ReddCoin (abbreviated RDD) is a cryptocurrency designed for tipping users on major social networks like YouTube, Twitter, Reddit, Instagram, Facebook, etc. Imagine getting paid for your tweet or Facebook post with a crypto coin you can use to purchase items, gift cards, or in-game credits in freemium games. That’s the gist of ReddCoin.
Upvotes, likes, or retweets are essentially imaginary internet points with no real value. ReddCoin, which brands itself as a “social currency,” wants to bring real monetary value to social networks by allowing users to “tip” money to content creators as easily as liking or retweeting a post.
ReddCoin is designed to become a full-fledged social network coin. Its developers are working on a hub for managing tip bot accounts on YouTube, Reddit, Twitter etc. So far, ReddCoin tipping has been enabled on Twitter, Reddit, Justin.tv, and Twitch. The developers hope it will eventually become the internet’s official “tip” button for tipping users who provide quality content on social media networks.
How ReddCoin Works
As a fork of Litecoin, ReddCoin was originally launched a cryptocurrency with a Scrypt Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus algorithm. It transitioned to a Proof-of-Stake-Velocity (PoSV) algorithm in August 2014. At the time, PoSV was a new consensus algorithm derived from Proof-of-Stake that was developed to reduce the environmental impact of securing blockchains and encourage active participation amongst users.
PoSV encourages both ownership (staking) and activity (velocity). Under a PoSV mechanism, new coins are “minted” instead of mined. Minting ReddCoins requires very little computing power and can be done using the CPUs of consumer-grade PCs, laptops, and even mobile devices. Expensive ASICs and GPUs aren’t necessary and won’t give users an unfair advantage.
As a result of the transition to PoSV, ReddCoin’s hard cap was reduced from 109 billion coins to approximately 27 billion coins, which is the amount mined before the transition away from PoW. Under the PoSV system, new coins are minted at a rate of approximately 5% per annum and are distributed to staking users. In theory, there is now an infinite supply of ReddCoin.
Minting is a built-in function of the official ReddCoin wallet. All you have to do is keep your wallet online to stake your coins, and the system will automatically send rewards you earn to a designated address in your wallet. With such low barriers to entry, every ReddCoin holder can become a “minter” regardless of technical experience.
ReddCoin vs. Other Cryptocurrencies
ReddCoin is somewhat similar to Dogecoin, in that it’s a cryptocurrency with an extremely large volume that’s specifically designed for tipping users on social networks. But it’s like a newer and upgraded version of Dogecoin with a more realistic use case. Here are some features that make it stand out:
Proof of Stake Velocity – PoSV is an innovate consensus algorithm that solves many of the issues of traditional PoW and PoS algorithms and eliminates the wasteful consumption of resources for mining.
Redd-ID – In keeping with ReddCoin’s social aspect, the developers designed a ReddCoin Social ID system, or Redd-ID for short, that lets users register their names on a blockchain level. Users can use Redd-ID to tip using their registered name and whatever additional details they chose to share (email address, avatar, etc.) instead of a complex alpha-numeric public key.
ReddWallet – ReddCoin’s official wallet provides users with all the features of a standard QT wallet with added social features like an IRC chat box for the #ReddCoin channel and feeds for official announcements, Twitter, and Reddit. The wallet can also be used for staking ReddCoins to earn block rewards.
ReddCoin Pricing, Market Cap and Volume
There are currently 28.7 billion ReddCoins in circulation. The currency was launched via an ICO held on January 20, 2014, that raised $100,000 USD. It was officially released to the public on February 2, 2014.
ReddCoin maintained a relatively low value from Q1 2014 to Q2 2017. Its market cap spiked in May 2017 and then once again in January 2018 to reach an all-time high of ~$765 million USD ($0.026 USD per token), but it hasn’t managed to maintain that upward trajectory.
Some speculators believe ReddCoin may reach $1 in 2018, but the developers haven’t announced any major changes that might give the price a big boost.
Buying and Storing ReddCoin
ReddCoin can be traded on UPbit, ShapeShift, CoinSpot, LiteBit, Bitsquare, Godex, Bittrex, Cryptopia, YoBit, and Bleutrade. UPbit currently has the highest trade volume of RDD.
ReddCoin has an official core wallet available on Windows, Linux, and macOS. For mobile storage, the ReddCoin community recommends Coinomi and Uberpay.
Liquidity of Reddcoin
The price spikes in May 2017 and January 2018 brought a lot of attention to ReddCoin and helped improve its market liquidity. According to a developer update from March 2, 2018, adoption and active address space more than doubled in February, which shows a lot of promise.
Development languished after the original ReddCoin team abandoned the project, but a new team has stepped up to reinvigorate and rebuild ReddCoin. They published their roadmap for 2018 and it looks like the project may finally complete some long-overdue milestones, like the release of Redd-ID. It’s still too soon to tell if ReddCoin will be a success, but it’s heading in the right direction.
