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.
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 That ETN could then be used in-game or withdrawn to use it in other online games.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.
Maxemole 