LESSON 4: Other Blockchain Uses [For Beginners By A Beginner]

For Beginners By A Beginner
This is an attempt to make some sense of all available coins on the Poloniex cryptocurrency exchange. There are many more coins on Bittrex (and beyond) but this should give you a good familiarity of what different cryptocurrencies do and allow you to make informed decisions.

Smart Contracts and Side Chains
These are a developing idea that make use of the blockchain for automatic execution of contracts over time or in certain events. At the moment they are used for paying out a particular stock if it reaches a certain price but the future could see them used for all kinds of transparent and unalterable automated agreements, such as ride sharing. They are another example of making trustless systems by removing humans from the system.
Ethereum is a platform that allows you to build your own blockchain applications using their unique computer code, known as Solidity. Initially Ehtereum was the main promoter of smart contracts. It uses its own currency on the platform, called Ether. Stratis is very similar to Ethereum except it uses the C# computing code and offers Blockchain-as-a-Service (BaaS), directed towards the introduction of blockchains into business. BaaS effectively allows you to outsource your blockchain creation to the company’s support team. Expanse can be thought of as a community-led Ethereum. Lisk is also like Ethereum except it uses Java code. BitShares is developing community-made smart contract applications and also provides BaaS. Syscoin provides decentralised services too. NEM aims to make the writing of smart contracts easier. It also contains an in-built messaging system and can generate coloured coins (defined in Lesson Three).
Ardor is another example of BaaS and functions on side chains of Nxt. Side chains run parallel with the parent chain, compatibly. They take asset from the parent chain and deal with it independently, with the option to return it back to the parent chain if desired. For example, a side chain would allow somebody to build a platform based on Bitcoin without having to store all of their extra information in the Bitcoin blockchain. Even if this were possible (which it probably isn’t) it would lead to much greater blockchain bloat. It therefore allows people to use Bitcoin (or another cryptocurrency) in ways that it wasn’t originally intended for, by taking it off the Bitcoin system, dealing with it however you wish, then returning it if necessary.
Note that Bitcoins wouldn't actually be removed from the Bitcoin 'world', it would just be recognised within the framework of the sidechain that Bitcoins sent to that particular address were locked there under sidechain rules until otherwise moved. This is different to burning Bitcoins whereby they can never be taken back.

Storage
Recent well-publicised flaws in cloud storage are one of the greatest motivators for the conversion to blockchain technology. Users can upload files to Sia, which subsequently encrypts the file and breaks it up into smaller chunks before distributing it across the decentralised network. This distribution is redundant too, meaning your 'chunks' of file are stored on more than one computer, thus your file is not lost if a computer holding your information signs off the network. Users are automatically entered into contracts with the holders of their encrypted data and pay them in Siacoins, with the miner having to pay a penalty fee if they break contract. Storj is another cloud storage network. It uses Storjcoin but also allows payments in USD.

Decentralised Internet
The MaidSafe team want to decentralise the internet, allowing you to use e-mail services, applications and other websites from the safety of their platform. They intend to offer storage too, as above. LBRY is a content hosting platform where users can access and upload content. It's like YouTube, iTunes, Spotify and Netflix all in one library – whilst ensuring the rightful creator is fairly paid.

Prediction Markets
Prediction markets utilise the ‘wisdom of the crowd’ philosophy. This states that the consensus prediction of a large enough crowd will always be more reliable than that of a specialist expert. Augur is a system that allows someone to create any event (such as presidency outcome, football results, names of royal babies etc.) for users to bet on the outcome of that event. As there is no central server, people are called upon to validate the outcome of said event. If the validator proves to be reliable then they are rewarded with ‘REP’ (reputation). Meanwhile, users who bet correctly will be rewarded with the Augur cryptocurrency. Gnosis is a platform that allows people to build their own prediction markets. The data from these large sample sizes is obviously very useful for forecasting, polls and statistical sociological studies.

Charity
Belacoin aims to be adopted by charities, in that they reward people with this cryptocurrency for their donations. People can then use the rewarded coins to purchase things from the Belacoin store.

Gaming
Several cryptocurrencies only exist to be used within games. BitCrystals are the in-game currency for Spells of Genesis. GameCredits are also designed to become a common in-game currency. Nexium is the cryptocurrency used in Beyond the Void. Huntercoin is a cryptocurrency that is actually mined via gaming.

Social Media
Steem is a cryptocurrency that underpins the Steemit social media website. This is a blogging platform much like Reddit where people upvote content they like. Upvoted content generates rewards. The rewards are split 25% amongst those who upvoted it (curators) and the remaining 75% goes to the author:

Half the author reward is in Steem Dollars. This is an example of a pegged cryptocurrency from Lesson Three.
The other half is paid in Steem Power. The more of this you have, the stronger your 'upvote' is.

Synereo AMP is another social media platform based on a blockchain. BitMark is a reputation currency that aims to add an entire layer to the internet whereby people can tip each other for engaging content, allowing you to maintain ownership over your valuable data. It also incorporates a fairer way to claim channel names, similar to how Namecoin aims to make the claiming of internet DNS names fairer too.

Science and High-Performance Computing
Instead of just using the network for the wasteful mathematical processing of transactions, FoldingCoin uses the decentralised network as a supercomputer for the computationally intensive modelling of protein folding in the interests of scientific research. Gridcoin also uses the network for scientific projects submitted via the Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing (BOINC). The Gridcoin currency itself also acts as a voting mechanism for users to select and prioritise those submitted scientific projects. Primecoin uses the network to search for longer prime numbers than ever before found via mathematical research. Riecoin does this too.
While not directly using the network for research, Einsteinium donates its transaction fees toward funding scientific projects. Instead of gaining these fees, the mining incentive instead comes in the form of ‘wormhole events’ where a huge reward is deposited randomly during predefined times (called epochs).
Although not specifically used for science, Golem is providing a global decentralised supercomputer for user-submitted jobs. It is currently promoting its ability to render computer graphics files in amazing time by comparison to what a single computer could achieve.

Other features
Over the past two chapters I have tried to incorporate at least a mention of every cryptocurrency available on Poloniex. Poloniex is a very popular exchange for the trading of altcoins. Bittrex has over double the amount of currencies listed than Poloniex – but I’m not writing all of that! I did fail to mention a few, such as OmniCoin and Radium. I shall finish the others in the next chapter.
I should also mention that Factom allows record keeping of any kind in the blockchain – not just currency data – with further features to reduce blockchain bloat. There are coins designed for the recreational drugs market too, such as Potcoin. Doge is an inflationary cryptocurrency that actually began as a joke meme but now sponsors its own NASCAR team. As they say… “To the moon!”

This is the fourth article in my ‘For Beginners By A Beginner’ series for all the fellow newbies trying to understand this crypto world. I personally found it difficult to learn without a central source of information, so here I attempt to offer one. Even if it acquires no attention on Steemit, I hope it remains on Google and is useful to any eager newcomer whom stumbles upon it.
There will undoubtedly be errors and misunderstandings in my text, so do add corrections and additions in the comments section below. If I choose to incorporate them I will reference your username and upvote your comment.