Synthetix is based in Australia, Synthetix launched a seed funding round in September, 2017 to develop the concept of a self-contained stablecoin payment network. They then kicked off their public ICO on February 28, 2018 and by the end of the ICO on March 7, 2018, they had met their goal of $30,000,000 USD. Synthetix was rebranded from Havven on November 30, 2018. Synthetix is led by a multidisciplinary team of 13 individuals. The project was founded by Kain Warwick, who previously co-founded blueshyft, one of the largest digital payment networks in Australia. The CTO is Justin Moses, who also serves as the Director of Engineering at MongoDB. Synthetix aims to address the problem that companies running centralized payment networks such as PayPal, credit card networks, or the SWIFT banking network have “absolute control over the value within the network, so any transaction conducted within them may be blocked or reversed at any time.” According to the Synthetix white paper, “Although this is ostensibly designed to protect users, it introduces systemic risk for all participants. If the network is compromised or its owners cease to behave benevolently, no party can trust that the value in their account is secure or accessible.” This is theorized to work because anyone who holds SNX tokens in escrow will be incentivized by Synthetix rewards derived from network transaction fees that will be distributed “in proportion with how well each issuer maintains the correct Synths supply.” When a Synthetix escrow user puts their SNX in escrow, USD-stabilized Synths will be automatically put up for sale on a decentralized exchange at a price of $1 USD. To release escrowed SNX, the user must buy back the Synths issued (also at a price of $1 USD) at which point the Synths will be burned. The Synthetix system uses an algorithm to adjust network fees, and therefore dividends, to SNX holders to incentivize (or disincentivize) the holding of SNX in escrow smart contracts, and thus, the creation of Synths. The theory is that this will cause users to mint and burn Synths in the appropriate amount based solely on supply and demand.
PIVX stands for Private Instant Verified Transaction. PIVX is an MIT licensed anonymity-based cryptocurrency created out of a fork of DASH. PIVX is an open source blockchain-based Proof of Stake cryptocurrency with Zerocoin protocol implementation for industry leading transaction privacy. PIVX project is focused on advancing its privacy technology to ensure fungibility, improve network scalability and increase real-world utilization to become an effective decentralized online digital currency for everyone. PIVX inherited all the technical features of DASH such as masternodes, instant send and private transfer. It has a block time of 60 seconds and has a fixed reward size per block that uses a custom Seesaw Algorithm that dynamically alters the reward split between masternode and staking nodes. PIVX also utilizes a decentralized network of masternodes that allow feature services, treasury management, and community governance. The project is focused on advancing its privacy technology to ensure fungibility, improving network scalability, and increasing real-world utilization to become a globally-accepted decentralized online digital currency. PIVX is the first cryptocurrency to implement a directly spendable Zerocoin protocol and has also developed and implemented an industry-first Zerocoin-capable Proof of Stake consensus algorithm, called zPoS, that allows complete privacy of the balance and transactions while staking. PIVX “wallet” software closely resembles running your own bank, while basecoin (PIV) for transparent transactions and Zerocoin (zPIV) for completely anonymous, untraceable transactions. PIVX is an advanced privacy-enabled proof-of-stake cryptocurrency using the Zerocoin Protocol, an advanced zero-knowledge-proof privacy protocol for utmost transaction anonymity, and zPoS, a world’s first privacy-enabled Proof of Stake technology all developed by a team of highly experienced developers and cryptographers. Here at PIVX, we wanted to do something innovative, so we brought this cutting-edge technology to life. PIVX is available to be purchased directly with some popular fiat currencies. Here are some exchanges that provide the option to buy PIVX with currencies (USD, EUR etc.) UpBit, Coinroom, LiteBit. The PIVX network allows for 2.6 million PIVX tokens to be minted per year forever, with 90% of the minted coins going to staking wallets and Masternodes (staking is covered in the next section), and 10% going to fund budget proposals voted on by the Masternodes and stakers. This lack of a maximum coin supply makes PIVX function similar to a traditional currency, as inflation is introduced to the system to encourage daily usage and avoid hoarding. The inflation is around 4% per year, but instead of simply devaluing your currency like the Fed does when it prints Dollars, all those minted coins are going directly to holders of PIVX, offsetting the effect of inflation by spreading the profits. PIVX is a promising privacy coin aiming to be an easy-to-use digital cash replacement. There have been a few hiccups surrounding the implementation of the privacy technology, but the community and development team are active, engaged, and optimistic. It’s performing well on the market, with high volume and support from major exchanges (most notably Bittrex) and looks like it’ll be around for a while.'