Bytecoin Updates its Wallet and Capabilities In Quest Of a Better Financial System
Bytecoin (BCN) has issued a new release that its team claims takes the CyrptoNote-based currency closer to its mission. Which is to develop a financial system that provides the same functions as existing financial systems at less cost for users.
The new release includes an updated Bytecoin wallet, pool mining, and an added solution for real-time transactions, ensuring that most transactions will process in 120 seconds. Paying invoices, pool mining and accessing block chain data will be available using an integral control center. Additional details about the new release are available on the Bytecoin website.
“Our vision was to create a private, untraceable cryptocurrency with ASIC-resistant proof-of-work that would incorporate a number of improvements comparing to bitcoin,” Harry Ullman, manager of Bytecoin communications, told CCN.com. The team felt that bitcoin had some drawbacks in its design.
Team Saw Flaws In Bitcoin Design
In 2011, the team gathered around Nicolas van Saberhagen, the author of the CryptoNote protocol, and Antonio Maria Juarez, a cryptocurrency developer, and the current lead tech. “It took us about a year to outline and implement the project in code, until Bytecoin was launched in July 2012,” Ullman said.
We are a decentralized team that shares the same vision and works remotely from a number of countries.
Unlike many other cryptocurrencies, Bytecoin is a solution that has been built from scratch, not forked, Ullman said. It gave birth to the CryptoNote currencies ecosystem and spurred dozens of its own forks.
There are a number of features that make Bytecoin unique. First of all, it is the first truly anonymous cryptocurrency.
Bytecoin utilizes ring signatures and one-time stealth addresses. A ring signature is a form of digital signature that allows signing a transaction on behalf of a group of random users. “As a result, an observer would not be able to tell who exactly the sender is. What’s more, each transaction is sent to a one-time address, which makes it impossible to link two transactions to one wallet, or learn its balance.”
Secondly, Bytecoin is based on a unique proof-of-work, CryptoNight. “We call it an egalitarian proof-of-work since it is most suitable for CPU mining on an average PC. It is a memory-bound algorithm that relies on slow memory and emphasizes latency dependence. As a result, GPU miners do not have any advantage in efficiency over CPU ones, while ASIC mining is restricted.”
In Search Of A Better Financial System
The immediate goal is to establish Bytecoin as a comprehensive financial system. “We are currently working on a number of updates that would allow it to become one of the leading standards for the future cryptonomy,” Ullman said. “To name a few crucial points, we are planning to release distributed DNS and colored coins by the end of 2015 while Bytecoin smart contracts will become available next year.” These features will be as anonymous as Bytecoin transactions, he added.
Once Bytecoin releases colored coins, it will open an opportunity for traditional financial industries to extend their presence in the cryptonomy. “The opportunities are really countless. We are looking forward to seeing on-block-chain bonds, shares, derivatives, private and community currencies. Their advent will facilitate the creation of supporting infrastructure required to evaluate, issue and maintain them.”
Ullman said the distributed ledger is presently the most appealing aspect of bitcoin to financial institutions and financial service providers. “However, once digital assets can be easily transferred on the block chain and smart contracts establish themselves, we’re likely to see a more rapid and diverse adoption. It will give birth to various distributed applications in a variety of industries.”
We are also planning to see growth coming from consumer financial sector with such projects as P2P-lending, money remittance, and private banking.
Also read: CyrptoNote Currencies – Anonymous 4rd Gen
Integrate Traditional Business Into Cryptonomy
An important Bytecoin goal is to integrate traditional businesses into the emerging cryptonomy, Ullman said. “This implies that Bytecoin should be transparent and convenient for different businesses, from merchants to established financial institutions. As our ecosystem grows, we expect more businesses to either start accepting Bytecoin or utilize its features to create new businesses, such as digital assets exchanges, crypto-based investment banks, and various decentralized applications.”
Cryptocurrencies have created a radically new landscape that has yet to find its way into traditional businesses, he said. “It is inspiring to see that a lot of businesses have already started to accept cryptocurrencies as a form of payment while bank giants are experimenting with the block chain technology.”
At the moment, cryptocurrencies play a role of complementary currencies, which have their advantages, such as processing speed, lack of international borders, and low fees. On the other hand, it is too early to say which technologies are going to become the main standards if we talk about digital assets and distributed on-block-chain applications. As with any radically new technology, it is a matter of long-term commitment for the market players to gradually replace the existing solutions.
“It may well turn out that pretty much any large industry will be affected. Just like Uber disrupts the taxi business, on-block-chain smart contracts may ultimately reshape such industries as auditing, accounting, legal advice and many others.
It leaves an opportunity for various companies to automate the routine operations that are currently reliant on human labor. I may reference you to a classical example by Nick Szabo for managing car loans through smart contracts or to our recent blog post where we apply smart contract concept to a customized flakes delivery business.”
Cryptocurrencies: The Best Is Still To Come
“The real boom is yet to start for the cryptocurrencies and it is likely to be more radical than any of us can imagine today. However, we’ll make sure that Bytecoin is one of the leading standards for the global cryptonomy before then.”
On July 15, 2015, coinmarketcap.com listed Bytecoin as having a market cap of $10,376,858, a volume of $19,589, and an available supply of 174,635,183,634 BCN.
The current Bytecoin team includes 10 members listed on the Bytecoin website.
Bytecoin is currently available on the following exchanges: https://hitbtc.com, https://poloniex.com and https://btc-market.org.
Featured image from Shutterstock.
