Crypto Review - Cryptocurrency Analysis

[CoinHoarder]

I added Peercoin for their work on PoS. I will add the first merge mined Scrypt coin USC & Namecoin as well.

It is up to me who makes it on the list and who doesn't, but thank you all for your suggestions. I will look into them when I have time. I'm on the fence whether to add coins that just change the hashing algorithms on the list.. this includes YAC, Quark, SecureCoin, et al. PrimeCoin also did this, but its PoW solves real life math problems to contribute something to society. If you want one of these added, please explain to me how it was innovative. I honestly haven't had much time to compare them.

Sorry if I take a long time adding a coin to the list.. just because I don't add it now, doesn't mean I won't add it later. I might reassess it at a later date, or perhaps I just don't have time to look it through. To help me in that regards, please post a description of the coin you're proposing, links to its thread/website, etc... it will help me out a lot. If you have any other links for coins already in the OP, please share them and I will add them (or tell me if a link is broken).

[Financisto]

Thanks for updating the list!

It is very informative and save us time.

Keep on doing it frequently (monthly at least)! 

Cheers!

[extro24]

Datacoin allows data to be stored in the block chain.  Time will tell if it grows or not, but it is innovative.

Freicoin introduced demurrage, and no other coin has copied it.  It has a high circulation rate as a consequence.

Gridcoin (and maybe Curecoin) rewards you for BOINC processing.  Something completely different, and a real use for the processing power of the miners.

Crafttcoin, Gamecoin and Huntercoin are aimed at games - they actually do something.

[Tranz]

Freicoin introduced demurrage, and no other coin has copied it.  It has a high circulation rate as a consequence.

Well check again. Globe.....

[extro24]

@Tranz:  Sorry, I didn't know about it.  Brand new.  Seems to be based on Freicoin with some extra features.

[superresistant]

Nxt :: descendant of Bitcoin: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=303898.0
Nxt uses brand new software, it’s not a fork of Bitcoin source code.  Nxt improves different features of Bitcoin, removes some disadvantages (e.g. bloated blockchain) and resolves a big environmental issue. Mining is 100% proof-of-stake, Coins are earned solely by charging transaction fees.
Time between blocks is one minute. Also the colored coin feature for decentralized security exchange purpose will be natively coded and available in Nxt from the day one!
It has the plan to be launched at the 5th anniversary birthday of bitcoin in upcoming January.
PS: just here to introduce another, as I did it for other interesting new altcoins in progress before. Use your own brain to decide whether to participate or not.

I discovered NXT recently and wow... it is a huge stuff.

[St.Bit]

YAC is definitively missing here although it's real innovations are harder to spot than in other innovative cryptos.

Increasing memory requirement for mining over time and the PoS/PoW hybrid makes this the first crypto with properties more of a currency than a commodity.

How fast is the maximum transaction time? Everything above 20 seconds for a secure transaction is not a currency, since it has no chance to replace Visa/Paypal.

That's bullshit. (and no, YAC txt take far longer than 20sec to be save)

For bigger transactions it's usually irelevant if it takes 1hour or one day as long as it's safe. On most smaller payments and some bigger ones centralization works more efficient since no distributed sytem can ever be faster than a fast centralized one.

Requireing an ultrafast, ultrasecure and not centralized crypto is requiring a singe solution to problems that can be better solved with more than one solution. Requiering a farm animal to lay eggs, give milk and tasting like bacon is pointless since noone really needs it with farm animals aviable today. Even if it would exist people would still choose the best egg laying animal for eggs and the best tasting for bacon. It's impossible to be the best on all areas against specialized competition.

[CoinHoarder]

Namecoin (Merge mineable SHA256 coin that acts a decentralized DNS) and United Scrypt Coin (the first merge mineable Scrypt coin) have both been added.

I'm still looking into other coins to add and have a couple in mind that I may add soon... I am trying to be picky when adding coins. I only want coins on this list that actually innovate. I am thinking of adding Anoncoin for being the first cryptocoin that has a fully integrated client in i2p/TOR.

