Vertcoin

Vertcoin
ISO 4217
Code VTC
Denominations
Subunit
 10−3 millivertcoin
Plural Vertcoin, Vertcoins
 millivertcoin mVTC
Demographics
Date of introduction 8 January 2014[1]
User(s) Worldwide
Issuance
Ledger The Vertcoin peer-to-peer network regulates and distributes through consensus in protocol.
Valuation
Supply growth 25 Vertcoins per block (approximately every 2.5 minutes)

Vertcoin (VTC)[2] is a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency and software project.[2] It is a Bitcoin-like blockchain currency with additional features such as an open-source Lightning Network implementation developed by MIT[3] and an ASIC resistant Proof-of-work (PoW) function. The main difference between Bitcoin and Vertcoin is the latter's resistance to centralized mining and the long term promise of Vertcoin developers to keep it that way. Vertcoin has already forked two times to a new PoW function because of a veritable threat of centralized mining.[4][5][6] The Vertcoin cryptocurrency wallet can be downloaded from Vertcoin's official website.[7]

History

Vertcoin was released via a client on GitHub on January 8, 2014.[1]

A 2014 International Business Times article mentions Vertcoin as a potential Bitcoin successor.[8] The article notes that it "hopes to offer an alternative. By taking the foundations of Bitcoin and making some adjustments, Vertcoin punishes miners who use powerful machines and work together in 'pools' to monopolise the mining market."[8]

On July 1, 2014, Vertcoin released a wallet supporting Stealth Address transactions.[9]

On December 13, 2014 (block 208301), Vertcoin forked from Scrypt-Adaptive-N proof-of-work function to Lyra2RE as a proactive defense against emerging Scrypt-Adaptive-N capable ASICs.

On August 10, 2015 (block 347000), Vertcoin forked from Lyra2RE to Lyra2REv2 because a botnet was controlling more than 50% of the hashing power of Vertcoin network.[5]

On May 7, 2017, Segregated Witness (SegWit) feature was activated in the main network. SegWit update includes the Lightning Network technology that was also demonstrated in action during the same day. [10]

On December 12, 2017 (block 840,000) Vertcoin reward per block was automatically cut in half (from 50 to 25 Vertcoins) as scheduled by the original protocol.

Technical

Vertcoin is an alternative version of Bitcoin using Lyra2REv2 as a proof-of-work algorithm. Payments in the Vertcoin network are made to addresses, which are based on digital signatures. They are strings of 33 numbers and letters which always begin with the letter V.[11]

VsRTRzd1TVG1ngganEWk1NiCZzGzS4hUY1

Vertcoin address example

Vertcoin introduced what is known as "Adaptive N‐Factor" to the Scrypt algorithm. The N‐factor component of Scrypt determines how much memory is required to compute the hashing functions. Vertcoin's N‐factor increases with time to discourage the development of dedicated 'mining' hardware and encourage the distribution of the verification task across individual users' PCs.[12]

As a countermeasure to emerging Scrypt-Adaptive-N capable ASICs in late 2014, Vertcoin introduced a novel proof-of-work function called Lyra2RE,[13] a NIST5 based chained algorithm with customizable parameters. The original Lyra2RE consisted of a chain of BLAKE, Keccak, Lyra2,[14] Skein and Grøstl hash functions. In 2015, the algorithm was modified by Vertcoin developers to favor GPU miners because of a single (assumingly CPU based) botnet controlling a majority of the network's hash power. The current version (Lyra2REv2) of the algorithm consists of the following hash functions: BLAKE, Keccak, CubeHash, Lyra2,[14] Skein and Blue Midnight Wish.[15]

Discouraging centralization of the verification task avoids a single entity exercising control over the blockchain ledger, otherwise known as a "51% attack."

Merged mining

Cryptocurrencies have the ability to merge mine with another cryptocurrency, meaning a miner is able to mine for more than one blockchain at the same time. The benefit is that every "hash" that a miner submits contributes to the total hash rate of both currencies, and as a result, they both become more secure.

There is at least one active cryptocurrency, Unitus (UIS), that is currently merge-mineable with Vertcoin.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Vertcoin (Bitcointalk.org user) (2014-01-08). "Vertcoin; Scrypt N; Beat ASIC; Stealth Address - Alpha Testing". Bitcoin Forum. Vertcoin via Bitcoin Forum post. Retrieved 2014-06-10.
  2. 1 2 "Vertcoin". Vertcoin.org. Retrieved 2016-02-23.
  3. ↑ "mit-dci/lit". GitHub. Retrieved 2018-04-19.
  4. ↑ "Vertcoin Blog: In Celebration of Success - Lyra2RE Lives". Vertcoin.org. Retrieved 2016-02-24.
  5. 1 2 "Vertcoin Blog: July Development Update". Vertcoin.org. Retrieved 2016-02-24.
  6. ↑ "Vertcoin Blog: Hard Fork at Block 347000". Vertcoin.org. Retrieved 2016-02-24.
  7. ↑ "Vertcoin Downloadable Wallet". Vertcoin.org. Retrieved 2016-02-23.
  8. 1 2 Charlton, Alistair (2014-02-05). "Vertcoin: The soaring cryptocurrency set to surpass Bitcoin". International Business Times.
  9. ↑ "Release v0.8.7.3 Stealth Address". Vertcoin.org. Retrieved 2016-03-02.
  10. ↑ Suberg, William (2017-05-08). "Vertcoin Debuts Second to SegWit, Lightning, Price Up 50 Percent". Cointelegraph.
  11. ↑ "Vertcoin Explorer". Retrieved 2017-05-08.
  12. ↑ "Vertcoin Paper by David Muller" (PDF). Vertcoin.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-12-08. Retrieved 2016-02-24.
  13. ↑ "Lyra2RE white paper" (PDF). Vertcoin.org. Retrieved 2016-02-24.
  14. 1 2 "Lyra2 white paper" (PDF). iacr.org. Retrieved 2016-02-24.
  15. ↑ "Blue Midnight Wish documentation" (PDF). Retrieved 2016-02-24.
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