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.
Stakenet launched in March of 2018 by building off of a POSWallet (POSW) to Stakenet (XSN) coin swap. The Stakenet blockchain was created from the swap and is a modified blockchain based on Bitcoin. POSWallet was the original incarnation of Stakenet and offered a staking wallet that served over 100 of the most popular and common cryptocurrencies. The complete number of POSW coins in distribution grew to 250 million, so the developers burned coins from their wallet to lower the circulation to 70 million. Unfortunately, the website for the POSWallet was hacked, resulting in the team leaving the project. Instead of completely abandoning it, the developers rebuilt the blockchain from the ground up with better features and have now migrated POSW to the superior XSN. The digital coin that powers the Stakenet platform is XSN. It features completely secure Trustless Proof of Stake and is compatible with the Lightning Network, which allows for instant transactions with little to no fees associated with them. XSN will be used to pay for any services on the platform. It can interact with other coins, which will make for many amazing opportunities for investors utilizing the program. For example, by using the platform’s Cross Chain Proof of Stake, holders can stake XSN and earn Bitcoin rewards. Users will also be able to pay anyone using any cryptocurrency just by having XSN. The coin will offer incredible flexibility in the way that it interacts with other cryptocurrencies.