Possible future additions to the list (please convince me to add these coins.. I'm on the fence):
Nxt - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=303898.0
Protoshares - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=325261.0
Bitshares - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=313873.0
My problem with the above coins: It seems they're not really developed yet, although they did raise a lot of money. Since MasterCoin was the first to do this, I added them to the list. I'd like to see a little more development on the newer ones that were "crowd funded" before adding them. Otherwise, anyone could open fundraising and get added to this list... I want it to be a list of the most innovative. Please correct me if you think I'm wrong, show me what has actually been developed on the above coins.

YAC - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=196196.0
Quark - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=260031.0
Secure Coin - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=270852.0
My problem with the above coins:  I'm still on the fence about the coins that are changing the hashing alogrithms to make them CPU/GPU only. I'm afraid I will determine them "innovative" and then next week someone release a GPU miner for them... it's happened before with many coins that claim to be "CPU/GPU only". Which one of these three is the most GPU/ASIC resistant? Or is there a different one that is more GPU/ASIC resistant than these three?

Datacoin - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=325735.0;all

[CoinHoarder]

I already added Anon Coin- the first fully TOR (&i2p) integrated cryptocoin.

I need advice as to what to do regarding:

Possible future additions to the list (please convince me to add these coins.. I'm on the fence):
Nxt - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=303898.0
Protoshares - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=325261.0
Bitshares - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=313873.0
My problem with the above coins: It seems they're not really developed yet, although they did raise a lot of money. Since MasterCoin was the first to do this, I added them to the list. I'd like to see a little more development on the newer ones that were "crowd funded" before adding them. Otherwise, anyone could open fundraising and get added to this list... I want it to be a list of the most innovative. Please correct me if you think I'm wrong, show me what has actually been developed on the above coins.

YAC - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=196196.0
Quark - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=260031.0
Secure Coin - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=270852.0
My problem with the above coins:  I'm still on the fence about the coins that are changing the hashing alogrithms to make them CPU/GPU only. I'm afraid I will determine them "innovative" and then next week someone release a GPU miner for them... it's happened before with many coins that claim to be "CPU/GPU only". Which one of these three is the most GPU/ASIC resistant? Or is there a different one that is more GPU/ASIC resistant than these three?

Datacoin - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=325735.0;all

[mcjavar]

NXT is still missing from here...

[rhyso]

MEC should be there for sure. Kimoto's Gravity well is a great innovation. The coin is only 6 months old an already in top 10 coins in market cap.

[St.Bit]

YAC - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=196196.0
Quark - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=260031.0
Secure Coin - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=270852.0
My problem with the above coins:  I'm still on the fence about the coins that are changing the hashing alogrithms to make them CPU/GPU only. I'm afraid I will determine them "innovative" and then next week someone release a GPU miner for them... it's happened before with many coins that claim to be "CPU/GPU only". Which one of these three is the most GPU/ASIC resistant? Or is there a different one that is more GPU/ASIC resistant than these three?

No idea about the others, but for YAC it was never GPU resistance although a lot of idiots used to belive this.
YAC is currently mined mostly by GPUs, but I think this will change.

I'd say YAC is nearly 99.9% ASIC resistant unless it would grow to a size far far bigger than bitcoin today. It changes memory requirement over time so a new ASIC would have to be made for every new n-factor since it doubles memory needed. Currently this happens 2 times per year but there will be less and less n-changes in the future. There would also be competition from botnets/servers/... so ASICs are unlikely to break even on development costs.

An n-change also favours CPU strongly over GPU so it will make it harder and harder for GPUs.
YAC is the only crypto I'm aware of that adapts to technological innovation by making hashing "harder" over time.
There had been FPGA implementations, but they do not function anymore. For most cryptos it will be there hadn't been
FPGA implementations, but in the future this will be possible. YAC's the other(better) way round.

[psybits]

I think Devcoin deserves a mention.

After all it is still the only crypto to use receiver files (a key innovation) and the coin has been running very well for a very long time.

[Financisto]

I'd suggest that you just add those coins/projects which client/application has already been released.

If I were you, I'd dismiss everything else until further "concrete materialization".

[superresistant]

My problem with the above coins: It seems they're not really developed yet, although they did raise a lot of money. Since MasterCoin was the first to do this, I added them to the list. I'd like to see a little more development on the newer ones that were "crowd funded" before adding them. Otherwise, anyone could open fundraising and get added to this list... I want it to be a list of the most innovative. Please correct me if you think I'm wrong, show me what has actually been developed on the above coins.

