Po.et – The Future of Content Marketplaces

Note: This piece was ghostwritten for a client. It is uploaded here purely for portfolio purposes.

Introduction

The online world is filled with one big problem: content theft. Because the internet is essentially the modern wild west, it is easy for users to steal others’ work while remaining anonymous and still benefiting from it. PO.ET is looking to be the decentralized solution to content theft in an increasingly connected world.

Video for reference

What Is PO.ET (POE) & How Does It Work?

PO.ET is a decentralized universal ledger that allows creators to track, claim ownership of, and retain attribution for their creative assets. It does so via proof-of-existence, which is the first ever non-financial application of the blockchain.

Proof-of-existence allows anyone to upload and verify (hash) documents on the blockchain. They can do so without actually storing it, meaning they can stay anonymous while still proving ownership of content. It is based on the original Bitcoin blockchain hashing system.

Essentially, PO.ET is merging the publisher and the content creator by allowing users to license their creative work without reliance on a third-party. Creators can pick between an existing license template, or create their own based on their needs. Any deal is built into an immutable smart contract.

Because the blockchain is immutable, the first person to upload a piece of content will be named its owner. This solves the rising issue of content theft, as the original creator will be able to prove ownership of their work. Also, users can view the history of the content via the blockchain.

The proof-of-existence consensus algorithm is widely underused, so PO.ET taking advantage of it is a big plus. PO.ET has an ambitious goal, but it is an important one. Journalists, content creators, publishers, and anyone else who creates or curates content on the growing real estate we call the internet will benefit from this project’s success.

The Tokenomics

The PO.ET token is an ERC-20 coin used to show ownership of each piece of content uploaded to the blockchain. Coins are immutable, and one can be used to transfer ownership if that was ever necessary. Each one is timestamped and stores all sorts of metadata relevant to the piece it is tied to.

The Roadmap

Currently, the PO.ET authentication platform is in beta on the App Store. It launched in March of 2017, and since then has been working through its “Rosetta Era.” During this time, publishers began to integrate it, and the ICO went through.

Soon, they will enter the Gutenberg Era, which brings the portfolio, e-book registries, payment channels, and other forms of revenue sharing. The Alexandria Era is next, which will provide image and video support, a marketplace, reputation, and more. Alexandria should encompass the full release of the PO.ET application.

While what’s currently here is promising, the decentralized marketplace and support for image and video content are real game-changers for the PO.ET network. Assuming everything goes well, content creators and journalists will be incredibly motivated to switch over to this blockchain if they want to continue their careers without fear of theft.

The Team

PO.ET is a small but experienced team. The CEO, Jarrod Dicker, was once the vice president of innovation over at The Washington Post, while also starting the company RED, which was the Post’s research group. Otherwise, team members have a history in the blockchain space, marketing space, and development spaces.

Other members have years of development and product management experience. Also, the project is now partnered with AmaZix, Jaxx, and The Maven, with more partnerships on the way.

Community

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/poetproject/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/_poetproject

Telegram: https://t.me/joinchat/GKMQ1kOQSdXVZpN1Rygcdw

GitHub: https://github.com/poetapp

BitcoinTalk: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=2027214.0;topicseen

The PO.ET Twitter is incredibly active, always sharing relevant links and communicating with followers. Otherwise, the subreddit is an excellent source of information, though the team isn’t very prevalent on there.

They manage their community well and spend time translating their projects into Chinese, as there is a big cryptocurrency market over there. Most projects fail to acknowledge this. That effort could mean the difference between the success or failure of PO.ET.

Exchanges

PO.ET is available on only a few exchanges, though Binance is one of them. As one of the worlds biggest exchanges, that’s a pretty good sign. As the project moves into its more viable stages, it is likely that we will see PO.ET on other exchanges like Kraken and Bittrex as time goes on.

Wallets

The PO.ET coin is ERC-20 compatible, meaning you can store it in a variety of wallets. MyEtherWallet, MetaMask, and hardware wallets like Trazor or the Ledger Nano S also work.

What’s Next For Them

Overall, the PO.ET project will bring a secure way for creators to prove ownership for their work while remaining anonymous if they so choose. It works for creators, publishers, and other artists while placing them on an even playing field. The technology is easily auditable on the blockchain and is incredibly flexible in what it can do.

It is a promising project with quite a bit to show already. On top of this, PO.ET has a few great partners, furthering the validity of the project. Regardless, content theft is a massive problem on the internet, and hopefully PO.ET can be a step in solving that issue.

Electroneum – Cryptocurrency for the Masses

Coin Overview

Note: This piece was ghostwritten for a client. It is uploaded here purely for portfolio purposes.

Introduction

Cryptocurrency is not easy to get into. There are all sorts of walls making it difficult for the general user to get involved. Some people want to remain anonymous, while others don’t have the time to look into the complex process. Electroneum is looking to solve these problems by making it easy for anyone to start mining and purchasing cryptocurrencies.

Video for reference.

What Is Electroneum (ETN) & How Does It Work?

Electroneum wants to make it easy for consumers to acquire cryptocurrency. Currently, there are tons of barriers surrounding token investment. Linking bank accounts, sending in awkward photos, waiting for verification – it all prevents the general public from getting into coin trading.

Built off of the privacy aspects of Monero’s code, Electroneum will allow for secure cryptocurrency transactions to happen across a decentralized blockchain. Transactions work via a “stealth address,” or a one-use key that doesn’t connect funds with the recipient’s wallet.

When a user purchases cryptocurrency, Electroneum’s ViewKey technology creates the one-use private key, which the holder can then use to spend their funds. Transactions on the network are quick, with fees based on network activity.

