Launched in 2012 by two IT specialists by the name of Scott Nadali and Sunny King, it can be argued that Peercoin is a relatively old altcoin project. Be that as it may, Peercoin is an interesting blockchain project that paved the way to the mass adoption of a technology called Proof of Stake.
The platform is heavily based on Bitcoin (even though it has various distinguishing features that sets it apart from Satoshi’s invention) and, just like Bitcoin’s legendary inventor, both of its founders are anonymous.
Peercoin’s gift to crypto – the Proof of Stake protection method
Proof of Stake, which is now the go-to technology for most cryptocurrency projects, was Peercoin’s main contribution to the world of crypto. Conversely to PoW (Proof of Work), PoS allows every network participant to take on the role of both an owner and a miner.
According to this method, blocks can be created only after the coins have been in one’s possession for more than 30 days. The main advantage is the fact that it allows owners to basically pay themselves, consuming their coinage and resetting.
There’s a lot to be discussed on the subject of PoS. For instance, the first input is called a kernel and is required to perform a set of specific hash target protocols. A hash target is a value determined per unit coinage consumed in the kernel.
The main problem with Proof of Work is the fact that the process of verifying transaction is done through mining. And, because miners compete for block rewards, to gain an advantage, most of them have joined various mining pools. This led to an increasing need for powerful hardware solutions which were and still are in contrast to the whole idea of decentralization.
To recap, Proof of Work can prove to be an energy-hungry technology which usually leads to high transaction fees. The whole idea behind the Proof of Stake method implemented by Peercoin was to prove that cryptos don’t necessarily require extreme amounts of energy consumption. It was all about creating a secure peer-to-peer network where all involved parties and machines will put in the work equally, thus saving noteworthy amounts of energy.
Another advantage of Peercoin is its inflation rate. In short, the cryptocurrency was designed to quite stable, with a maximum inflation rate of 1% per year. It did this by allocating 1% in annual returns for compensating users that work or maintain the network. Another factor that contributes to ensuring this 1% per year inflation rate is the fact that transaction fees of 0.01 PPC (the platform’s official token) paid to the network is destroyed.
Peercoin has implemented a very innovative protection protocol called checkpointing. In the early stages of the network, checkpoints were responsible for protecting against attacks.
How to buy and store PPC
Peercoin is currently ranked 163rd on CoinMarketCap with a total market cap of $13,515,756 and a circulating supply of 25,092,260 PPC. At the time of this writing, one PPC was trading for $0.538642.
PPC can be bought on a decent array of crypto exchanges such as Trade by Trade, HitBTC, CoinEgg, Bittrex, WEX, and Livecoin. The best way to store Peercoin is by using the official Peercoin wallet from the platform’s website. The wallet is available for Windows, Linux, and Android. Another way for traders to get their hands on PPC is through mining and minting. Even though mining is possible, the platform is more geared towards a process called minting. Peercoin is the originator of this concept which is based on the Proof of Stake block generation. Instead of requiring its users to use specialized hardware to mine, it allows them to gain new coins based on the number of coins they already hold in their wallets. The only requirement for receiving the rewards is, as mentioned before, holding the coins for at least 30 days.
Conclusion
Since its launch in 2012, Peercoin has proven itself to be a stable and reliable project which is one of the key factors that investors are looking for. The platform is quite small, especially when compared to other peers. However, its size makes it ideal for businesses or projects that require an inexpensive decentralized ledger.