Nxt - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=303898.0 this is not the thread
Here is the current thread : https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=345619.0

Why don't you read it, there is tons of people posting great ideas all day all night. It is one of the most active thread. The client is updated everyday, an alternative client should be released in few days.

Here is a video for those who never heard about it :
http://wideo.co/view/1302961386354824506-nxt

[CoinHoarder]

YAC - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=196196.0
Quark - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=260031.0
Secure Coin - https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=270852.0
My problem with the above coins:  I'm still on the fence about the coins that are changing the hashing alogrithms to make them CPU/GPU only. I'm afraid I will determine them "innovative" and then next week someone release a GPU miner for them... it's happened before with many coins that claim to be "CPU/GPU only". Which one of these three is the most GPU/ASIC resistant? Or is there a different one that is more GPU/ASIC resistant than these three?

No idea about the others, but for YAC it was never GPU resistance although a lot of idiots used to belive this.
YAC is currently mined mostly by GPUs, but I think this will change.

I'd say YAC is nearly 99.9% ASIC resistant unless it would grow to a size far far bigger than bitcoin today. It changes memory requirement over time so a new ASIC would have to be made for every new n-factor since it doubles memory needed. Currently this happens 2 times per year but there will be less and less n-changes in the future. There would also be competition from botnets/servers/... so ASICs are unlikely to break even on development costs.

An n-change also favours CPU strongly over GPU so it will make it harder and harder for GPUs.
YAC is the only crypto I'm aware of that adapts to technological innovation by making hashing "harder" over time.
There had been FPGA implementations, but they do not function anymore. For most cryptos it will be there hadn't been
FPGA implementations, but in the future this will be possible. YAC's the other(better) way round.

Thanks for the info on YAC. I agree it does seem ASIC resistant... but then again, so do Quark/SecureCoin/A lot of coins. I can't add them all simply because they are ASIC resistant. I'm hesistant to add them all because of their different PoWs.. if I started doing that then this list will get really long really fast. I guess I'm still on the fence.

----

I am adding Datacoin and Nxt to the list this morning.

[CoinHoarder]

I'd suggest that you just add those coins/projects which client/application has already been released.

If I were you, I'd dismiss everything else until further "concrete materialization".

I agree with you. For the most part I try to only add something that's in development if I think it is a very important project or if it is a very ambitious/innovative project. I will try to keep from posting too many coins that are in development, but some ideas are just so great and the dev teams so capable that I feel there is little chance they won't be fully developed (like Zerocoin).

[CoinHoarder]

I think Devcoin deserves a mention.

After all it is still the only crypto to use receiver files (a key innovation) and the coin has been running very well for a very long time.

I do like that Dev coin was "created to help fund open source projects created by programmers, hardware developers, writers, musicians, painters, graphic artists and filmmakers." I also agree they have been innovative and are certainly different from most ALTs. Devtome is great if it will ever be fully adopted.

I pretty much agree with you, I will think about adding it to the list.

[CoinHoarder]

I added Nxt & a bunch of random links on random entries in the OP.

If you have more links for any of the currencies in the OP, feel free to share... anything like wikis, block explorers, discussion threads, how tos, important services , etc.

I will add Datacoin next, but I'm not sure if I'll have time today.

[St.Bit]

Thanks for the info on YAC. I agree it does seem ASIC resistant... but then again, so do Quark/SecureCoin/A lot of coins. I can't add them all simply because they are ASIC resistant. I'm hesistant to add them all because of their different PoWs.. if I started doing that then this list will get really long really fast. I guess I'm still on the fence.

I don't think that claiming ASIC resistance is innovativ, but increasing memory over time (and the eco. features) are.

It's the only crypto I'm aware of that can't be mined with some of the hardware that it was used to be mined with in the past.
Take a look at what computers calculated 20 years ago and think how you would calculate those now if it was about performance. You'd use FPGA insted of computers and so all other crypto end up mined by specialized hardware.

It doesn't matter if that hardware is called ASIC, FPGA or even mining rig.
This won't happen for YAC since blade servers are not limited to mining crypto.