Electroneum has a mobile Android app that provides access to ETN wallets with the ability to create paper wallets. Here, you can send and receive the token. Also, the application is currently running a beta test for mobile mining. With the way it works, you won’t be confirming blocks, but you will still get rewards for participating. Instead, the mining section shows users how CPU power works in the overall mining process. The intention is to move mobile miners over to the desktop for the real deal.

The Tokenomics

The ETN token is intended to be used like Bitcoin: as a means to purchase goods and services with a digital asset. That said, Electroneum does a much better job at keeping these trades private and secure, which is one of the biggest issues with Bitcoin currently.

In the future, the Electroneum team would like ETN to replace currencies in online gaming. For example, instead of using gold in World of Warcraft, players would earn ETN. That ETN could then be used in-game or withdrawn to use it in other online games.

Gambling is also an interest. The team would like ETN to be used on online gambling sites as well as traditional currency and are currently working to get these partnerships established. The focused privacy features are great for this, as users can remain anonymous while gambling high amounts of money.

ETN can be mined, though it is resistant to ASIC machines. That said, it is pretty easy to mine with your CPU, and one can even join a mining pool to start out.

The Roadmap

The Electroneum team has little in ways of a detailed roadmap, but they have listed out their goals. Currently, they are working on solving transactional issues, expanding the team, and bringing mobile mining out of beta. Then, they are working on establishing partnerships and expanding into more exchanges than the few they currently inhabit. Finally, they are going to establish an extensive campaign for viral growth.

The Team

Electroneum is the first cryptocurrency to be considered a “British cryptocurrency.” It is run by a small team of 12, though each of them has extensive experience in the blockchain industry and development as a whole. James Atkinson, the head of the development team, has over 10 years experience alone. The founder, Richard Ells, helped to establish both SiteWizard and Retortal.com.

Community

Twitter: https://twitter.com/electroneum

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Electroneum/

GitHub: https://github.com/electroneum/electroneum/releases

Telegram: https://telegram.me/electroneum

The Electroneum team uses Twitter to post about news and other updates, but they don’t seem to communicate with the community often on the platform. Otherwise, the subreddit is incredibly active with the community posting questions and discussion on a daily basis.

Exchanges

Electroneum is pretty hard to find for now. It is available on smaller exchanges like Cryptopia, Kucoin, TradeOgre, and a few others. However, there is talk of it coming to Binance and Bittrex in the near future, so keep an eye out for this. Otherwise, it may be a while for it to come to other exchanges.

Wallets

Electroneum has its own official wallet called the Electroneum Wallet Manager. Through here, you can establish wallets either on or offline to store your ETN. Electroneum gives you the ability to print multiple paper wallets for your currencies. In case one is lost, you can print others to keep your coins safe.

What’s Next For Them

With Bitcoin being the standard path to digital assets as a currency, Electroneum has a big opponent to try and overcome. That said, ETN has accessibility on their side. By moving both the mining and trading process to mobile, they are opening up the idea to tons of users who have no experience in the field. Plus, they currently have a product to show, which is more than most cryptocurrency projects can say.

The coin needs to make its way to some bigger exchanges before we can say for sure, but so far the future of ETN looks bright. They have the likes of Bitcoin, Litecoin, and others to compete against, but the accessibility offered here is a massive advantage. Electroneum may very well be at the forefront of mobile cryptocurrency usage sooner than we think.

Ardor – Innovating On The Blockchain as a Service

Coin Overview

Note: This piece was ghostwritten for a client. It is uploaded here purely for portfolio purposes.

Introduction

Blockchain-as-a-Service is a unique and evolving idea that makes the arduous task of building a blockchain much simpler for teams of developers. Ardor is yet another one of these projects, but with a few extra pieces of the foundation that make it stand apart from others of its kind.

Video for reference.

What Is Ardor (ARDR) & How Does It Work?

Ardor is an open-source “blockchain-as-a-service” that connects with the Nxt blockchain platform. Nxt works as an asset trading exchange, a cloud for storing data, and offers voting/monetary opportunities. On top of this, it provides a creation kit for clients to create their own blockchain for usage on the Nxt platform.

The Ardor project is the next step. While similar to Nxt, Ardor fixes the standard issues with the blockchain, namely scalability, by separating security coins from standard transactions. The two networks are paired together into a parent/child architecture.

Ardor has a main chain that powers all of the child chains. This main chain processes child transactions by placing them into blocks, as well as distributes the ARDR token across accounts.

Child chains are created by clients, which is where the blockchain-as-a-service part comes in. These child chains can use the ARDR token or any token the client prefers. One set up, the child chain can trade and communicate with any other chain on the network. Teams can pick and choose which features their chain has, allowing them to use it for polls, trading assets, sending messages, and more.

The merging of child and main chains is called bundling. Bundling allows Ardor to keep its chains working together and allowing them to transact with one another, while still allowing for them to act separately as their own entities.

The Tokenomics

With ARDR, all coins are already in existence. Ardor works on a proof-of-stake consensus algorithm. By staking the coin, users are holding their place in a child chain, and using extra coins to provide their chain with different features. ARDR is also used to pay for transaction fees on the network. Because all child chains are connected to the main chain, all ARDR goes through to the main chain.

This also factors into the governance system, where teams with the most staked have more say in the future of Ardor. That means all of the coins have already been “mined,” so mining does not exist on the platform. Instead, stakers are rewarded with more ARDR based on the amount they initially invested, alongside providing services to the network.

The Roadmap

Currently, there isn’t a whole lot on the Ardor roadmap. Right now, they are working on sharing data between child chains, launching more child chains on the main network, and merging features to the project that don’t necessarily rely on the child/parent relationship of the child and main chains.

After this, the Ardor team will be implementing more transaction types and fixing a few of the main net issues that plague the network.

Eventually, the team also wants to work on a decentralized exchange that will allow currency trading between the child chains.

