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myarbrough@oreilly.com 2014-11-18 12:38:12 -08:00
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@ -198,27 +198,27 @@ Proof of stake is a system by which existing owners of a currency can "stake" cu
==== Dual-Purpose Mining Innovation: Primecoin, Curecoin, Gridcoin
((("dual-purpose mining")))((("mining","dual-purpose")))Bitcoin's Proof-Of-Work algorithm has only one purpose: securing the bitcoin network. Compared to traditional payment system security, the cost of mining is not very high. However, it has been criticized by many as being “wasteful." The next set of alt-coins attempt to address this concern. Dual-purpose Proof-Of-Work algorithms solve a specific "useful" problem, while producing Proof-Of-Work to secure the network. The risk of adding an external use to the currency's security is that it also adds external influence to the supply/demand curve.
((("dual-purpose mining")))((("mining","dual-purpose")))Bitcoin's proof-of-work algorithm has just one purpose: securing the bitcoin network. Compared to traditional payment system security, the cost of mining is not very high. However, it has been criticized by many as being “wasteful." The next generation of alt coins attempt to address this concern. Dual-purpose proof-of-work algorithms solve a specific "useful" problem, while producing proof of work to secure the network. The risk of adding an external use to the currency's security is that it also adds external influence to the supply/demand curve.
*Primecoin*
===== Primecoin
((("Primecoin")))Primecoin was announced in July 2013. Its Proof-Of-Work algorithm searches for prime numbers, computing((("bi-twin prime chains")))((("Cunningham prime chains"))) Cunningham and bi-twin prime chains. Prime numbers are useful in a variety of scientific disciplines. The Primecoin blockchain contains the discovered prime numbers, thereby producing a public record of scientific discovery in parallel to the public ledger of transactions.
((("Primecoin")))Primecoin was announced in July 2013. Its proof-of-work algorithm searches for prime numbers, computing((("bi-twin prime chains")))((("Cunningham prime chains"))) Cunningham and bi-twin prime chains. Prime numbers are useful in a variety of scientific disciplines. The Primecoin block chain contains the discovered prime numbers, thereby producing a public record of scientific discovery in parallel to the public ledger of transactions.
* Block generation: 1 minute
* Total currency: No limit
* Consensus algorithm: Proof-Of-Work with prime number chain discovery
* Market capitalization: $1.3 million USD in mid-2014
* Consensus algorithm: Proof of work with prime number chain discovery
* Market capitalization: $1.3 million in mid-2014
*Curecoin*
===== Curecoin
((("Curecoin")))((("protein folding algorithms")))Curecoin was announced in May 2013. It combines a SHA256 Proof-of-Work algorithm with protein folding research through the Folding@Home project. Protein folding is a computationally intensive simulation of biochemical interactions of proteins, used to discover new drug targets for curing diseases.
((("Curecoin")))((("protein folding algorithms")))Curecoin was announced in May 2013. It combines a SHA256 proof-of-work algorithm with protein-folding research through the Folding@Home project. Protein folding is a computationally intensive simulation of biochemical interactions of proteins, used to discover new drug targets for curing diseases.
* Block generation: 10 minutes
* Total currency: No limit
* Consensus algorithm: Proof-Of-Work with protein folding research
* Market capitalization: $58,000 USD in mid-2014
* Consensus algorithm: Proof of work with protein folding research
* Market capitalization: $58,000 in mid-2014
*Gridcoin*
===== Gridcoin
((("Gridcoin")))Gridcoin was introduced in October 2013. It supplements scrypt-based Proof-Of-Work with subsidies for participation in((("BOINC open grid-computing"))) BOINC open grid-computing. BOINC is an open protocol for scientific research grid-computing, which allows participants to share their spare computing cycles for a broad range of academic research computing. Gridcoin uses BOINC as a general-purpose computing platform, rather than to solve specific science problems such as prime numbers or protein folding.
