The bitcoin network is a peer-to-peer payment network that operates on a cryptographic protocol. Users send and receive bitcoins, the units of currency, by broadcasting digitally signed messages to the network using bitcoin cryptocurrency wallet software. Transactions are recorded into a distributed, replicated public database known as the blockchain, with consensus achieved by a proof-of-work system called mining. Satoshi Nakamoto, the designer of bitcoin claimed that design and coding of bitcoin began in 2007. The project was released in 2009 as open source software. The network requires the minimal structure to share transactions. An ad hoc decentralized network of volunteers is sufficient. Messages are broadcast on a best effort basis, and nodes can leave and rejoin the network at will. Upon reconnection, a node downloads and verifies new blocks from other nodes to complete its local copy of the blockchain. A bitcoin is defined by a sequence of digitally signed transactions that began with the bitcoin's creation, as a block reward. The owner of a bitcoin transfers it by digitally signing it over to the next owner using a bitcoin transaction, much like endorsing a traditional bank check. A payee can examine each previous transaction to verify the chain of ownership. Unlike traditional check endorsements, bitcoin transactions are irreversible, which eliminates the risk of chargeback fraud. Although it is possible to handle bitcoins individually, it would be unwieldy to require a separate transaction for every bitcoin in a transaction. Transactions are therefore allowed to contain multiple inputs and outputs, allowing bitcoins to be split and combined. Common transactions will have either a single input from a larger previous transaction or multiple inputs combining smaller amounts, and one or two outputs: one for the payment, and one returning the change, if any, to the sender. Any difference between the total input and output amounts of a transaction goes to miners as a transaction fee. In 2013, Mark Gimein estimated electricity consumption to be about 40.9 megawatts (982 megawatt-hours a day). In 2014, Hass McCook estimated 80.7 megawatts (80,666 kW). As of 2015, The Economist estimated that even if all miners used modern facilities, the combined electricity consumption would be 166.7 megawatts (1.46 terawatt-hours per year). To lower the costs, bitcoin miners have set up in places like Iceland where geothermal energy is cheap and cooling Arctic air is free. Chinese bitcoin miners are known to use hydroelectric power in Tibet to reduce electricity costs. Various potential attacks on the bitcoin network and its use as a payment system, real or theoretical, have been considered. The bitcoin protocol includes several features that protect it against some of those attacks, such as unauthorized spending, double spending, forging bitcoins, and tampering with the blockchain. Other attacks, such as theft of private keys, require due care by users.
Burst is an open-source decentralized platform that connects people, companies, and financial institutions. It allows you to move value – according to your own rules – within a scalable, green and customizable ledger. The special proof of capacity method means “you just have to plug in your drive, plot it, and leave your computer mining and earning you coins periodically. The more space you allocate to mining, the higher the reward.” The mining will not hurt your hard drive or cause a noticeable change in your electricity bill. If you ever decide to stop mining, you can delete the information that Burstcoin plots onto the hard drive and use the space for its originally intended purpose. It also offers several other decentralized features such as asset trading and crowdfunding. You can sell digital goods in a peer-to-peer marketplace or even auction off your items. With all of the transactions you engage in on the Burst network, there’s the option of attaching messages as well. An anonymous user introduced Burstcoin on bitcointalk.org in 2014. The coin was developed off of the Nxt platform and thus offers many of the same features. Following in the footsteps of Satoshi Nakamoto, the Burstcoin creator never revealed his identity. After the creator disappeared, the cryptocurrency community organized to continue developing the coin. A team called the Proof of Capacity Consortium is currently developing Burstcoin. Burstcoin is not just famous for its proof of capacity mining. It was the first blockchain to implement “Turing complete” smart contracts. The most famous application of the smart contracts was a completely decentralized lottery. Estimates towards the end of 2017 calculated for each terabyte of hard drive space you commit to the network, you would mine an average of 21 Burstcoins per week. At the time, there were over 150,000 terabytes of storage devoted to the network. Estimates towards the end of 2017 calculated for each terabyte of hard drive space you commit to the network, you would mine an average of 21 Burstcoins per week. At the time, there were over 150,000 terabytes of storage devoted to the network. The online Burstcoin wallet will also walk you through how to start plotting your hard drive so that you can begin mining right away. Burst is designed to be a miner-friendly coin to ensure decentralization of the blockchain. With Bitcoin receiving criticism over wasted energy, Burst offers a more environmentally friendly way to mine and run a decentralized blockchain. If you are looking to mine cryptocurrency but were intimidated by the loud and expensive machines, you might want to check out proof of capacity and consider mining Burstcoin. Or if you simply want a fairly distributed decentralized cryptocurrency with an active development team, then keep your eye on Burstcoin.