Why BitCoen?
Link – https://bitcoen.io
BitCoen, not to be confused with the more popular bitcoin. BitCoen (abbreviated BEN) – the first “kosher” official crypto token, business platform and system of services, created for interaction between representatives of the communities around the world.
What Is BitCoen?
Whitepaper:
https://bitcoen.io/Whitepaper.pdf
BitCoen is a cryptocurrency created by Russian entrepreneur Vyacheslav Semenchuk. The cryptocurrency is targeted towards the Jewish community, although it will be available to anyone regardless of their religion.
The name comes from a play on words involving “bitcoin” and “coen” – which is the Hebrew word for priest. Coen and the slightly-different-but-similar Cohen are also popular surnames across the Jewish community.
Semenchuk describes BitCoen as “the first Kosher cryptocurrency.” What does that mean? It means 10% of BitCoen’s earnings will be made available as interest-free loans for members of the Jewish community.
The entire company is overseen by The Council of Six, a group of six leading figures in the Jewish community. Each member of the Council of Six represents a different economic field in the community, including one for culture, business, finance, politics, public work, and technology.
Interestingly, BitCoen’s creator claims that the cryptocurrency does not violate the rules of the Sabbath because the funding process is automated – so the cryptocurrency and its loans will be accessible during Shabbat.
BitCoen was announced in August 2017.
What Problems Does BitCoen Seek To Solve?
Do we really need a Kosher cryptocurrency? Some have described BitCoen as an example of “peak blockchain”. If we’re at a point where we’re creating cryptocurrencies for specific religious groups, then we may have already hit peak blockchain.
Nevertheless, BitCoen isn’t designed to be some novelty currency:
“Our team came to the conclusion that the Jewish community is the world’s only community within the framework of which a full-fledged and self-sufficient cryptocurrency can be created and recognized by the whole community,” said Angelika Sheshunova, COO of BitCoen, in an email to UK-based The Register.
“We expect that the cryptocurrency will cover all Jewish communities around the world. And the main guarantor of stability here is that the keys from the management of the cryptocurrency will be in the hands of the most respected members of the community.”
Obviously, the company admits that there’s no way to guarantee that only members of the Jewish community will use BitCoen. However, they believe the functions and benefits of the cryptocurrency are most appealing to members of the Jewish community.
As mentioned above, BitCoen plans to give 10% of released coins to Jewish organizations as “tzedakah”, or charity, under the governance of the six-person council.
How Does BitCoen Work?
BitCoen isn’t some ERC20-compliant token based on an existing blockchain.
Instead, the company is reportedly building a completely new blockchain with its own architecture, its own security, and its own special features and functionality.
In the future, BitCoen plans to make some of its code available and open source. However, they won’t do this until after the launch of the main elements of the system.
One of the weird things about BitCoen is that there are few technical details about the project available at this time. The company has been criticized for its lack of technical clarity.
Earlier in August, BitCoen published a post in Russian on Medium. In that post, the company described how they were actively negotiating with the Chief Rabbi of Russia (there are apparently two such rabbis at the moment). They’re also communicating with other Jewish community leaders about their potential involvement with the project. The post hints that the currency will be controlled by all those who participate in the economy – not just Jewish individuals.
The company released such a statement after the internet reacted to BitCoen by sayings things like “the currency is controlled by the Jews”.
BitCoen Features
BitCoen claims that all of the following features help to distinguish itself from the competition:
Unique Turing complete contracts with advanced functionality
Automatic network performance balancing
Unlimited block size
Does not require full synchronization with the network
Instant transactions
Additional protection against erroneous translations (it’s unclear if the website means “translations” or “transactions” here)
Convenient wallets
Ease of use
BitCoen also has a number of features planned for the near future. Under the “Our Projects” heading, the company lists all of the following as projects in development: a wallet, a mobile wallet, an exchange, a cryptobank, a cryptofund, “Crypto TV”, block loyalty, blockchain keshbek, a blockchain project accelerator, a crypto university, an information portal, an online payment system, and offline payment terminals.
Aside from the names, we have few details about any of the projects listed above or their expected release date.
The BitCoen Crowdsale
BitCoen was announced in August. The ICO was scheduled for October 9. BitCoen pre-sales have been taking place throughout August and September.
The crowdsale will see the release of 100 million BitCoen at a starting cost of $1 each.
Semenchuk, who has reportedly invested $500,000 of his own money into the company, is hoping to raise as much as $7 million through the ICO.
Who’s Behind BitCoen?
BitCoen is led by CEO Vyacheslav Semenchuk, a serial entrepreneur who has created more than 30 startups.
Other key members of the team include David Dyshko (Vice President) and Alexander Viktorov (CBDO).
BitCoen Conclusion
BitCoen is one of the more unique cryptocurrencies available today. The cryptocurrency is specifically targeted towards the Jewish community. 10% of the currency’s funds are allocated to funding projects within the Jewish community. A group of six community leaders will choose how to allocate those funds.