The Team

Ardor and Nxt are owned and developed by a company called Jelurida B.V. This business is run by developer Lior Jaffe, who has been programming since he was 13 years of age. Another co-founder and developer is Petko Petkov, who has degrees in Informatics and Electronic Government. On top of this, Petkov has coded in multiple languages ranging from Java, Python, and C++.

Community

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ardorplatform

Subreddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Ardor/

BitcoinTalk: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1518497.0%22

Overall, the Ardor team publishes multiple posts relevant to their project on Twitter and does a little communicating with their audience. Otherwise, most information is posted on Reddit and discussed by a decent sized group of people.

Exchanges

Ardor is only available on a few exchanges. Bittrex, HitBTC, Poloniex, and UpBit remain the biggest. However, it is another one of those coins that may take off this year, so we may possibly see it on other exchanges like Kraken or Binance as time goes on.

Wallets

ARDR can be stored in the Nxt wallet, as it is currently an Nxt technology until the final launch of the mainchain.

What’s Next For Them

Because of the blockchain-as-a-service model, Ardor has a lot of potential. The real work comes from clients and teams that create child chains off of the main Ardor chain. All of these child chains connect to the main Ardor chain, which keeps the load off of it while it handles transactions and other network-wide tasks.

The appeal for multiple industries is vast, with the potential for teams to utilize the blockchain to further their businesses and ideas. However, Ardor is only one of many blockchain-as-a-service projects. That said, it has the Nxt network to help push things along – a big win in terms of competition. In fact, the Nxt network has never gone down since its implementation back in 2013. Also, Nxt supports Java and is even open-source.

Nxt has been around for years, and a lot of issues around it have been ironed out. Because of this, Ardor may be put at an advantage that other BaaS technologies simply do not have. We’ll have to wait and see.

VideoCoin – Decentralized Content Distrubution For The Masses

Coin Overview

Note: This piece was ghostwritten for a client. It is uploaded here purely for portfolio purposes.

Introduction

VideoCoin is a decentralized content distribution network that runs off of its network of users. The more one contributes to the network, the faster videos can be encoded, stored, and distributed to the world. This content will be uncensored and the network can scale to handle any and all amounts.

Video for reference

ICO Details

Name of the ICO: VideoCoin

Website: https://videocoin.io/

Token: VID

Hard Cap: 50,000,000 USD

Payment Methods: Unknown

Total CS: 780 million tokens

Technology: Open source distribution platform

Important Dates: Sometime 2018

Pre-ICO: $35 million

Public Sale: N/A

Whitepaper: https://storage.googleapis.com/videocoin-preico/VideoCoin-Whitepaper.pdf

The team behind VideoCoin are working on a decentralized video storage, encoding, and content distribution network (CDN) running on the blockchain. It is predicted that 79% of all global internet traffic will be internet video by 2020. By that same time, there will be over three trillion minutes of video uploaded every month.

Because of this growth, centralized video distribution platforms are having a hard time keeping up. Networks are slowing down, and scalability is becoming an issue. VideoCoin wants to replace these platforms with a decentralized one with open APIs and a community-centric open-source development plan.

Project Use Case

Essentially, VideoCoin takes advantage of their networked computers to devote resources towards encoding, processing, and storing content with a focus on video. With this technology, the project is sort of like YouTube or another content distributor, but with privacy features, worldwide scalability, and free of censorship.

This platform will reduce encoding, storage, and distribution costs from 50 to 80%, with users participating to earn tokens. A user could be a company providing their data centers, a person sharing their cloud storage, and a consumer subscribing to content creators. It is a proof-of-stake network, meaning that the more one contributes to the network, the higher their reward will be.

Team

VideoCoin is headed by Halsey Minor. Halsey is an internet entrepreneur who has founded or worked on projects like CNET, Google Voice, Salesforce and Live Planet. Otherwise, you have Devadutta Ghat who founded Intel’s Video Transcoding Service (which is the foundation for Facebook’s video platform.) Finally, the team has the Director of the Television Academy and two-time Emmy Award recipient Seth Shapiro.

This team has a lot of technological power behind them, but it remains to be seen if the idea here is unique enough to stand out from the competition. It’s hard to say until we have more information provided to us.

How Does The Token Work?

The token will work in two cases: as a form of payment and as a reward for different forms of mining. For payment, clients will spend their VID to rent video foundation services or to develop new sharing platforms. On the other hand, the consumer consists of either a content creator or a customer. Creators will earn tokens by creating, while customers will use tokens to pay for their subscriptions.

There are four different types of miners on the VideoCoin network: storage, distribution, compute, and relay miners. Storage miners earn tokens by pledging storage to the network. The more they pledge, the more they are rewarded. Distribution miners earn by sending videos to viewers. The more videos they deliver, the more bandwidth the network supports, and these users are rewarded. Computer miners provide transcoding to the network, and relay miners are rewarded by providing third-party storage to VideoCoin.

How Will The Investor Make Money?

The VideoCoin network is built entirely on a proof-of-stake consensus algorithm. As an investor puts more money into the network, they are providing more service to keep things running. The more this service is used, the more the investor is rewarded for their help. Miners also earn transaction fees based on their work.

Opportunities & Risks

VideoCoin will be built with a full stack video protocol layer. As time goes on, more applications will be built to add to the network. There is a strong group of teams and advisors with tons of experience in 4k streaming and live content distribution. While other projects are working on content distribution, none of them are highlighting video as much as VideoCoin.

The team is incredibly active in Telegram, answering any and all questions asked by the community. Also, there are a large amount of big-time crypto investors behind this project.

However, a lot of essential project information is being kept secret from the public for now. This could be a red flag for potential investors. Plus, a ton of projects talk about their solutions for scalability, but a lot of these are pure speculation for now. Most of them haven’t gotten far enough for actual testing, and VideoCoin is in the same position. Finally, VideoCoin’s focus on peer-to-peer distribution could lead to illegal content being shared on the platform.

