What Is MergeCoin
MergeCoin is a peer2peer cryptocurrency and an open-source platform designed to help users run instant financial transactions. The coin operates as a decentralized cryptocurrency that rewards participants based on “connectivity age” and not “coin age” that has become easy to abuse especially from the exchanges by people who do not actively help support the networks.
- A closer look at MergeCoin
MergeCoin was created early in 2017 and entered into the market by the close of April the same year. On April 27th, 2017 the price of the native coin was $0.09. Then, it dropped slightly to $0.07 by mid-May 2017 before rising sharply to $0.1 towards the close of the month.
The price dropped early in June 2017 before hitting another peak of $0.19 towards the close of the month. But that good performance did not last. Between July 2017 and January 2018, the price took a bearish trend culminating to a low of $0.01.
The most notable thing about MergeCoin is its ability to steadily push a bullish trend when most of the coins’ prices were taking a downward trend. For example, the price of the coin rose from $0.028 in late January 2018 to $0.19 in April the same year.
Note that the MergeCoin has been inactive in the market since May 2018.
What is the problem that MergeCoin Solves?
Though the blockchain niche has been growing at a steady rate, it has been suffering from serious challenges. Here are some of the issues that MergeCoin solves.
- Lack of privacy in financial institutions
If you take a closer look at the current governance of most financial institutions, their structures lack privacy.
Personal information and transaction details are known to cashiers, bank management, and even political administration. Indeed, the details can even be ordered by a court of law if you are facing criminal charges.
Lack of privacy implies that you can become an easy target for both political and business reasons.
Note that even in some cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, advanced technologies are now making it possible to pull out individual information. MergeCoin seeks to address this problem by ensuring that all transactions and personal details are completely out of reach.
- High cost and slow transactions when sending value
Most centralized services such as banks and credit card companies follow strict guidelines outlined in the law. When clients send value, they have to check their background and ensure that the funds are not proceeds of fraud. This makes the transactions to slow.
Because the centralized financial service providers are profit-oriented, they also charge very high transaction costs. The cost is used to meet the expenses of paying staff, renting space, and profit. Now, MergeCoin is providing a better way for faster and cheaper transactions.
- Centralized mining
While the principal goal of cryptocurrencies is to facilitate decentralized operations, the development of advanced ASICs mining equipment has become a serious threat. Though they are designed to generate more hashing power than the common GPUs and CPUs, they are very expensive and out of reach for the average person.
This implies that mining and associated rewards are only available to the well to do in the community. The issue raises the threat of the networks suffering from 51% attacks. MergeCoin addresses the problem through proof of stake (PoS) consensus algorithm.
How Does MergeCoin Solve The Problem
The founders of MergeCoin wanted to have a competitive edge in the market by crafting a system that addresses the outlined problems. Here are some of the solutions it adopted.
- Static-proof of stake algorithm
Proof of stake (PoS) consensus algorithm was created as an alternative to proof of work (PoW) protocol that is used in many pioneer coins such as Bitcoin and Litecoin.
However, even the PoS protocol was still subject to abuse because people would only need to buy some stake and get a reward. MergeCoin opted for a different type protocol referred to as Static proof of stake.
Under the static proof of stake system, users on the platform are rewarded based on their behavior to support a secure, fast, and robust system. This means that you will need to use the coins stored in the MergeCoin platform to get rewarded.
- Complete decentralization
MergeCoin operates as a completely decentralized system. It is a set of nodes in its system that work together to confirm transactions and govern the system.
This implies that there is no centralized administration and the nodes are called to vote when changes are being implemented in the network.
As a decentralized network, users who want to send funds are able to do it on a peer2peer basis without going through third parties. This means that transactions are instant and cheaper.
- Use of masternodes
Masternodes are used in the MergeCoin to help in breaking up transactions into multiple and undistinguishable relays to make the original transaction complex.
Then, they send them in different paths and are only merged at the final destination.
The target is obfuscating the transaction details so that no one can easily follow and know the personal details of the sender. This is one of the reasons why a lot of people have been joining MergeCoin, especially from other less anonymous networks.
What makes MergeCoin better than it’s competitors?
The cryptocurrency niche has become an attraction that is drawing interest from all companies and computing experts.
By the close of the third quarter of 2018, over 1600 cryptocurrencies had entered the market. Here are some of the things that make MergeCoin better than the competitors.
- MergeCoin is a completely decentralized system.
Unlike the conventional banking system, MergeCoin operates as a completely decentralized system. This means that it does not have a single point of failure. It utilizes the advanced static proof of stake (PoS) model that involves using the nodes with a stake in the network to facilitate transactions and keep the system secure.
