Cryptocurrencies are developing at a rapid pace. The most recognized of which is Bitcoin but these days Ethereum and Ripple also have very strong name recognition among the masses. Most traditional cryptocurrencies operate on blockchain a very impressive technology designed to decentralize processes and bring about more transparency than traditional centralized networks have previously been able to offer.
But a new generation of cryptocurrencies have changed the model, IOTA would be my first example, a revolutionary cryptocurrency which uses something called DAG to process transations. Basically nodes are set up in a different away that allows for free transactions at a cost of processing other transactions in the network. Here at 
So, here we go... Have you ever heard of a new token called RaiBlocks (XRB)?
I thought not. Let me explain...
What is RaiBlocks (XRB)?
RaiBlocks is a shared cryptocurrency and open source programming venture like Bitcoin with a much more advanced structure. It has been designed to optimize low inertness, high throughput and a fee-free transaction model. It is a digital currency that has been designed for scalability.
RaiBlocks is part of a new generation of cryptocurrencies gaining popularity; a generation of fast, feeless, minerless cryptocurrencies (FFM for short). There are a few contenders in this category Steem, IOTA and EOS (They are due to launch their own blockchain soon so expect big things).
RaiBlocks uses a crypto architecture they call “block lattice”. This is explained in detail on their wikipedia page which I recommend reading.
RaiBlocks isn’t a single long blockchain, like Bitcoin or Ethereum; it is a database of blockchains where each user (or address) gets their own blockchain that only they can add onto.
To explain further, users send funds by creating two blocks: one send block on their personal blockchain and one receive block on the recipient’s blockchain. Users receive funds by “pocketing” any outstanding receive blocks into their personal blockchain.
Don't worry, users don't have to be online to receive funds (this has been a worry brought up by users asking about RaiBlocks’ novel “pocketing” system).
RaiBlocks handles the receiving part of the transaction when the user decides to access their funds. At the time of access, the wallet itself will automatically “pocket” any outstanding funds. Pocketing funds just means signing the receive block with your private key, so that it can be added to your personal blockchain.
If you aren't familiar with all this tech talk its ok. Just know that we are looking at a contending technology to replace Web 2.0 as the new king of the jungle, Web 3.0.
RaiBlocks are in direct competition with IOTA and they both work in a similar but different manner. To provide an example, with IOTA, transactions get attached to the “tangle”, which is a directed-acyclic-graph (DAG) data structure. (Git works using this same data structure!)
As more transactions get added to the tangle, a “weight” is added to attached ancestor transactions. When a transaction has enough weight, the transaction will exhibit a “confirmed” status. In principle, this confirmation could be as quick as seconds when there is a sufficient flow of transactions across the network.
In RaiBlocks, there is a different confirmation system based on “representatives”. In general, all that is needed is your cryptographic signature on your “send” and “receive” blocks. When the node syncs, it runs through the ledger to ensure that the signatures are authentic.
This seems to be a major advantage that RaiBlocks has over IOTA although both are considered DAGs.
According to my source, RaiBlocks has excellent API support. They have RPC libraries, for interacting with nodes in Javascript, Python, PHP, and Elixir.
Where did the RaiBlocks tokens come from?
RaiBlocks is a “pre-mined” token. This means that their ledgers started out with a certain amount of cryptocurrency that can never change. Over time, these tokens have been bought, sold, and moved around with ICOs and Faucets, increasing the general users’ attainment of these cryptos.
This is something I'm not very hot on but their biggest competitor IOTA did the same thing so I'm not bothered by this too much...
Interesting Technical Facts about RaiBlocks
Ready for some math? The max supply of RaiBlocks is on the order of 2¹²⁸ ~ 340e36, or 340 undecillion. The reason this is such a large number is because they utilize a 128 bit integer to represent balances. (This may actually be a good thing.)
Their actual max supply is about 133,248,290 MXRB, where 1 MXRB represents 10³⁰ (or 1 nonillion) raw RaiBlock units. The max supply can be denoted as roughly 133e36, or 133 undecillion raw RaiBlocks.
Want to see a really big number? This is the numerical value for max supply in raw units:
133,248,290,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.
That’s 39 digits! For comparison, this means there are about 48 sextillion raw RaiBlocks for each and every IOTA that could ever exist. Now thats an interesting ratio!
Why I'm Impressed with RaiBlocks
Imagine that our world has 75 billion IoT devices by 2025. The world we are imagining has billions of people owning cryptocurrencies by 2025.
Lets also presume to think that these IoT devices own all the crypto. Now, if my calculations are correct, the average amount of crypto that will be shared among these future 75 billion devices will be on the order of 37 thousand IOTA (or 37 kIOTA) or 1.78 octillion raw RaiBlocks (or 1.78 kXRB).
What this means is that RaiBlocks will be much more flexible in a transactional sense. Therefore it is very likely that RaiBlocks has a real opportunity to dominate the IoT space in the coming years. This will most likely happen unless IOTA upgrades their protocol to either increase the max supply or allow for divisible IOTAs.
CryptoTelegraph Summary
I learned quite a few things from this article that I was happy to share with my readers. Firstly the fact that people are paying top dollar for Apple branded shirts and walking around effectively using them as a status symbol of wealth was a new insight into how powerful Apple still is in India. Don't count them out yet, obviously the iPhone is still the top dog there!
The understanding that technology like autonomous cars may be cool and high-tech but it will need a lot of work to get it ready to navigate third world and developing world driving scenerios.
Finally, the author made the point that the West has really fallen behind in terms of building infrastructure... Why is that? Don't they see that infrastructure is a crucial component of society and that it is worth every dollar of investment they can muster?
I hope you enjoyed reading this. Please leave your thoughts and comments below!
Source:
Image Source: