Bitcoin Wiki - User contributions [en]

Namecoin

2011-11-22T19:08:12Z

C k: Remove dead links and move some External Links from See Also to External Links

A distributed naming system based on Bitcoin technology.

Namecoin uses a new blockchain, separate from the main Bitcoin chain.

Namecoin mining can be performed concurrent with Bitcoin and other compatible blockchains using the same software used for regular Bitcoin mining.

The project was inspired by the bitdns discussion and recent failures of the DNS.

The open source software was announced on April 18, 2011<ref>[http://www.bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=6017.0 Namecoin - a distributed naming system based on Bitcoin]</ref>.

==See Also==

* [[Dot-bit]]
* [[NamecoinUs]]
* [[Cryptocoin]]

==External Links==

* [http://github.com/vinced/namecoin Namecoin Project] on GitHub
* [http://dot-bit.org dot-bit.org] project, focused on the domain registration aspect of Namecoin
* [http://whois.namecoin.us/ Namecoin (.bit) WHOIS Server]
* [http://exchange.bitparking.com Bitparking BTC/NMC] Namecoin <=> Bitcoin exchange
* [http://www.namecoin.us/tools.php Namecoin Tools]

==References==
<references />

[[Category:Open Source]]
[[Category:Digital currencies]]
[[Category:Alternative cryptocurrencies]]

Namecoin

2011-11-22T19:06:27Z

C k: Update bitcoin forum URL and add Cryptocoin

A distributed naming system based on Bitcoin technology.

Namecoin uses a new blockchain, separate from the main Bitcoin chain.

Namecoin mining can be performed concurrent with Bitcoin and other compatible blockchains using the same software used for regular Bitcoin mining.

The project was inspired by the bitdns discussion and recent failures of the DNS.

The open source software was announced on April 18, 2011<ref>[http://www.bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=6017.0 Namecoin - a distributed naming system based on Bitcoin]</ref>.

==See Also==

* [[Dot-bit]]
* [[NamecoinUs]]
* [http://exchange.bitparking.com Bitparking BTC/NMC] Namecoin <=> Bitcoin exchange
* [http://www.bitparking.com/pool Bitparking Mining Pool] First Namecoin Mining pool
* [http://www.namecoin.us/tools.php Namecoin Tools]
* [[Cryptocoin]]

==External Links==

* [http://github.com/vinced/namecoin Namecoin Project] on GitHub
* [http://dot-bit.org dot-bit.org] project, focused on the domain registration aspect of Namecoin
* [http://whois.namecoin.us/ Namecoin (.bit) WHOIS Server]

==References==
<references />

[[Category:Open Source]]
[[Category:Digital currencies]]
[[Category:Alternative cryptocurrencies]]

Litecoin

2011-11-17T03:44:19Z

C k: Removing minor criticism and linking to relevant criticism in Criticism section (take #2). Attributing opinions under criticism to their author.

== What is Litecoin? ==
Litecoin is the result of some of the bitcoin community who joined together on IRC in an effort to create a real alternative currency similar to Bitcoin. They wanted to make a cryptocoin that is considered silver to Bitcoin's gold ([[#Not Silver to Gold|see criticism]]).

Litecoin aims to maintain the unique traits and attributes of Bitcoin, while adding to the mixture GPU-resistant mining and a 2.5 minute block rate. This means that Litecoin doesn't have reason to compete with Bitcoin for the used up computational cycles of your graphics card, but can work independently on your processor.

== Differences from Bitcoin ==

=== (Slight) Premining ===
Litecoin had two blocks premined, one more than the minimum single genesis block needed to start a block chain.

=== Scrypt Proof of Work ===
Litecoin uses Scrypt as a proof-of-work scheme.
Scrypt adds memory-intensive algorithms to reduce the efficiency of GPUs down to the level of CPUs.
This greatly limits the ability of commodity hardware to mine at high rates. ([[#Vulnerability to mining monopoly|see criticism]]).

=== Faster, Smaller Block Chain ===
The Litecoin blockchain differs from its Bitcoin counterpart in that it tries to have smaller blocks, and generate them four times as fast as the Bitcoin network allows.
This means that 1-confirmation (low value) merchants get faster confirmations for their online products, but increases the network overhead.

=== Total Coinage ===
Miners generate 50 coins per block, like Bitcoin.
In light of faster blocks, to properly mimic Bitcoin's generation trajectory, the amount of coins generated gets halved every 840,000 blocks.
As a result, Litecoin is scheduled to produce roughly 4 times as many coins as Bitcoin, about 82 million litecoins.

==Criticism==
=== Redundancy ===
''(Note: Luke-Jr's opinion follows)'' Litecoin does not provide anything significant that Bitcoin does not already provide.
Because of this, and Bitcoins much greater size, it is unlikely to gain any significant momentum.

==== Not Silver to Gold ====
''(Note: Luke-Jr's opinion follows)'' Litecoin cannot be "silver to bitcoin's gold", because Bitcoin itself is both gold and silver:
While in the long-run, the BTC unit may be too valuable for everyday trade ("gold"), there are other, much smaller [[units]] that can just as well serve the purpose of "silver" while being naturally/automatically "converted" to/from BTC.

=== Vulnerability to mining monopoly ===
Similarly to Bitcoin, Litecoin can be attacked by a rich entity (on the scale of big corporations and governments). Also similarly to Bitcoin, this attack becomes more difficult to orchestrate the higher the hash rate of the network. ''(Note: Luke-Jr's opinion follows)'' However, because Litecoin is designed to be inefficient on all common computer components (both CPUs and GPUs), a malicious entity needs only produce a single piece of specialized/custom hardware to overtake all the commodity mining systems combined.

=== Pyramid scheme ===
''(Note: Luke-Jr's opinion follows)'' Since the aforementioned reasons mean Litecoin has no future potential, it effectively functions as a pyramid scheme, rewarding those who get in sooner at the expense of those who adopt it just before it finally fails (and are left with nothing).
This is not the case for Bitcoin, since it has significant potential to become a long-term currency and continually be beneficial to adopters no matter when they begin using it.

==External links==
*[http://litecoin.org/ Litecoin website]
*[http://liteco.in/ Litecoin forum]
*[http://explorer.liteco.in/ Litecoin block explorer]
*[http://litecoin.kicks-ass.org/graphs/graphs.html Litecoin network graphs]

==See also==
[[Cryptocoin]]

[[Category:Alternative cryptocurrencies]]
[[Category:Digital currencies]]

Litecoin

2011-11-16T20:35:07Z

C k: Removing minor criticism to linking to relevant criticism in Criticism section

== What is Litecoin? ==
Litecoin is the result of some of the bitcoin community who joined together on IRC in an effort to create a real alternative currency similar to Bitcoin. They wanted to make a cryptocoin that is considered silver to Bitcoin's gold ([[#Vulnerability to mining monopoly|see criticism]]).

Litecoin aims to maintain the unique traits and attributes of Bitcoin, while adding to the mixture GPU-resistant mining and a 2.5 minute block rate. This means that Litecoin doesn't have reason to compete with Bitcoin for the used up computational cycles of your graphics card, but can work independently on your processor.

== Differences from Bitcoin ==

=== (Slight) Premining ===
Litecoin had two blocks premined, one more than the minimum single genesis block needed to start a block chain.

=== Scrypt Proof of Work ===
Litecoin uses Scrypt as a proof-of-work scheme.
Scrypt adds memory-intensive algorithms to reduce the efficiency of GPUs down to the level of CPUs.
This greatly limits the ability of commodity hardware to mine at high rates ([[#Not Silver to Gold|see criticism]]).

=== Faster, Smaller Block Chain ===
The Litecoin blockchain differs from its Bitcoin counterpart in that it tries to have smaller blocks, and generate them four times as fast as the Bitcoin network allows.
This means that 1-confirmation (low value) merchants get faster confirmations for their online products, but increases the network overhead.

=== Total Coinage ===
Miners generate 50 coins per block, like Bitcoin.
In light of faster blocks, to properly mimic Bitcoin's generation trajectory, the amount of coins generated gets halved every 840,000 blocks.
As a result, Litecoin is scheduled to produce roughly 4 times as many coins as Bitcoin, about 82 million litecoins.

==Criticism==
=== Redundancy ===
Litecoin does not provide anything significant that Bitcoin does not already provide.
Because of this, and Bitcoins much greater size, it is unlikely to gain any significant momentum.

==== Not Silver to Gold ====
Litecoin cannot be "silver to bitcoin's gold", because Bitcoin itself is both gold and silver:
While in the long-run, the BTC unit may be too valuable for everyday trade ("gold"), there are other, much smaller [[units]] that can just as well serve the purpose of "silver" while being naturally/automatically "converted" to/from BTC.

=== Vulnerability to mining monopoly ===
Similarly to Bitcoin, Litecoin can be attacked by a rich entity (on the scale of big corporations and governments). Also similarly to Bitcoin, this attack becomes more difficult to orchestrate the higher the hash rate of the network. However, because Litecoin is designed to be inefficient on all common computer components (both CPUs and GPUs), a malicious entity needs only produce a single piece of specialized/custom hardware to overtake all the commodity mining systems combined.

=== Pyramid scheme ===
Since the aforementioned reasons mean Litecoin has no future potential, it effectively functions as a pyramid scheme, rewarding those who get in sooner at the expense of those who adopt it just before it finally fails (and are left with nothing).
This is not the case for Bitcoin, since it has significant potential to become a long-term currency and continually be beneficial to adopters no matter when they begin using it.

==External links==
*[http://litecoin.org/ Litecoin website]
*[http://liteco.in/ Litecoin forum]
*[http://explorer.liteco.in/ Litecoin block explorer]
*[http://litecoin.kicks-ass.org/graphs/graphs.html Litecoin network graphs]

==See also==
[[Cryptocoin]]

[[Category:Alternative cryptocurrencies]]
[[Category:Digital currencies]]

Litecoin

2011-11-16T06:27:54Z

C k: lets remain objective here

== What is Litecoin? ==
Litecoin is the result of some of the bitcoin community who joined together on IRC in an effort to create a real alternative currency similar to Bitcoin. They wanted to make a cryptocoin that is considered silver to Bitcoin's gold.
 
Litecoin manages to maintain the unique traits and attributes of Bitcoin, while adding to the mixture CPU-specific mining and a 2.5 minute block rate. This means that Litecoin doesn't have to compete for the used up computational cycles of your graphics card if you're already mining Bitcoins, but can work independently on your processor.
 
They gave everyone their chance at being an "early adopter", they preannounced Litecoin several days ahead of launch day for you to be able to prepare your mining setup on our Testnet. There have also been no more than two blocks mined ahead of release; the genesis block followed by a block to verify it
 
* '''Proof of Work'''
:Litecoin uses Scrypt as a proof-of-work scheme. Scrypt uses the low-latency cache memory of modern processors to provide greater hash-speeds on CPUs in comparison to GPUs. We would like to extend our thanks to ArtForz for the implementation.
 
* '''Open-Source'''
:[https://github.com/coblee/litecoin GitHub repository]
 
* '''Blockchain'''
:The Litecoin blockchain differs from its Bitcoin counterpart in that it tries to have smaller blocks, and generate them four times as fast as the Bitcoin network allows. This means that merchants get faster confirmations for their online products.
 
* '''Command-line Miner'''
:If you would like to squeeze every last piece of performance out of your processor, you can download and compile ArtForz's branch of Jeff Garzik's command-line cpuminer which is optimized for the scrypt cryptographic algorithm.
 
* '''Wallet Encryption'''
:Fresh from the Bitcoin codebase is encryption, which allows you to lock down only the private keys in your wallet, so that you can still see new transactions and your account balance, but are required to enter your encryption key in order to spend. This serves as not only a protection to dumb trojans, but also a sanity check before sending all your funds away.
 
* '''Reward'''
:Miners will generate 50 coins per block. In light of our faster blocks, to properly mimic Bitcoin's generation trajectory, the amount of coins generated gets halved every 840,000 blocks. For those of you doing the math, Litecoin is scheduled to produce roughly 4 times as many coins as Bitcoin, about 82 million litecoins.
 
[http://litecoin.org/ Litecoin website] 
[http://liteco.in/ Litecoin forum] 
[http://explorer.liteco.in/ Litecoin block explorer] 
[http://http://litecoin.kicks-ass.org/graphs/graphs.html Litecoin network graphs] 

==See also==
[[Cryptocoin]]

Cryptocoin

2011-11-16T06:02:47Z

C k: luke-jr: your label of litecoin as merely a "scam" is too narrow an aspect of the broader meaning of the word, litecoin does not suffer from the additional problems other cryptocoins have eg. pre-mining, closed source, centralised in some form.

Cryptocoins are a collective name for all distributed digital crypto-currencies, as opposed to centralised digital crypto-currencies, such as [http://loom.cc/ loom.cc].

==List of cryptocoins==
* [[Bitcoin]]
* [[Testnet|Testnet Bitcoins]]
* [[Namecoin]]
* [[Litecoin]]

Litecoin

2011-11-16T05:58:20Z

C k: Undo revision 19470 by Luke-jr (talk) luke-jr: your label of litecoin as merely a "scam" is too narrow an aspect of the broader meaning of the word

Litecoin is an alternative crypto-currency.

[http://litecoin.org/ Litecoin's website]

==See also==
[[Cryptocoin]]

Comparison of mining pools

2011-07-16T22:10:13Z

C k: Update GH/s for rfcpool

Reward types & explanation:
* '''PPS''' - Pay Per Share. Each submitted share is worth certain amount of BTC. Since finding a block requires <current difficulty> shares ''on average'', a PPS method with 0% fee would be 50 BTC divided by <current difficulty>. It is risky for pool operators, hence the fee is highest.
* '''SMPPS''' - Shared Maximum Pay Per Share. Like Pay Per Share, but never pays more than the pool earns. [http://eligius.st/wiki/index.php/Shared_Maximum_PPS]
* '''Prop.''' - Proportional. When block is found, the reward is distributed among all workers proportionally to how much shares each of them has found.
* '''PPLNS''' - Pay Per Last N Shares. Similar to proportional, but instead of looking at the number of shares in the round, instead looks at the last N shares, regardless of round boundaries.
* '''Score''' - Score based system: a proportional reward, but weighed by time submitted. Each submitted share is worth more in the function of time ''t'' since start of current round. For each share score is updated by: score += exp(t/C). This makes later shares worth much more than earlier shares, thus the miner's score quickly diminishes when they stop mining on the pool. Rewards are calculated proportionally to scores (and not to shares). (at slush's pool C=300 seconds, and every hour scores are normalized)
[http://eligius.st/~luke-jr/samples/800MH/ Visual examples of the various payout methods]