Overall Thoughts & Conclusions

Video quality is only going to rise as time goes on. With that, so will video sizes. Virtual reality, augmented reality, and other technologies are a large factor in this. Sports networks, visual projects, and news outlets are looking to immerse their viewers as much as possible. With the power of the blockchain, VideoCoin’s encoding, storage, and distribution methods can greatly outclass the ones we see today.

That said, there are other blockchain projects focusing on data storage that are a lot further along, with way more backing than VideoCoin. Should these bigger coins switch their focus to video, they could run VideoCoin into the ground in no time. However, VideoCoin has some big backers behind it, so the project may be able to fight back. As more details are revealed, we will be able to form a more informed opinion on the matter.

Ratings and Sentiments

Community: 2 Stars

Prototype: 2 Stars

Tokenomics: 4 Stars

Team: 3 Stars

Idea: 3 Stars

50% Positive

Status – Put Control Back In The Users Hands

Coin Overview

Note: This piece was ghostwritten for a client. It is uploaded here purely for portfolio purposes.

Introduction

Status’ goal is to be the easiest place to get into the blockchain. It is doing so by targeting one of the most accessible devices in the world: the mobile phone. Decentralized applications are one of the biggest benefits to the blockchain, and introducing the world not only to them but to how they work is a fantastic idea.

Video for reference

What Is Status & How Does It Work?

Status (SNT) differs from most other currencies in that it is a decentralized mobile operating system with its own browser and secure messenger. It links to the Ethereum network, allowing users connect to it entirely via their mobile device.

Essentially, Status makes Ethereum’s decentralized applications much more accessible to the general public. The blockchain has somewhat of a high learning curve so anyone but crypto enthusiasts may have a hard time getting into the systems. Status’ solution is allowing these users to access it via their most comfortable device – their smartphone.

Say there is a social media platform on Status. Instead of providing the owners and advertisers all the power, these social networks place the users first via Status Network Tokens (SNTs) which we’ll break down a little later.

It is free, open-source, and encourages users to get into developing decentralized applications. Their client is called the Decentralized Push Notification Market, which lets users opt in and out of notifications and services, though one must pay SNTs for any services they use. However, Status doesn’t profit from selling user information to advertisers.

SNT is staked into the network, and the community votes on the future of SNT’s development. The amount of held SNT determines your “vote tokens” which signifies how much influence you have. This setup allows users to curate the content they’d like to see. Status’ social media platform is trying to solve all the current issues users face.

Currently, Status houses a few applications, such as one that allows exchanges of ERC-20 tokens and Ether, or an insurance claiming application. As more users delve into Status, this number will increase.

The Tokenomics

As mentioned, the Status Network Tokens are staked by users to choose what services they’d like to use, alongside voting for the future of the network. To create a username on Status, you’ll need to stake some SNT as well. This prevents spamming and hackers from delving into the system.

The Roadmap

There is no official roadmap for Status. Instead, the team is working on incorporating new applications into the network. Currently, they are working on an app directory, an app that lets users exchange cash for cryptocurrency in an area near them, and a marketplace for buying stickers for use in messaging.

Otherwise, the team is working on solidifying their platform, upgrading their Hardwallet, which is the official wallet for Status coin, and their Open Bounty platform, which acts as a freelance job board for developers.

The Team

Status has one of the biggest teams in cryptocurrency. As of this writing, there are over 40 members, with 10 advisers on top of this. Most of the team is working on app development, while others handle the marketing and community management.

It was founded by two people, Jarrad Hope and Carl Bennetts, who previously created a software distribution network which they used to fund the Status project before the ICO.

Community

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/status_token/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ethstatus

While the team is very big, the Status community is fairly small. They provide updates via their blog. The subreddit is run by the community and prefers not to have the Status team commenting on or monitoring content if they can help it. This allows them to keep a very transparent stream of information coming, without any bias towards the project.

That said, the community is dedicated and working to build the network with the team. The plan is to have a network entirely governed by its users.

Exchanges

Status’ coin is available on quite a few exchanges, with Huobi, Bittrex, and Binance being among the biggest of them. Since it has only been tradable for just over a year, we still have a while before it would hit something like Kraken with all of its trading pairs. That said, the coin has some promise behind it, so it’s entirely viable to expect Status to rise up in 2018.

Wallets

Status’ SNT coin is ERC-20 compatible, meaning you can store it in a variety of wallets. MyEtherWallet, MetaMask, and hardware wallets like Trazor or the Ledger Nano S also work. That said, they also have their own wallet called Hardwallet.

Hardwallet allows users to send, store, and receive ERC-20 tokens. It is completely open-source, available on mobile, and works with ETH and of course SNT as well.

What’s Next For Them

Mobile technology is the biggest and most accessible form in existence. It only makes sense to bring the blockchain there to introduce it to the world. By making Status community run and as easy as downloading an application to delve into, the project has high chances of picking up a ton of attention as time goes on.

With Status, the team is creating a decentralized social media platform that can do it all: provide communication, offer useful applications, and allow users to pick and choose what they want to utilize. The rise of Web 3.0 is to put control back into the user’s hands, and Status wants to be there leading the pack.

0x – The Final Word In Cryptocurrency Exchanges

Coin Overview

Note: This piece was ghostwritten for a client. It is uploaded here purely for portfolio purposes.

Introduction

The current state of cryptocurrency exchanges isn’t great. They are centralized, open to attacks, and can be expensive to use. Even decentralized exchanges are facing high fees and other issues. 0x plans to solve the problems that both types of exchange face, with a focus on trading in the widespread Ethereum network. Plus, the team wants to offer this technology to other tokens as well.

Video for reference

What Is 0x & How Does It Work?

At its core, 0x is a foundation for building a decentralized, permissionless, and open exchange used for trading ERC-20 tokens. A big issue in the cryptocurrency industry (and most industries in general) is that many of the systems used are centralized. Exchanges are entirely open to hacks and other attacks, while a decentralized platform would be much safer for traders.

While it’s currently only for ERC-20 tokens, 0x is one of the first protocols trying to do something about this, stepping above Coinbase, Binance, and other major platforms.

Trading is done via an off-chain relay, which helps to keep the network clear and lowers gas prices that users must pay when trading Ethereum. With a normal decentralized exchange, trades, deposits, and withdrawals are made through smart contracts. While this is a step above a centralized exchange, which relies on third-parties to manage transactions, users are still required to pay a myriad of gas fees for each step.

The off-chain relay allows a user to send their order off to another user, a relayer, who then files it. The only trades made on-chain are value transfers. Relayers transmit orders via public or private networks, essentially doing the same thing an exchange does. However, the relayer can only document transactions. They cannot execute one.

For a trade to be executed, the recipient (the taker) must submit the signature of the trade maker, alongside their own into a smart contract. The relayer is paid in ZRX, 0x’s currency, for overseeing these transactions.

Finally, 0x can also be used for building decentralized applications. Applications can “plug-in” 0x as a protocol to take advantage of their coin systems, like a government, fund management, or the stability of the 0x token.

The Tokenomics

As mentioned, relayers are paid via ZRX for facilitating transactions. Otherwise, this token is used to maintain a sort of government on the network. Essentially, ZRX token works on a proof-of-stake system, meaning that holders can stake their coin to vote on the future of the entire network. This ensures that users who contribute most to the network get the most say, but ones that don’t contribute as much can still get their word in.

The Roadmap

0x coin spent a lot of 2017 working to hire new members, host their ICO, launch a beta for their relay system, and release new updates on their network. Now that a lot of their initial work is done, 2018 is to be spent working on the governance system and updating the user interface. By quarter 2 of this year, the 0x team wants to have their governance white paper published and have some new features ready in beta.

The Team

With 11 on-site members and four advisors, the team behind 0x is about average for a cryptocurrency. The company was founded by two members: Will Warren and Amir Bandeali. Will studied mechanical engineering at UC San Diego but dropped out before getting his Ph.D. to focus on 0x and smart contract development. Amir studied finance at the University of Illinois and was a fixed income trader before starting 0x.

Community

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/0xProject/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/0xProject

A lot of the team over at 0x are active on the subreddit, with most of them holding moderator positions. There are a ton of community members posting on it regularly, with their Twitter being used for blog posts and sharing other news.

Exchanges

ZRX is available for trade on Binance, Bittrex, HitBTC, and a variety of other exchanges. That said, with Coinbase recently announcing their support for ERC-20 tokens, we may see ZRX and other Ethereum tokens available on there soon.

Wallets

Because it is an ERC-20 coin, ZRX can be easily stored in Meta Mask or MyEtherWallet, with hardware wallets like Trezor or the Ledger Nano S offering hardware support. That said, 2018 is poised to be the rise of decentralized exchanges so you may be heading to 0x’s exchange for the coin later this year.

What’s Next For Them

0x wants to be the ultimate platform for building exchanges. It’s decentralized and is aimed to fix all of the current issues that both types of exchange face. Off-chains allow the network to handle an incredible amount of traffic alongside saving users money. Community focus and a proof-of-stake governance system ensure users stay with the technology, and the entire system is entirely secure.

But, the success of 0x also relies on the success of Ethereum. With it being one of the biggest cryptocurrencies in the world, the chances of Ethereum surviving are high, but this still leaves 0x relying on something else. That said, we have to wait and see if the team can deliver on these promises. If they do, there is a chance for them to grow a huge following this year, and possibly be the leading name in the future of cryptocurrency exchanges.

BAT – The Future of Digital Advertising

Coin Overview

Note: This piece was ghostwritten for a client. It is uploaded here purely for portfolio purposes.

Introduction

The digital advertising space isn’t exactly running smoothly. Publishers are consistently looking for new ways to spam ads in the user’s face, while those users are resorting to ad-block to prevent this. It creates a vicious cycle that ends up with publishers making less money than they deserve, and advertisers controlling the market as a whole. The team behind Basic Attention Token have a possible solution.

Video for reference

What Is Basic Attention Token & How Does It Work?

Basic Attention Token is a new way to look at the world of digital advertising. Called BAT for short, the goal is to put the users in control of the type and the number of ads they receive when browsing the web. This is done through an incredibly quick blockchain based web browser called Brave, which links directly with BAT tokens.

Essentially, Brave completely blocks advertisements and trackers by default, ensuring users privacy and preventing malware. Well, if that’s the case, how do websites gain any revenue? Brave offers two ways for users to contribute:

Donations: Users can choose which websites they want to donate to. They can set up automatic donations that contribute on a monthly basis, or they can make a single donation and choose which websites get a specific percentage of it.
Basic Attention Token (BAT): Based on the Ethereum network, BATs are utilized by users, publishers, and advertisers. In the user’s case, they will receive BAT for opting into specific ads (which are placed by advertisers who pay the publisher in BAT) on websites they frequent. Then, the user can choose to donate these BATs to the publisher, further rewarding them for their content.

With BATs, everyone wins. The user remains anonymous, and their information stays secure, the publisher is paid by both the user and the advertiser, and the advertiser still gets to show off their advertisements.

Also, this allows content creators such as YouTubers to directly gain revenue from users, should they choose to contribute.

The Tokenomics

Basic Attention Tokens serve no purpose outside of the BAT platform, which can only be accessed via the Brave browser currently. That said, they are still being traded on exchanges, despite the team’s wishes against this. These tokens are intended purely for services on the BAT platform.

