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.
Emercoin (EMC) is an open-source cryptocurrency which originated from Bitcoin, Peercoin and Namecoin. Other than being a cryptocurrency, it is also a platform for secure distributed blockchain business services. The EMC coin is used for accessing the blockchain-based services provided by Emercoin. Emercoin inherits the reliability and security of Bitcoin, while at the same time adding more features to its own blockchain by leveraging several innovative technologies. The Emercoin blockchain has been specially designed to provide businesses with the secure blockchain services and also allow them to create their own decentralized apps. Emercoin was founded in the year 2013 by Eugene Shumilov who also serves as the chief executive officer of Emercoin. The Emercoin team also consists chief technical officer Oleg Khovayko, a cryptocurrency & financial expert and Stan Polozov a Blockchain Implementation Specialist. Emercoin is also backed by a decentralized team of nine advisors from across the world. Emercoin has been in the market since 2014, and its past trend in the cryptocurrency market shows that it has followed a steady and stable growth. Emercoin has scored many partnerships. Two of its major partners are Coca Cola and Microsoft. Some other partners are RedHat, LLoyd’s, Bitfury, Aspanta, Deloitte, Authorizers, Foundico, Anteko, etc. Emercoin has also been featured on some prominent media platforms such as Forbes, Digital Trends, Engadget, The Business Times, Aljazeera, Gadgets Now and others. With the sheer variety of services that the Emercoin platform makes available to its users, it would not be surprising to see this currency be viewed as a lucrative investment option by many novice as well as experienced investors in the near future. With the currency’s value currently hitting new highs, it can be said that many people are now beginning to see the true power and potential of this emerging blockchain. However, as is the case with all crypto assets, past performance should not be used to predict the future value of EMC.