{| class="wikitable sortable"
|-
! Name !! Location !! Hashrate (GHash/sec)<ref name="hashrate">Hashrate is given in gigahash/second.</ref><ref name="hashrate2">Note that pool hashrate is largely irrelevant but can be seen as a popularity measurement. Note however that it is a theoretical security issue if one pool gains above 50% of the total computational power of the network, thus consider joining a pool based on other metrics.</ref> !! Reward Type !! Transaction fees !! Fee PPS !! Fee Prop / Score !! Audits<ref name="auditing">Auditing can be accomplished by third-parties if the pool publishes proofs-of-work for every share.</ref> !! Protocol !! Launched !! Forum Thread !! Homepage
|-
| [[21bitcoin|21bitcoin]] || CN, HK || 2 || Prop. || kept by pool || || 0% || ? || RPC (+LP) || 2011-06-20 || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=20056.0] || [http://21bitcoin.com/pool/ Link]
|-
| [[ArsBitcoin|ArsBitcoin]] || USA || 190 || SMPPS || kept by pool || 0%<ref name="donations">Donations are possible</ref> || || ? || RPC (+LP) || 2011-06-15 || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=18567.0 Link] || [https://arsbitcoin.com/ Link]
|-
| [[bestbitcoinminingpool|bestbitcoinminingpool]] || Australia || 3 || Prop. || kept by pool || || 0% || ? || RPC (+LP) || 2011-07-01 || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=25001.0] || [http://www.bestbitcoinminingpool.com/ Link]
|-
| [[Betcoin.co_Pool|Betcoin.co Pool]] || USA || 5 || Prop. || kept by pool || || 0% || ? || RPC (+LP) || 2011-07-07 || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=26439.0 Link] || [http://pool.betcoin.co/ Link]
|-
| [[Bitclockers|BitClockers]] || USA, EU || 80 || Prop. || kept by pool || || 2% || ? || RPC (+LP) || 2011-05-27 || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=10127.0 Link] || [http://bitclockers.com/ Link]
|-
| [[Bitcoin_Pool|Bitcoin Mining Pool]] || USA || 272 || Prop. || kept by pool || || 0%<ref name="donations">Donations are possible</ref> || ? || RPC (+LP) || Unknown || [http://bitcoinpool.com/forum/ Link] || [http://www.bitcoinpool.com/ Link]
|-
| [[Bitcoin_Pooled_Mining|Bitcoin Pooled Mining (Slush)]] || London || 1491 || Score || kept by pool || || 2% || ? || RPC || 2010-11-27 || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=1976.0 Link] || [http://mining.bitcoin.cz/ Link]
|-
| [[Bitcoins.lc]] || EU || 624 || Prop. || kept by pool || || 0% || ? || RPC (+LP) || 2011-05-27 || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=10121.0 Link] || [http://www.bitcoins.lc/ Link]
|-
| [[BitLotto Pool]] || Los Angeles || 1 || Prop || kept by pool || || || ? || RPC (+LP) || 2011-06-08 || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=13794.0 Link] || [http://www.bitlottopool.com/ Link]
|-
| [[Bitp.it]] || USA || 100 || Prop || kept by pool || || 0% || ? || RPC (+LP) || 2011-06-08 || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=12181.0 Link] || [https://pool.bitp.it Link]
|-
| [[BTC Guild]] || USA, EU || 2800 || Prop. || kept by pool || || 0%<ref name="donationsf">Donations are possible to unlock features</ref>|| ? || RPC (+LP) || 2011-05-09 || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=7760.0 Link] || [http://www.btcguild.com/ Link]
|-
| [[BTCMine]] || UK || 480 || Score || kept by pool || || 2% || ? || RPC (+LP) || 2011-03-11 || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=4251.0 Link] || [http://www.btcmine.com/ Link]
|-
| [[btcmp.com]] || Germany || 17 || Prop || kept by pool || || 0% || ? || RPC (+LP) || 2011-06-28 || || [http://www.btcmp.com/ Link]
|-
| [[Btcserv.net|BTCSERV.net]] || Germany || 1 || Prop || kept by pool || || 0% || ? || RPC (+LP) || 2011-07-09 || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=27101.0 Link] || [http://btcserv.net/ Link]
|-
| [[Btcworld.de]] || Germany || 5 || Prop || kept by pool || || ? || ? || RPC (+LP) || 2011-06-18 || || [http://btcworld.de/ Link]
|-
| [http://chwpool.kr105.com/ CHWpool] || Chile || 10 || Prop || kept by pool || || 1% || ? || RPC (+LP) || 2011-06-30 || || [http://chwpool.kr105.com/ Link]
|-