The Roadmap

The BAT roadmap is fairly simple, with three set stages: Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo.

Mercury (Summer of 2017)

In 2017, the BAT wallet was integrated into the Brave browser. The team incorporated Bitcoin to BAT conversions and developed a Brave-specific ledger and wallet. Machine learning was then included, the team using it for targeting advertisements. Finally, the browser was given a metric tracking system and a method for measuring transactions.

Gemini (Fall of 2017 to Winter of 2018)

More machine learning is incorporated, used for anti-fraud purposes. A BAT growth pool was added for new users. Previous machine learning was optimized, and dashboard analytics were provided to publishers that chose to opt-in early. A user-centric closed beta happened alongside some advertisement trials.

Apollo (The Rest of 2018)

Ad revenue will begin to scale with user growth, furthering BAT value. Work put in to move the centralized Brave ledger to an anonymous Ethereum network. More options provided based on previous attention models, and increased dashboard information for publishers and advertisers. This should help with measuring ad performance, optimization, and for planning ad campaigns. The team also plans to allow BAT integration on other applications via their open source code.

They have a lot of work ahead of them, and the success of BAT’s rely a lot on the good-naturedness of users and their willingness to contribute to the websites they visit often. Ideally, opening BATs up to other platforms will provide more chance of this happening, as well as further acceptance from publishers and advertisers.

The Team

The two founders have extensive knowledge of online applications. Brendan Eich is a co-founder of the Firefox web browser, and the company that runs it, Mozilla, which was founded in 1998. Brian Bondy is another Mozilla employee who also has experience at Evernote and Khan Academy. Fortunately, both members have extensive experience launching and maintaining a web browser, ensuring faith in the Brave project.

Community

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/BATProject/

Telegram: https://t.me/batproject

Twitter: https://twitter.com/AttentionToken

The team behind BAT are constantly heading to conventions and discussing the Brave browser, frequently tweeting out their updates and responding to blog posts and users conversing with them on the platform.

The BAT subreddit is incredibly active as well, with multiple members of the BAT and Brave team serving as moderators on the platform.

Exchanges

As mentioned, the team behind BATs don’t want their coin listed on exchanges, as it isn’t meant to represent value in that way. However, the token is still listed on quite a few, with Binance and Bittrex among the most popular.

Generally, it is expected that users buy BAT directly through Brave’s wallet via Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, or eventually credit and debit cards.

Wallets

BAT can be stored in Brave’s wallet, which comes with the browser. This way, BATs can only be used in the BAT platform as intended.

What’s Next For Them

Brave and BAT are a bold project looking to reinvent the way the world of digital advertising works. That said, they are relying a lot on the good of human nature here. Publishers may be hesitant to adopt this new format, as they aren’t guaranteed revenue like they are with annoying advertisements. Users also have to switch to a new browser, which not a lot of people are willing to do.

WaBi Overview – The Coin To Save The World

Coin Overview

Note: This piece was ghostwritten for a client. It is uploaded here purely for portfolio purposes.

Introduction

WaBi wants to save peoples lives. With the movement of counterfeit goods at an extreme high, Anti-theft company Walimai is looking to provide a solution. By offering a tamper-free label and tracking products on blockchain technology, they may have found one.

What Is WaBi & How Does It Work?

WaBi focuses on the authentication of products, mainly food safety. It is designed by a company called Walimai, who actually has their own anti-counterfeit system that ties into the blockchain technology.

It does this by linking physical assets to digital ones on the blockchain. These assets consist of everyday goods like alcohol, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetics, among other products. Walimai places tamper-proof QR labels on any shipped goods so customers can scan them and confirm if the product is counterfeit or not, while providing information on its history. Each RFID has a unique encrypted ID, a Dynamic Code, and stored Geographical Data. Then, the customer can buy that product with WaBi token. It is a simple but efficient and even necessary solution to the counterfeit goods epidemic.

In 2013, the OECD estimated over $461 billion USD in fake imported goods alone, with total imports in world trade hitting around 17.9 trillion USD. On top of this, the World Health Organization revealed that 64 percent of imported drugs in Africa are fake.

Because each product is (ideally) recorded into the immutable blockchain, WaBi can try to counter the usage of counterfeit goods with a device most people have: a smartphone. WaBi provides incentive by allowing users to engage in a loyalty program that rewards them as they scan-in purchases.

The Roadmap

WaBi has an extensive history, and a big plan for the future:

2013: A group chooses RFID as the base technology for their solution. The team then chooses Walimai is the name for their company.
2014: Business starts in Hangzhou, China. Founders celebrate but are poisoned by fake whiskey during their celebration. The company helps to turn around a top-5 infant formula producer from April to January of 2015. Walimai is called one of the most innovative companies at a Forum in Moscow.
2015: Walimai in talks with the worldwide top producers of baby formula and alcohol. The company gains a grant from Jiaxing and incorporates themselves into the Zhejiang province in China.
2016: RFID labels are revamped, iOS and Android apps created. Walimai opens on online shop with positive community reception.
2017: Walimai builds a presence in physical shops. A pre-ICO is launched and finished in August. It reaches 100% of its goal. In December, Walimai allows consumers to start purchasing products through WaBi. Expansion into other baby stores commences.
2018: Incorporate pharmaceutical products. Begin talks with Fortune 500 companies in food, alcohol, and pharmaceutical industries. Grow portfolio and redesign websites. Launch multiple master nodes, partner with influencers, and begin to incorporate WaBi into other payment systems.
2019: Expand WaBi to other countries, partner with insurance companies.

The Team

The two founders are Alexander Busarov and Yaroslav Belinskiy. Alexander founded Early Bird consulting and worked at McKinsey & Company. Yaroslav has helped solve problems like pollution and food safety in China. Each is fast-moving and bright entrepreneurs with a ton of experience.