@ -231,15 +231,15 @@ Proof of stake is a system by which existing owners of a currency can "stake" cu
((("alt-coins","anonymity focused", id="ix_ch09-asciidoc3", range="startofrange")))((("currencies, alternative","anonymity focused", id="ix_ch09-asciidoc4", range="startofrange")))Bitcoin is often mistakenly characterized as "anonymous" currency. In fact, it is relatively easy to connect identities to bitcoin addresses and, using big-data analytics, connect addresses to each other to form a comprehensive picture of someone's bitcoin spending habits. Several alt-coins aim to address this issue directly by focusing on strong anonymity. The first such attempt is most likely _Zerocoin_, a meta-coin protocol for preserving anonymity on top of bitcoin, introduced with a paper in the((("IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy"))) 2013 IEEE Symposium on Security and Privacy. Zerocoin will be implemented as a completely separate alt-coin called Zerocash, currently in development. An alternative approach to anonymity was launched with _CryptoNote_ in a paper published in October 2013. CryptoNote is a foundational technology that is implemented by a number of alt-coin forks discussed next. In addition to Zerocash and CryptoNotes, there are several other independent anonymous coins, such as Darkcoin that use stealth addresses or transaction re-mixing to deliver anonymity.
*Zerocoin/Zerocash*
===== Zerocoin/Zerocash
((("Zerocash")))((("Zerocoin")))Zerocoin is a theoretical approach to digital currency anonymity introduced in 2013 by researchers at Johns Hopkins. Zerocash is an alt-coin implementation of Zerocoin that is in development and not yet released.
*CryptoNote*
===== CryptoNote
((("CryptoNote")))CryptoNote is a reference implementation alt-coin that provides the basis for anonymous digital cash that was introduced in October 2013. It is designed to be "forked" into different implementations and has a built-in periodic reset mechanism that makes it unusable as a currency itself. Several alt-coins have been spawned from CryptoNote, including((("Aeon (AEON) alt-coin")))((("Boolberry (BBR) alt-coin")))((("Bytecoin (BCN)")))((("duckNote (DUCK) alt-coin")))((("Fantomcoin (FCN) alt-coin")))((("Monero (XMR) alt-coin")))((("MonetaVerde (MCN) alt-coin")))((("Quazarcoin (QCN) alt-coin"))) Bytecoin (BCN), Aeon (AEON), Boolberry (BBR), duckNote (DUCK), Fantomcoin (FCN), Monero (XMR), MonetaVerde (MCN), and Quazarcoin (QCN). CryptoNote is also notable for being a complete ground-up implementation of a crypto-currency, not a fork of bitcoin.
*Bytecoin*
===== Bytecoin
((("Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC)","Bytecoin and")))((("Bytecoin (BCN)")))((("Graphical Processing Units (GPUs)","Bytecoin and")))Bytecoin was the first implementation spawned from CryptoNote, offering a viable anonymous currency based on the CryptoNote technology. Bytecoin was launched in July of 2012. Note that there was a previous alt-coin named Bytecoin with currency symbol BTE, whereas the CryptoNote-derived Bytecoin has currency symbol BCN. Bytecoin uses the Cryptonight Proof-Of-Work algorithm, which requires access to at least 2 MB of RAM per instance, making it unsuitable for GPU or ASIC mining. Bytecoin inherits ring-signatures, unlinkable transactions, and blockchain-analysis resistant anonymity from CryptoNote.
@ -248,7 +248,7 @@ Proof of stake is a system by which existing owners of a currency can "stake" cu
* Consensus algorithm: Cryptonight Proof-Of-Work
* Market capitalization: $3 million USD in mid-2014
*Monero*
===== Monero
((("Monero (XMR) alt-coin")))Monero is another implementation of CryptoNote. It has a slightly flatter issuance curve than Bytecoin, issuing 80% of the currency in the first four years. It offers the same anonymity features inherited from CryptoNote.
@ -257,7 +257,7 @@ Proof of stake is a system by which existing owners of a currency can "stake" cu
* Consensus algorithm: Cryptonight Proof-Of-Work
* Market capitalization: $5 million USD in mid-2014
*Darkcoin*
===== Darkcoin
((("Darkcoin")))Darkcoin was launched in January of 2014. Darkcoin implements anonymous currency using a re-mixing protocol for all transactions called DarkSend. Darkcoin is also notable for using 11 rounds of different hash functions((("Proof-Of-Work algorithm","for Darkcoin"))) (blake, bmw, groestl, jh, keccak, skein, luffa, cubehash, shavite, simd, echo) for the Proof-Of-Work algorithm.