| [[Coinotron]] || Poland || 2 || Score || kept by pool || || 0% || ? || RPC (+LP) || 2011-07-06 || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=26727.0 Link] || [http://www.coinotron.com Link]
|-
| [[Continuum]] || Canada || 16 || Score || kept by pool || || 0% || ? || RPC (+LP) || 2011-05-17 || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=8660.0 Link] || [http://www.continuumpool.com/ Link]
|-
| [[DeepBit]] || Germany || 4180 || PPS / Prop. || kept by pool || 10% || 3% || ? || RPC (+LP) || 2011-02-26 || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=3889.0 Link] || [http://deepbit.net/ Link]
|-
| [[PolMine]] || Poland|| 109 || Prop. || kept by pool || || 0% || ? || RPC || 2011-06-13 || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/ Link] || [http://polmine.pl/ Link]
|-
| [[Eclipse Mining Consortium]] || USA / Europe / AU / Asia || 50 || Prop / Score || kept by pool || || 0% || ? || RPC (+LP) || 2011-06-14 || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=16385.0 Link] || [https://eclipsemc.com Link]
|-
| [[Eligius]] || Germany || 445 || SMPPS || kept by pool || 0.000004%<ref name="donations">Donations are possible</ref> || || Yes<ref name="auditnote">Access to Eligius proofs-of-work is available on request.</ref> || RPC (+LP) || 2011-04-27 || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=6667.0 Link] || [http://eligius.st Link]
|-
| [[Mineco.in]] || UK || 170 || PPLNS || Shared || || 0% || ? || RPC (+LP) || 2011-06-15 || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=17310.0 Link] || [https://mineco.in/ Link]
|-
| [[Mining Team Reddit (MtRed)]] || USA, EU || 212 || Prop || kept by pool || || 0%<ref name="donations">Donations are possible</ref> || ? || RPC (+LP) || 2011-05-25 || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=15929.0 1] [http://reddit.com/r/mtred/ 2] || [http://www.mtred.com/ Link]
|-
| [[NoFeeMining]] || USA || 48 || Prop || Shared || || 0% || ? || RPC (+LP) || 2011-06-17 || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=18301.0 Link] || [http://www.nofeemining.com/ Link]
|-
| [[Ozco.in]] || AUS || 41 || Prop || kept by pool || || 1% || ? || RPC (+LP) || 2011-06-08 || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=14085.0/ Link] || [http://www.ozco.in Link]
|-
| [[rfcpool]] || UK || 29 || Prop & PPS || kept by pool || 7% || 0% || ? || RPC (+LP) || 2011-07-05 || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=26164.0/ Link] || [https://www.rfcpool.com Link]
|-
| [[Simplecoin]] || Unknown || 1.4 || Prop|| kept by pool || || 0%<ref name="simplecoin">While in testing.</ref> || ? || RPC (+LP) || 2011-06-02 || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=11186.0 Link] || [http://simplecoin.us/ Link]
|-
| [[Swepool]] || Sweden || 13 || Prop || kept by pool || || 0% || ? || RPC (+LP) || 2011-05-14 || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=8288.0 Link] || [http://swepool.net/ Link]
|-
| [[Triplemining]] || Europe || 45 || Prop || kept by pool || || 1% || Yes<ref name="auditnote2">Access to proofs-of-work is available on request.</ref> || RPC (+LP) || 2011-06-28 || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=23664.0 Link] || [https://www.triplemining.com/ Link]
|-
| [[x8s]] || Germany || 4 || Prop || kept by pool || || 1% || ? || RPC (+LP) || 2011-06-08 || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=13275 Link] || [http://btc.x8s.de/ Link]
|-
| [[ZA Bitcoin]] || South Africa|| 0.4 || Score || kept by pool || || 0% || ? || RPC (+LP) || 2011-06-14 || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=17830.0 Link] || [http://www.zabitcoin.co.za/ Link]
|-
| [[HydraCoin(OFFLINE)]] || Italy|| 4.5 || Score || kept by pool || || 0% || ? || RPC (+LP) || 2011-06-27 || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=22343.0 Link] || [http://www.hydracoin.com/ OFFLINE]
|-
| [[Bitcoinitalia]] || Italy|| 4.5 || Prop. || kept by pool || || 0% || ? || RPC (+LP) || 2011-07-12 || [http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=26634.0 Link] || [http://www.btcfarm.us/ Link]
|}

<references/>

== See also ==
*[[Pooled mining]]
*[http://bcx.me/ Bitcoin Mining Pool Tracker]

[[Category:Mining]]