WaBi has a team of five experienced advisers behind it:

Mario F. Pazos: Worked as a Business Analyst at Microsoft, Senior Marketing Manager at Sony, Senior Vice President at Citi, and Vice President at MasterCard. Has an MBA from the University of Miami and over 13 years working as an investor.
Igor Livant: Worked as an Executive Director at Goldman Sachs, an Associate Principal at McKinsey & Company, ran his own consulting firm and now works as VP for Investments at TELF AG, a commodity trading firm.
Long Chiu: 18 years of experience developing campaigns that connect consumers through brand affinity and loyalty programs.
Mark Zavadskiy: Senior position at global e-commerce company Alibaba. Former business journalist, and Bureau Chief and Correspondent at several multi-media companies in both Russia and Asia.
Bruno Mercier: Independent Board Member and Advisor to a number of PE/VC funds, start-ups and corporations. Formerly CEO of Sun Art Retail Group and Pernod Ricard China and Thailand.

Community

Telegram: t.me/wabiico

Twitter: https://twitter.com/wabiico

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/WabiToken/

While the Reddit and Twitter platforms don’t receive much interaction from the team, the Telegram provides the most direct way of communication.

Exchanges

Currently, WaBi is only available on Binance and IDEX. It is still in very early stages, however. Chances are high it will hit places like Kraken and Bittrex as time goes on, as the idea here is solid and will likely pick up traction.

WaBi can only be purchased via Bitcoin, Ethereum, or Binance Coin. It cannot be mined or gained in some other way, at least for now.

Wallets

Because WaBi Coin is an ERC-20 token, it can be stored in MyEtherWallet, IMTOKEN, METAMASK, and MIST, among others. Ledger and Trezor wallets will also support it.

What’s Next For Them

Walimai will continue to expand their products in different baby stores and other places that store formula. It will continue to make deals with big companies in the alcohol, pharmaceutical, and baby food industries while working to eventually provide their partners with insurance.

This innovative approach to counterfeit goods deserves more attention. While it is still early in development, the coin will likely pick up a following as it continues to rebrand and expand its product line.

PIVX Overview – Putting the Privacy in Cryptocurrency

Coin Overview

Note: This piece was ghostwritten for a client. It is uploaded here purely for portfolio purposes.

Introduction

PIVX is the answer for users who want to make private transactions on the blockchain. The project wants to be a better Bitcoin, offering near-instant transaction times, while putting the community in control of decision making. The team has put great effort into implementing multiple add-ons to ensure the success of the project, with many more on the way.

Introduction Video

What Is PIVX & How Does It Work?

PIVX (PIVX) stands for Private Instant Verified Transaction. It is a privacy-focused currency working with a Proof of Stake consensus algorithm. The goal is to be a viable means of trading value while offering minimal transaction fees and lengths. It wants to improve on some of the issues that Bitcoin suffers from, like scalability and practicality.

As a fork of DASH, PIVX shares some features like the SwiftTX and Masternodes, though it makes some improvements on these adopted systems, as well as differs in its own unique ways. For example, thanks to proof of stake, PIVX allows users to stake any amount of token for a return on investment, rather than limiting this option to masternode owners.

To stake a coin means to secure the network, allowing new blocks to enter and keep things secure. Because PIVX allows you to stake any coin amount, you can allow yourself to risk more and improve your rewards. Every sixty seconds, stakers receive a reward at random proportion to their staked amount. The more you hold, the more you’re likely to receive. Otherwise, anyone who holds more than 10,000 PIVX in their wallet becomes a Masternode. This gives them voting power in all major decisions surrounding the future of PIVX, as well as frequently rewards them in more currency.

Here is a breakdown of some major PIVX features:

SwiftTX: Taken over from Dash, SwiftTX enables seconds long transaction times. Transaction confirmations are done by the masternodes instead of needing the approval of the network.
Zerocoin (zPiv): This initiative allows users to spend anonymously. Zerocoin converts the public information of a transaction into anonymous data. While the transaction happens normally, the receiver doesn’t see where the currency came from.
See-Saw Rewards Mechanism: This idea is to keep masternode owners and stakers equally happy. When the number of masternodes increases, stakers receive less rewards. When the stakers become higher than the masternodes, the masternodes receive more.

The Roadmap

PIVX has an incredibly detailed road map available on their website. They have some major revisions planned in 2018, which we’ll highlight here:

zPIV Staking: Remember that Zerocoin implementation? In 2018, PIVX will allow zPIV staking alongside the traditional token, ensuring that it is incorporated more into the ecosystem.
Redesigned Governance: Right now, masternode owners are the only ones that can vote. Last year, those owners voted to change that power. There are multiple submitted changes being considered, and the winning one will be implemented this year.
Dandelion Protocol Integration: This extra layer allows IP addresses to be untraceable by the network or any bad actors. Essentially, transactions are broadcast to all different nodes, making it near impossible for an attacker to trace the origin.
UI Redesign + Quality of Life Changes: The team are redesigning their wallet design, finishing up an iOS mobile app, offer support for hardware wallets, and eventually their own exchange for zPIV and Bitcoin.

The Team

Because PIVX is a community run project, a majority of their listed members are just that. Anyone that contributes regularly to the project is listed as a member, though they can choose to remain anonymous. That said, the two project founders discern themselves through online aliases.

s3v3n h4cks has a long history in IT development, while Coin Server has a background in system administration and networking. Both like to keep their information private, which falls in line with the goal of the project. These two appreciated DASH’s speed but wanted to improve more on the privacy front. They forked the technology to incorporate their own changes.

Community

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/pivx/

Discord: https://discordapp.com/invite/jzqVsJd

Github: https://github.com/PIVX-Project

Twitter: https://twitter.com/_pivx

Because PIVX is community run, they are very open on what’s going on behind the scenes. A handful of members are active on the subreddit, though a lot of discussion happens on the official PIVX forums.