- MergeCoin uses an effective system of masternodes to help make transactions secure and anonymous
As more governments target the cryptocurrencies, anonymity is becoming even more crucial. MergeCoin uses a system of masternodes to break transactions and obfuscate the tracks so that no third party can easily know the user’s personal details. This implies that you can now use the network without worrying of third-party seizures or attacks.
- The platform is cheaper and faster to use than centralized organizations
As a decentralized network, MergeCoin system bypasses profit-seeking organizations such as banks to make transactions faster and cheaper. This implies that users will no longer need to wait for three days to send value from one part of the globe to another. The MergeCoin system allows users to send funds instantly no matter the location of the sender and the receiver.
- The MergeCoin platform allows users to join and own the network
The MergeCoin system uses proof of stake consensus model that implies it is owned by the people who have some stake there. This means that when you buy some MergeCoin coins, you will be called to help in making key decisions to build consensus because you are part of the system governance.
How can MergeCoin be categorized?
MergeCoin can be categorized as a completely decentralized and truly anonymous platform. Its design has helped to effectively address most of the issues that had proven very difficult for pioneering platforms such as Litecoin.
The platform has helped to advance the blockchain industry by demonstrating how static PoS, a variant of the proof of stake consensus algorithm can be applied to help keep crypto networks more secure. Now, people have to get actively involved to receive rewards for staking the network.
What’s MergeCoin’s vision on Security?
The MergeCoin’s mission on security is to become the most secure and anonymous cryptocurrency network in the industry. As technology advances, the crypto community is getting worried that older encryption methods such as the use of pseudonyms at Bitcoin will become obsolete and make their transactions accessible to third parties.
MergeCoin puts a lot of effort in keeping the platform secure and attractive to users. Here are the main strategies.
- The platform operates as a completely decentralized system using static proof of stake consensus protocol. The protocol helps to ensure that the coins are distributed evenly to reduce the danger 51% attack.
- MergeCoin also uses advanced encryption and masternodes that help to keep the users’ information and personal details anonymous.
- The development team at MergeCoin reviews the network regularly to identify gaps and fix them promptly before attackers can take advantage of the vulnerabilities.
- The MergeCoin system uses QT wallets for Windows, Mac, and Linux to ensure that users have total control over their private keys. Remember to keep the keys as secure as possible to avoid losing the native coins.
Examples of MergeCoin’s use cases / applications
When MergeCoin was unveiled early in 2017, the founders wanted to win a greeter market share in the unfolding market. Therefore, they targeted to make the coin has as many use cases as possible. Here are some of its applications.
- Use MergeCoin to pay for transaction fee on the native network.
If you want to use the MergeCoin network to send value on a peer2peer basis, the transaction fee has to be paid in MGC. The transaction fee is used to facilitate the development of the network and motivating miners.
- Trader MergeCoin in the markets for a profit.
Like other coins, MergeCoin can be used for trading in the exchanges. These are markets that list the coin and provide the meeting point for buyers and sellers. To trade the coin, you will need to register a trading account, verify it, and fund with MergeCoin.
You will also need to create the right currency pairs before executing a trade. For example, you can pair MergeCoin with Bitcoin to form BTC/MGC or Ripple to trade as MGC/XRP. Remember to get some insights into trading in respective platforms.
- Use MergeCoin to pay for government services in countries that support cryptocurrencies.
When cryptocurrencies were first unveiled, many governments felt threatened. They held the view that the digital coins were unnecessary disruption and required to be blocked using all possible ways. However, this view is changing and some jurisdictions are now allowing people to pay government services using digital coins.
One such jurisdiction is Arizona. In April 2018, Arizona passed HB 1091 that allows residents to pay taxes using cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and MergeCoin. When users pay taxes with the digital coins, they are converted to fiat and credited in their tax accounts.
- Use MergeCoin to pay for goods and services.
The fast-growing digital space is attracting a lot of traders who are out searching for more effective methods of facilitating payments. If you have some MergeCoin, simply look for the store that accepts them for direct payment. If only a different coin is supported, consider converting MergeCoin to the accepted coin to complete the payment.
- Buy the native coins to save your money.
If you save funds in a bank, the transactions and stored value are known to many entities including the cashiers, bank management and the political administration. You cannot do anything privately. However, MergeCoin allows users to buy the native coins and save their money anonymously.
NOTE: While the MergeCoin structure and performance in the market have been impressive, the community is concerned about the inactivity from the market starting from May 2018. Therefore, it is important to follow the best practices when investing or joining the network.
First, you should not invest all your funds in the network. It is advisable to spread over a number of cryptocurrencies. Second, you should compare the network with others offering similar services. Good examples, in this case, include Zcash and Ripple.
https://coincheckup.com/coins/mergecoin
http://www.mergechain.com/Mergecoin%20Technical%20Whitepaper.pdf