DigiByte is the name for both an open source cryptocurrency and the decentralized global blockchain on which it operates. The DigiByte Blockchain was created in 2013, followed by the DigiByte coin release in January of 2014. The goal of DigiByte, is to create a large community for virtual currency users across the world to use seamlessly in real time transactions.
Jared Tate, a programmer and entrepreneur, created DigiByte with the hope that it could reach a wider and more decentralized community than its predecessor, Bitcoin. DigiByte has since made significant strides in establishing itself as a serious cryptocurrency leader.
In 2015, a number of shopkeepers in the Netherlands began using DigiByte as a payment to manufacturers in Hong Kong, which documented the first use of the cryptocurrency on such a large scale. This was a prime example of how a virtual currency could be used to simplify transactions for businesses across different countries, who would otherwise have to deal with the conversion of traditional currencies.
Like many cryptocurrencies, DigiByte intrigues many due to the fact that it isn’t controlled by any central power, such as a government or bank. All money exchanged on the DigiByte Blockchain is cryptographically secured and requires a series of confirmations that ensure users know what they are giving or receiving. DigiByte also offers a number of new and intriguing concepts that make it unique in the virtual currency world.
How Does DigiByte Work?
Bitcoin, the first and perhaps most popular form of virtual currency, introduced users to a peer-to-peer network that utilized blockchain to help people exchange currency over its network. Every time a transaction is completed, a certain amount of Bitcoin, or BTC, is released. The amount of Bitcoin that is released during this process is halved every four years, until reaching the cap of 21 million Bitcoins. DigiByte does the same thing but differs in a number of ways.
One of the biggest differences between the two is that DigiByte, or $DGB, has a cap of 21 billion coins that will be released over time. This is in stark contrast to the 21 million Bitcoins. Jared Tate explained the reasoning behind this decision was due to the fact that Bitcoin had seen a tremendous increase in value Bitcoin over such a short period of time.
As of June 2017, one BTC had reached over $2,800. For users to be trading or making purchases with Bitcoin it became more confusing, because the amounts being transferred were becoming complicated fractions. By increasing the total number of units that would be released, Tate hoped to offer users a more simple and familiar transaction of familiar numbers when dealing in $DGB.
When DigiByte first came into existence it opened with a block time of 60 seconds, which allowed it to handle up to 140 transactions per second. Essentially this meant that it took 60 seconds to add another block on the block chain, thus completing a transaction. Every 2 years, the DigiByte blockchain system doubles the number of transactions by halving the block time. In 2035, the number of $DGB will have reached 21 billion and the blockchain will be able to handle 280,000 transactions per second.
DigiByte Wallets
Another notable difference with DigiByte is that it requires users to download a DigiByte Wallet to their PC. The DigiByte Wallet is simply the program through which the users are able to make transactions on. DigiByte Wallet downloads are available for Windows, OS X, and Android. These wallet options allow users across platforms to use DigiByte Blockchain and own DigiByte coin.
The most unique wallets offered by DigiByte are its gaming wallets. DigiByte offers both a Gaming Wallet and a Chrome Gaming Wallet. These gaming wallets actually offer users the option to mine $DGB by playing popular video games like League of Legends or Counter-Strike. Players can link their gaming accounts and earn $DGB by playing. Payouts can vary, and doing quests provided by the DigiByte Gaming platform can boost income. It may seem odd but it’s that simple.
DigiByte “Forks”
One of DigiByte’s main selling points is its security. To ensure that it is operating with the security of its users in mind, DigiByte has gone under a series of “Forks”, or changes in the blockchain. Since its conception, DigiByte has experienced four hard forks, which have radically changed the blockchain so that users were forced to upgrade to the latest version, making previous versions essentially obsolete. Each hard fork was created to improve the security or functionality of DigiByte in some way. The following hard forks were introduced to DigiByte:
DigiShield – Originally activated in February 2014 in order to allow the DigiByte Blockchain to stop anyone from mining a large amount of DigiByte at a low difficulty. It does this by checking block difficulty following each block completion.
MultiAlgo – Introduced in September 2014 this hard fork brought with it the introduction of multi-algorithm mining. Without getting too technical, this hard fork allowed groups of miners using a variety of techniques access to mining DigiByte, who would have otherwise been unable to do so.
MultiShield – Activated in December of 2014 in an attempt to work with DigiShield across the newly introduced MultiAlgo fork.
DigiSpeed – Activated in December of 2015 and used the help of Microsoft to reduce block time by 50 percent, making transaction speeds faster.
How is DigiByte Different From Other Cryptocurrencies?
DigiByte incorporates a number of familiar cryptocurrency concepts while offering some new and refreshing ideas. The increase on the cap of the total number of coins that will be released is intriguing to anyone who has ever transferred 0.000000005 BTC. In its first three years of existence, DigiByte has also shown its dedication to ensuring the safety and security of its transactions.
DigiByte provides its users with a lot of tangible information regarding the production and mining of its currency, which really sets it apart from other virtual currencies. It’s website, www.digibyte.co offers a number of articles detailing the ways in which the currency is mined and the time it takes for these processes to be completed. The site is geared more towards developers, or at least those that have a technical background in understanding the complexity of digital currency, but hopefully it can provide some insight about DigiByte and its uses.
Future of DigiByte
Since its introduction, DigiByte has seen a tremendous amount of success and that trend may continue for many years to come. DigiByte has already shown its practical uses, such as those put on display in the Netherlands. Like many cryptocurrencies, DigiByte acts as a secure, global payment network and has a lot of promise, given the fact that its ceiling for coin production can act as a force to prevent inflation. That being said, there is still a fair amount of ground to cover before DigiByte becomes a household name.
As mentioned previously, DigiByte was invented to create a virtual currency that could offer a larger community of users who could execute safe and secure transactions within units they were familiar with. Whether or not it has been able to achieve this has yet to be determined. While, the DigiByte community is growing, it simply does not compare to Bitcoin’s or other popular currencies. People are still skeptical about cryptocurrenices as a whole, and DigiByte can be overwhelming for any first-timers.
All things considered, there’s no denying the speed of DigiByte and the security of its transacdtions. It offers the familiarity of a traditional open source blockchain cryptocurrency, but lacks the large user base it needs to really make it success. The potential for DigiByte is there so there is reason to be hopeful that it can become the useful transaction network it hopes to be.
