Achain is a public blockchain platform that enables developers of all levels to issue tokens and create smart contracts, decentralized applications, and blockchain systems. Achain is committed to building a global blockchain network for information exchange and value transactions. Unlike Bitcoin or Ethereum, Achain utilizes a modified version of DPoS — RDPoS (Result-delegated Proof of Stake) to establish node consensus. Shortly, DPoS suggests that all coin holders vote for the validator nodes that will produce the next blocks. On the project website, only info about CEO Tony Cui is listed. Cui has a few significant accomplishments, including winning the Future Star award from the Zhongguancun Alliance and being listed in the 30 under 30 on CYZONE, a famous venture capital magazine. On LinkedIn, 51 people are listed as employees at Achain. Most of the team is based in Beijing. Achain also has a few key industry partners. It has even co-organized a “Blockchain Technology Open Course” with Tsinghua University, which is widely recognized as one of the world’s top universities. The roadmap for Achain development is fairly detailed. However, most goals listed are development-oriented rather than marketing or design. Still, it’s important to note that focusing on making the protocol interoperable and building a technology that is more accessible to mainstream adoption could also be considered a marketing-oriented part of this project. There are three major phases with projected completion dates listed. These include Singularity (completed Q1), Galaxy (ongoing), and Cosmos (complete at the end of Q4). One thing to note is that dates for these phases are not consistent between the homepage and the whitepaper. This could be simply due to a scenario in which phase names remain the same while new goals and timeline dates within those phases continue to change. In January 2019, the project will update the website to reflect roadmap goals for the new year. Looking at the current landscape of blockchain projects, Achain certainly offers the possibility of much-needed technical innovations. The ability to easily create an Achain fork, as well as, the protocol’s unique RDPoS consensus algorithm make this a promising project. It will be interesting to see how Achain builds upon its accomplishments, and how the project team continues to develop a long-term strategy for improving the protocol’s technical capabilities and increasing participation in its ecosystem.
Tezos is a coin created by a former Morgan Stanley analyst, Arthur Breitman. It is a smart contract platform which is does not involve in mining Tezos coins. It is a coin that promotes themselves on major ideas of self-amendment and on-chain governance. It is an Ethereum-like blockchain that hosts smart contracts. It allows the community to vote and improve its flaws. Any token holder may delegate their voting rights to others in the network. The coin uses a generic network shell which allow different transaction and consensus protocols that a blockchain needs to be compatible. The source code is implemented on OCaml which is a fast, flexible and functional programming language which should suit an ambitious project and its technical requirements. Tezos’ proof-of-stake consensus algorithm is different from the delegated proof-of-stake (dPOS) where they go by the name liquid proof-of-stake. This liquid proof-of-stake that Tezos uses focus in filling the gap between both security and decentralization but still being able to take advantage of the benefits that delegated proof-of-stake offers. The staking process in Tezos is called “baking”. In this blockchain, bakers who make deposits will be rewarded for signing up and publishing blocks. However, if a baker commits any bad behavior the deposits will be forfeited. Baking & Endorsing Baking is what Tezos refers to as the action of signing and publishing a new block in the chain. Bakers need at least 10,000 XTZ to qualify as a delegate, and having additional delegated stake increases their chances of being selected as a Baker or Endorser. At the beginning of each cycle (4096 blocks), the Bakers for each block are randomly selected and published. Bakers earn a block reward of 16 XTZ for baking a block. In addition to the Baker, 32 Endorsers are randomly selected to verify the last block that was baked. Endorsers receive 2 XTZ for each block they endorse. Block Rewards & Inflation Block rewards are funded by protocol defined inflation. Rewards are calibrated so that the number of XTZ tokens grows at roughly 5.5% per year. If 100% of Tezos tokens are delegated, the annualized yield will be 5.5%. Currently, 38% of Tezos tokens have been delegated, including the 10% owned by the Tezos Foundation, so the annualized yield is currently 14%. To ensure Bakers and Endorsers act honestly, they are required to post a security deposit for each block they Bake or Endorse. They forfeit this deposit in the event of malicious activity, such as double baking or double endorsing a block. In 2018, Tezos successfully launched their main network after delaying the launch due to corporate governance disputes. The Tezos foundation planned to transition the network to a mainnet, or a more complete version. The foundation has also raised $232 million in July 2017 to build the network and issue a new type of cryptocurrency to its backers in one of the largest- ever initial coin offerings. The founders have also made it clear in their blog that the network is using a new blockchain technology hence unexpected issues may still occur affecting the network. Check out CoinBureau for the complete review of Tezos.