Exchanges

PIVX is available on Bittrex, Binance, and Upbit, among a variety of smaller exchanges. Because it’s so new, the coin has a while before showing up on exchanges like Kraken. That said, the influx of planned features will likely put more eyes on the project soon.

As mentioned, users can gain PIVX either by staking or becoming a master node. Because it is a proof of stake system, mining is not a form of distribution.

Wallets

PIVX currently has their own wallet on standard operating systems as well as Android. It isn’t the easiest to maneuver, though the upcoming redesigns will change that. Otherwise, it can be stored in a Ledger Nano S or on the popular Altcoin wallet, Coinomi.

What’s Next For Them

So, the platform offers near-instant transactions, caters to privacy, and allows stakers to make decisions regarding the future of the project. Users who want to stay anonymous have every reason to invest in the idea. That said, PIVX is as volatile as Bitcoin. There is no guarantee that this token will make it in the long run.

Lisk Overview – Build Your Own Blockchain

Coin Overview

Note: This piece was ghostwritten for a client. It is uploaded here purely for portfolio purposes.

Introduction

Lisk (LSK) is a decentralized cryptocurrency that allows developers to build their own side blockchains off of the main blockchain. It is somewhat similar to Ethereum, though it focuses more on application development than it does smart contracts. The goal of Lisk is to get more developers into working with the blockchain, while providing a simple way for them to get started.

Introduction video

What Is Lisk & How Does It Work?

Lisk is a fork of the Crypti project, which didn’t have enough financial backing to reach its main goal. Like most cryptocurrencies, Lisk has its own main blockchain. We’ll call it the “mainchain.” The mainchain provides the security and stability that the side chains feed off of.

Each developer has their own side chain that is under their complete control. By building off of the main one, developers are saved the effort of creating an entire network from scratch.

Development is made accessible by Lisk’s software developer kit, which is written in JavaScript. This simplicity creates a user-focused experience, ensuring teams feel as comfortable as can be with their project instead of being overwhelmed.

The network uses a Delegated Proof of Stake consensus algorithm, with each LSK holder having the power to vote for mainchain representatives. Each rep is responsible with keeping the network secure, with a total of 101 active electives at any given moment. Other representatives are either waiting to move up to the mainchain or are securing side chains. Regardless, all of them are rewarded with LSK for their work.

The Roadmap

Lisk has a basic roadmap, with most of the focus being around stabilizing their current implementations:

Quarter 1 2016: Max Kordek and Oliver Beddows propose Lisk, and then raise 14,000 in BTC during an ICO.
Quarter 4 2016: The teams founds the Lisk Foundation in Zug, Switzerland.
2017: While the core team is smaller, the project grows to over 100 people contributing to the project every day.
Q1 2018: Lisk relaunches their website and branding, while providing a whole new interface to users.
2018: Lisk will improve on its core features including scalability and stability.

Once the rebranding is complete, we are likely to see the price raise significantly as the platform moves into 1.0. They plan to implement a new web and desktop application, alongside lowering their high fees. The goal is to have a fully usable platform by Quarter 4 of 2018.

It is paired with the Microsoft Azure cloud services, which developers can use to deploy their applications. Also, the team has partnered with the Chain of Things Research Lab to explore how secure the blockchain can be while running on the Internet of Things.

Also, Lisk offers their own academy for anyone to learn more about the platform and how to develop for it.

The Team

Lisk was founded by Oliver Beddows and Max Kordek, who initially worked on the Crypti project together. The ICO raised $5.8 million, and became the second most successful cryptocurrency crowdfunding project at the time. Since then, the team has grown to 41 dedicated members, with most of those working in the development side.

Oliver is a full stack developer and has over 15 years of experience in building applications for businesses. He wants to inspire developers to follow their dreams and create decentralized applications to make the world a better place. Max, an entrepreneur, shares this dream and sees the potential in the blockchain.

The entire team is based in Berlin, with contractors from all over the world helping with the project.

Community

Telegram: https://t.me/Lisk_HQ

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LiskHQ

BitcoinTalk: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1346646

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Lisk/

Discord: https://discord.gg/TYHzwkf

Overall, the Lisk team is fairly active on their social media. They’ll tweet about each event they are at, alongside sharing some fun Lisk-related image submissions. Also, a large chunk of the team are very active on the subreddit.

Exchanges

As of this writing, Lisk is available on 21 exchanges, with Binance, Bittrex, and Poloniex being the most prevalent. We can expect to see the coin reaching other exchanges like Kraken as well, due to its full release coming later this year.

Unlike other coins, you cannot mine Lisk. It doesn’t operate on a proof-of-work system. Instead, you can gain LSK by buying it, becoming a delegate, or becoming a voter. Delegates pay their voters with LSK, though it isn’t a ridiculously high amount.

Every ten seconds, a block is generated, with delegates validating any transactions before they are added to the blockchain. Each of the 101 delegates gets their own section of the blockchain to verify, with verification taking place after a network-wide consensus.

Wallets

Lisk has a wallet, known as Lisk Nano, for storing your coins. It features an easy to use interface and a ton of functions for members. Also, they offer an online or downloadable application known as Lisk hub. This hub plans to be an all-in-one for your Lisk needs. Here you can manage your ID, trade LSK tokens, and make your votes. Eventually, this hub will come with its own decentralized exchange and side chain management tools.

Hardware wallet support is coming with an estimated release of Summer 2018 for both Trezor and Nano wallets.

What’s Next For Them

Lisk is an incredibly promising project. It has a ton of hype for 2018, and bringing more developers into the blockchain is never a bad thing. While they have to nail their relaunch to bring it to the public eye, crypto enthusiasts have their eyes on the upcoming token.