What
is Ravencoin (RVN)?
The advent
of blockchain technology opened up a new world of possibilities for the
financial industry. With other industries already moving into the digital
space, blockchain makes it possible for the financial industry to go entirely
digital.
One of the promising
areas in blockchain is asset digitization. This means representing a physical
asset on the blockchain. Ravencoin is a blockchain project focused on enabling
the transfer of assets from one user to another.
Ravencoin is
designed to meet the digital age demand for assets and securities to be
tradable across borders, just like Bitcoin allows money to be transferred in a
frictionless manner around the world. Ravencoin is free and open source.
What
Does Ravencoin Do?
Ravencoin is
built on a fork of the Bitcoin code. There are several ways in which Ravencoin
is different from Bitcoin. These include block time reward (1 minute), number
of coins issued (21 billion RVN), asset creation, and messaging capabilities.
Users of the
Raven protocol can issue tokens on the Ravencoin blockchain based on any asset.
These tokens do not need mining. Those who issue the tokens determine all
properties of the token.
The tokens
are then transferable and move with the same ease as Bitcoin. Assets that can
be tokenized on the Ravencoin platform include gold bars, land deeds, silver coins,
gift cards, reward points, and more.
To create an asset token on the platform, users
are required to burn some RVN tokens and provide a unique token name. Then,
token properties
are determined. These include number of tokens, number of decimals, and whether
the supply is fixed or can be increased in the future.
RVN can be
used to reward holders of a token created on the Ravencoin blockchain. Also,
just like the Ethereum ERC-721 token, Ravencoin offers the ability to create
unique tokens. Unique tokens are tokens that prove authenticity, as only one of
such a token will exist. This is useful for use cases such as art collection,
software licensing, etc.
Ravencoin
also provides a means of communication between the token issuer and token
holder. Token holders could opt out of this communication if they wish. For
instance, the message from the token issuer can inform the token holders of a
voting to take place. And a vote token can be issued to every token holder to
ease the voting exercise.
Consensus
The consensus
mechanism of Ravencoin is the same as that of Bitcoin: Proof-Of-Work (PoW).
However, it has a different hashing algorithm from Bitcoin. Bitcoin implements
the SHA-256 hashing algorithm, whereas Ravencoin uses the X16R algorithm. This
algorithm does not allow ASIC mining.
Ravencoin
was made as an alternative to Bitcoin or ERC-20 transfer protocols. The PoW
consensus mechanism is used for the sake of protecting users’ data. Ravencoin
mining reward began at 5,000 RVN (compared to 50 BTC for Bitcoin).
Ravencoin
History and Team
Ravencoin
was launched on January 3, 2018, on the 9th anniversary of the launch of
Bitcoin. Ravencoin mining began on this day as shown in the tweet below.
Ravencoin
had no ICO or token sale. The core team is funded by Medici Ventures, which is
owned by Overstock. It doesn’t have masternodes and there was no pre-mine.
There is no percentage of the coin set apart for founders or locked.
It is an
open-source project focusing on building useful technology with a growing
community.
The
Ravencoin whitepaper is authored by Bruce Fenton, a member of the Bitcoin
Foundation, and Tron Black.
Roadmap
and Achievements
The
Ravencoin roadmap is in its second phase of development. The already completed
Phase 1 includes the basic Raven network setup.
Phase 2,
which is currently under development, includes ASIC resistance, asset support,
reward capabilities, and metadata. Phase 3 includes allowing RVN payments to
token holders. Phase 4 is for the development of unique assets, Phase 5 for the
messaging feature, and Phase 6 for voting.
The CEO of
Overstock, Patrick Byrne, revealed in an interview in February 2018 that they
have invested millions into teams working on Ravencoin. More recently, the
addition of Ravencoin to Binance has given a lot of boost to the project.
Challenges
and Competitors
There is no
pressure on Ravencoin, unlike other blockchain projects, because there was no
token sale, hence no investment return expectation.
However, the
project is not without its own challenges. As a decentralized network, drafting
a legal memorandum (that RVN is not a security) has proved challenging, as some
exchanges require it for listing. A community volunteer who is a lawyer helped
out with an article that proves RVN is not a security.
There are a
number of competitors in the asset tokenization aspect of the blockchain
industry. There is Waves, which allows users to create their own tokens.
Polymath focuses on securities.
A more
direct competition would be Bytom. The difference between Bytom and Ravencoin
is that Bytom allows ASIC mining and it had a token sale.
The
RVN Token
The RVN
token is the native coin of the Ravencoin blockchain. It is used to pay fees on
the network and used as the currency to reward developers and miners. The
circulating supply of RVN is currently about 2.1 billion.
One of the
ways to own RVN tokens is through mining. The platform created a mining guide
for those who would like to mine RVN.
RVN can be
purchased on Binance, Bittrex, Cryptobridge, and Cryptopia. Only Bittrex
supports buying with a fiat currency (USD) among the exchanges. RVN can be
purchased on the other exchanges with Bitcoin and Ether.
Ravencoin
has a desktop wallet as well as an Android wallet and iOS wallet where RVN can
be stored. The team is working with Coinomi, Jaxx, and Ethos for RVN storage.
There is
also a web wallet recently developed to store RVN tokens. There are no hardware
wallets compatible yet, but the team is in touch with Ledger and Keepkey.
Conclusion
The
tokenization of assets and securities is an important advantage that blockchain
technology brings to the financial sector. While there are a number of players
in that field, Ravencoin stands out with its POW model and ASIC resistance.
As the
demand rises in this sphere, Ravencoin is positioned to be a top consideration
for digital asset transfer.
Ravencoin
focuses only on asset transfer, unlike most blockchain projects that aim to
solve two or more problems at the same time. This niche focus could prove to be
a strength for Ravencoin in coming months.
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