HYCON, which stands for Hyper-Connected Coin, is the digital asset built on top of a faster and more scalable blockchain developed by the Infinity Project team in Gangnam, Seoul. Using a DAG (Directed Acyclic Graph) structure, it has the capability to publish several blocks simultaneously with the ability to resolve conflicting transactions and reject double-spends through the SPECTRE consensus algorithm. This makes HYCON a next-generation cryptocurrency which can be used in the real economy. Honest transactions can be confirmed or rejected definitively in mere seconds, due to the high volume of blocks published within that time interval. Transactional throughput up to 3000Tps on a 2MB/s connection can be achieved as a starting point of the project. The DAG structure coupled with the SPECTRE protocol allows for network latency to be essentially removed as a limiting factor on transactional throughput. Blocks that are received out of order can still be ordered based on their implied position in the DAG rather than the time they were received. HYCON is Phase 1 of the Infinity Project Ecosystem and positioned for wide adoption as an efficient medium of exchanging value for enterprises, small businesses, governments, NGOs, and individuals. Together with the Infinity blockchain, HYCON will power the Infinity Platform (Phase 2) and Infinity Decentralized Exchange (Phase 3). The Infinity Platform will feature a simple and intuitive user interface to empower anyone with the ability to create their own customized and private Infinity blockchain. For example, enterprise solutions built upon the Infinity Platform will help increase accountability, enhance transparency, and improve data security, thus bringing value to companies and society.
Digix makes it possible to buy gold in an efficient manner via cryptocurrency by providing investors with a tokenized version of gold so you don’t have to physically own or store it. Digix has two cryptocurrencies, Digix Gold (DGX) and DigixDAO (DGD), each of which serves a key role in the structure. The company proudly gets 99.99 percent of its gold from LBMA-approved refiners, with zero percent from fractional reserves, delivering confidence. With Digix, investors can take advantage of the stability and value of gold as well as the ease of cryptocurrency. Digix essentially tokenizes gold within Ethereum. It takes advantage of the Distributed Ledger’s immutability, auditability, and transparency, applying all these benefits to the precious physical asset of gold. Additionally, Digix has developed multiple technologies, such as the DGX tokens and introduced a new Proof of Asset protocol (POA). A key feature of Digix is its physical gold bullion. By investing, users buy bullion from the LBMA refineries, including the Assay Certificates from refiners like Nadir Bullion, PAMP Suisse, Valcambi, and others. For security, Digix includes third-party auditing from Bureau Veritas. Every quarter, it audits each gold asset within the safehouse vaults. This auditor has been in business since 1828 and is a world leader in certification, inspection, and testing services. With such a long track record, investors should be able to trust Bureau Veritas for their auditing services. Finally, Digix involves recast, which means customers can take their DGX delivery at the partnering custodial vault. Digix incorporated in Singapore in December 2014 and the DGD crowdsale took place on March 30th, 2016. It was the first ever crowdsale and major Distributed Autonomous Organization hosted on the Ethereum network. The sale intended to run for 30 days but met its 5.5 million dollars hard cap in just 12 hours, selling 1.7 million DGD tokens and reserving 300,000 for the Digix team. Pledges who sent over 15,000 USD worth of Ether received a special badge which will allow them to submit proposals to the DigixDAO. For better or worse, when you see the word DAO, you might think of hacking. In July 2017, over 4000 DGD were indeed stolen due to a vulnerability in the crowdsale smart contract. The bug was eventually fixed and the tokens reimbursed to the 35 affected addresses. In January 2018, the vast majority of the cryptocurrency market crashed. DGD was the only coin in the top 100 to rise in value in that time. Perhaps this is an early indicator that people will seek gold as a safe haven during times of market uncertainty. The ICO price of DGD was about 3 dollars, but in 2018, DGD reached an all-time high of over 400 dollars. When Digix finally delivers the DGX tokens and the rewards to DGD participants start rolling in, we might see an even higher demand for DigixDAO. When DGX goes live, it will be available for purchase with Ether on the Digix marketplace.