For those crypto investors with a long term vision of being altcoin HODLRs make sure to pay attention to this analysis of the worlds best scrypt algorithm altcoins.
Ever since the emergence of Bitcoin nearly a decade ago, many new altcoins have sprouted from several corners. Many algorithms and technologies are used to implement these cryptocurrencies. One highly secure and well known is the Scrypt algorithm. It is interesting to note that some of the Scrypt based cryptocurrencies have the potential to challenge and even dethrone Bitcoin as the world’s number one cryptocurrency. It should come as no surprise if we develop an interest in knowing more about the algorithm, its origins and the characteristics that gives it so much potential.
What is the Scrypt Algorithm?
Before going into detail about the Scrypt algorithm and its usage in some of the worlds top Altcoins, it is only fair if we take the time to explore its origins. The algorithm was designed by Colin Percival to serve as a backup service for the Tarsnap online platform. The major drive behind its creation and design was the need to make it difficult and expensive to carry out a huge hardware attack by using a big chunk of memory. In the world of cryptocurrencies, it was first used by ArtForz, an unknown programmer. After its first implementation for Tenebrix in 2011, the Scrypt algorithm was then adopted by Fairbrix, Litecoin, and the highly rare MinCoin.
The original Scrypt algorithm was simply designed as a security measure against brute force attacks. Colin Percival reasoned that if you know your password, the expense you incur when paying for the computational power of carrying out mathematical operations is very little. However, that cost would significantly rise if you were carrying out a brute force attack because you would need to pay the computational cost every time you guessed a password.
The Scrypt algorithm has several parameters including:
• Passphrase – string of characters for hashing
• Salt – another string of characters responsible for modifying the hash and protect it from Rainbow Table attacks.
• hLen – the hash function length measured octets.
• MFlen – the mixing function output measure in octets.
The original Scrypt algorithm was modified before it could be implemented as a Proof of work cryptocurrency mining algorithm some cryptocurrencies such as Litecoin. The implementation of the Scrypt algorithm was mainly because of the superior use of ASIC computers in the mining of Bitcoins. The ASIC computers were designed to perform SHA-256 calculations required for Bitcoin mining and outperformed ordinary personal computers.
This lead to two negative side effects:
• Bitcoin mining was automatically centralized
• It became extremely difficult for new miners to enter the market
To counteract this undesired emerging trend, there was a need for a new method that would decentralize cryptocurrency mining and allow more people to enter the market. The Scrypt algorithm was the answer because it requires a lot of memory and allowed mining to be performed on a general personal computer. Although Scrypt mining was introduced with the aim of mining Litecoin without GPUs, the majority of miners still use GPU. Despite this, the benefits of Scrypt mining are:
• ASIC resistance
• Reduced block times as compared to Bitcoin
• Decentralization of cryptocurrency mining
• New players could penetrate the cryptocurrency mining market
The Scrypt algorithm is adored by miners because it is GPU friendly. Although the Scrypt mining uses more memory than SHA-256, it uses a fraction of the electricity required for SHA-256 mining.
Cryptocurrencies that use Scrypt as proof of work
A number of cryptocurrencies use the Scrypt algorithm as proof of work because of the benefits that it offers. Below are the top three cryptocurrencies that implement Scrypt.
Litecoin (LTC)
Litecoin is a P2P cryptocurrency released as an open source software project. It was created by Charlie Lee, an ex-Google employee who designed it when he decided to enter into cryptocurrencies. Litecoin borrows the bulk of its features from Bitcoin although there are a couple of fundamental differences. Litecoin can be sent and received all over the globe instantaneously.
Litecoin, just like Bitcoin, is valuable because it is rare and useful. Although Bitcoin will only have 21 million coins, Litecoin will have 84 million coins. When Litecoin was released in 2011, it was easy and cheap to mine due to lack of competition. However, the same cannot be said at the present moment. It is easy to buy Litecoin since it is one of the most popular cryptocurrencies in the world. Unfortunately, there still aren’t many Litecoin wallets.
Litecoin is a very stable currency. The currency is backed by a strong lineup of active developers. Litecoin has the same security features as those of Bitcoin. It takes only 2.5 minutes for a Litecoin transaction to be processed, making it a good choice for processing payments. Although Litecoin was designed to be similar to Bitcoin, some of the differences between the two cryptocurrencies include:
• Reduced generation time of 2.5 minutes compared to the 10 minutes of Bitcoin.
• Litecoin makes use of the Scrypt algorithm whereas Bitcoin uses SHA-256.
MinCoin (MNC)
MinCoin (MNC) is a peer-to-peer (P2P) cryptocurrency that implements the Scrypt algorithm. Started in 2013, MinCoin stands for Minimalist Coin. It is also popularly known as the one-minute coin. MinCoin can be seen as a scaled down version of Bitcoin that is best designed for CPU mining. Having a MinCoin wallet allows you to buy and store coins for any purpose of your choice. The MinCoin wallet works perfectly fine on either a Windows or Mac machine.
What is interesting about MinCoin is its low cap. With MinCoin, only a total of 10 million coins will be created as compared to Bitcoin’s 21 million and Litecoin’s 84 million. MinCoin boasts of its fast block time. MinCoin has a block interval of one minute, up to ten times faster than Bitcoin and 2.5 times faster than Litecoin. Despite this incredibly fast block time, mining a block only costs 2 coins. This, in turn, makes it possible to moderate the creation of new coins.
Some of the features and benefits of MinCoin are:
• Super-fast transactions due to fast block time
• A total of 10 million coins will ever be generated. Currently, only 38% of these coins have been mined. This means that new people can enter the market and start mining the remaining 62%.
• MinCoin has no premine.
• MinCoin is best suited for ASIC mining.
Dogecoin (DOGE)
What is Dogecoin?
• Dogecoin is a peer-to-peer digital cryptocurrency that was launched to be a friendly and more accessible version of bitcoin. It achieved massive success after many dank memes of the Doge dog which is an animated version of the Shiba Inu japanse dog. The founders of Dogecoin are Billy Markus Jackson Palmer.
• Started out as a friendly cryptocurrerncy joke.
• Became very popular on Reddit.
• Has a cute dog mascot
Bottom line
Pay attention to these 3 amazing scrypt altcoins. These 3 coins are stable and mature
projects based on the very famous scrypt algo. Project and blockchain security are the underpinnings of a successful crypto project. This is where the Scrypt algorithm comes into the picture. The Scrypt algorithm will continually be utilized by several cryptocurrencies because it is considered extremely secure.