassic is one of the secure coins in the market. By the close of November 2018, no hacking attack had been reported in its network. This is a demonstration that its core code is strong and the development team committed to keeping it as secure as possible.
  • The cryptocurrency platform is led by a tech team that is capable of crafting unique resolutions to the industry. This is one of the reasons why the Zclassic community is optimistic that ZCL will become the ultimate coin in the crypto niche.

How can Zclassic’s be categorized?

Zclassic can be categorized as a completely decentralized and private coin. The platform relies on nodes spread on the network without favoring any party including the founders when decisions about the coin are being made. Besides, the application of zero-knowledge protocol has made it possible for users to operate in total anonymity.

What is Zclassic’s vision on security?

The Zclassic’s vision on security is to make the platform the platform the most secure and reliable system in the niche. The development team built on the already tested and proven Zcash system and enhanced the following features.

  • Use of advanced encryption
  • The application of the zero-knowledge protocol
  • Zclassic team progressively reviews and updates the platform to clear vulnerabilities

Examples of Zclassic use cases/ applications

To know the effectiveness of a cryptocurrency, one of the best methods is checking its applications. When Rhett Creighton forked Zclassic from Zcash, he targeted at increasing the use cases because more people could make direct purchases without worrying of getting discovered by third parties such as authorities. Here are the main use cases of Zclassic.

  • You can use ZCL to trade in the markets that list it. Good examples include Cryptopia, Bittrex, and Safe Satoshi.
  • Like other coins such as Bitcoin, ZCL can be used to buy goods and services from stores that accept it. Note that even in those stores that do not support Zclassic, it is still possible to make a purchase by converting the token to the supported coin.
  • Zclassic is a reliable method of sending value across the globe on a peer2peer basis.
  • If you want to save funds anonymously, you can use ZCL. The application of zero-knowledge proof implies that even government authorities cannot know about your transactions.
  • Zclassic native coins can be used to pay for government services in countries that accept the coin. Good examples include Arizona and Singapore.

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https://zclassic.org/pdfs/whitepaper.pdf