MonaCoin is an open source digital currency and a peer-to-peer (p2p) payment network. Dubbed by its creators as “the first Japanese cryptocurrency,” the coin has become somewhat of Japan’s national alternative to Bitcoin or Litecoin. Like its predecessors, the coin was created purely to serve as P2P electronic cash, a decentralized digital currency aimed at Japanese citizens. There are a few key differences that set it apart from the coins that came before it, and this guide is dedicated to drawing out these differences. Conceived in December of 2013, Monacoin was officially born on January 1st, 2014 with no premine. A Bitcoin Talk Forum on the same date details the coin’s launch and its specifications. A soft fork was executed at block 937440 to implement Segwit, a move made to keep it in line with Bitcoin, Litecoin, Vertcoin, and other payment-focused cryptocurrencies. In addition, the Monacoin team has reportedly implemented the Lightning Network for their coin. Speaking of soft forks, Monacoin is actually a hard fork of Litecoin, something we’ll take into account further as we look into its specs below. Monacoin was originally founded by the pseudonymous Mr. Wantanabe, no doubt in homage to Bitcoin’s Satoshi Nakamoto. Besides this pen name, the rest of the coin’s team is completely anonymous, so there’s nothing to report on here. In addition, the project has no visible roadmap on its site or anywhere else online. The team does seem to stay on top of updates and upgrades, however, as the Segwit and Lyra2REv2 updates and Lightning Network implementation suggest. It is popular in Japan where it was developed. It Uses Lyra2REv2 and Dark Gravity Wave v3 algorithm to ensure fairer mining opportunities, success rate and difficult levels of mining process respectively. Monacoin is the first cryptocurrency from Japan. It has received wide support and success in the country and is not crossing the national boundary to try and become a global phenomenon. While that is not going to happen in the next year or two, it does have the making of a good crypto token. It is steadily improving its service and has constantly strived to give its users the best possible experience. When Scrypt compliant ASIC miners appeared they switched to Lyra2REv2 to ensure the mining MONA remains a fair battle between miners from around the world. The instance of a Japanese national using Monacoin to buy land made news in the country and beyond, spreading the popularity of the coin.
KuCoin is an international cryptocurrency exchange based out of Hong Kong that currently supports the trading of 210 digital assets. What’s unique about KuCoin is that they share 50% of their overall trading fee revenue with users holding their exchange-based token. In a similar fashion to Binance, KuCoin offers relatively low tradings fees and incentives for holding (or trading) its native cryptocurrency. Back in 2011, the founders started researching blockchain tech and went further to build the technical architecture for KuCoin in 2013. 4 years later, the exchange launched with the ultimate goal of “becoming one of the top 10 worldwide hottest exchange platform[s]” by 2019. As stated on their official website which lists 12 core members, “Kucoin aims at providing users digital asset transaction and exchange services which are even more safe and convenient, integrating premium assets worldwide, and constructing state of the art transaction platform”. CEO and founder, Michael Gam, is a former technical expert at Ant Financial, an affiliate company of the Chinese Alibaba Group. He was also a senior partner at Internet giants like MikeCRM and KF5.COM. OO, Eric Don, is referred to as a “senior Internet researcher, systems architect, and Internet industry star”. He is also stated to be the CTO and senior partner of IT companies including YOULIN.COM, KITEME, and REINOT. However, it’s unclear if these websites actually exist as they did not show in a Google search or when entering the website domains. According to his LinkedIn, he is currently CTO at Youlin Network Technologies, yet there is no mention of KITEME or REINOT. With its growing user base and increasing number of cryptocurrencies being offered, KuCoin may be set up for a strong run in the markets. KuCoin Shares volume is expected to grow as the daily trading volume on KuCoin, hence, trading fees collection grows & thus, the size of dividend payout grows. This can lure investors to hold KCS token which may even increase its value. KuCoin faces stiff competition from OKEx, but it expects to continue to grow its community exponentially as it is being projected to be one among the top 5 exchanges in the world.