Bytecoin

Bytecoin (BCN) is the first CryptoNote based cryptocurrency launched in July 2012. CryptoNote technology provides absolute anonymity to Bytecoin using Ring Signatures and one-time addresses. This type of anonymous transactions makes it almost impossible to find out the sender/receiver address. Currently, developers are the most active ones so the CryptoNote cause still prospers.

What is Bytecoin?

Bytecoin (BCN) is often confused with a Bitcoin fork also named Bytecoin (BTE), launched April 1st, 2013. The latter is a near-exact copy of Bitcoin. BCN was created from scratch and is not a fork of Bitcoin in any way. Its history is completely covered in the mist: countless puzzles, unknown developers names, and secret messages.

History

Bytecoin (BCN) was founded on July 4, 2012.

Since the launch, several improvements have been made, including multi-valued transactions and several security updates. In 2013, the original implementation of CryptoNote Java was rewritten using C++. Bytecoin blockchain contains additional information not directly related to remittances: several blocks include the geographical coordinates of universities, educational institutions among other buildings. Blocks created since August 11, 2012, contain quotes from Cyphernomicon, Neuromancer William Gibson and other authors.

On March 31, 2015, Bytecoin developers announced their road map for several future releases. Among others, the following improvements were mentioned:

payment gateway capable of receiving and sending thousands of transactions simultaneously
desktop GUI wallet software (released a few weeks later in April 2015)
several API layers for integration with other software
blockchain-based aliases system
blockchain-based assets
smart contracts with embedded Turing-complete language

December 15, 2017, is planned to develop untraceable tokens.

Another interesting part of Bytecoin’s history is its deep web heritage. There is not much information about that period of time. Though there are a few interesting links which are pointing to some parts of Bytecoin history in DW.

Bytecoin Review

Bytecoin is an open source software. Cryptocurrency uses the principle of Proof-of-work (“Proof of work performance”).

The algorithm for mining in Bytecoin differs in that it actively uses the AES command system for x86 microprocessors and a large amount of memory, which makes mining on the GPU less efficient than for Bitcoin.

It uses the unique CryptoNight algorithm. The essence of the algorithm is in the ring signature, which provides the maximum program anonymity for today. The cryptographic basis for the protocol was created by Ron Rivest, Adi Shamir and Yael Taumann in 2001, and finalized by E. Fujisaki and K. Suzuki in 2007. The EdDSA scheme proposed by the American mathematician Daniel Bernstein is used as the signature algorithm. Additional transaction obfuscation was added to this basis.

Due to CryptoNote and the obfuscation added to the protocol, passive mixing is provided: all transactions in the system are anonymous, and all participants in the system can use plausible deniability in the event of capture.

Bytecoin advertises itself as a completely anonymous altcoin. Bytecoin claims the following features:

Unlimited instant international payments: the Bytecoin network works as fast as the Internet. Payments take a little time to process, as confirmation is required for payment. Bytecoin claims that transactions are processed in about 2 minutes.
Security: Bytecoin “protects the user’s money with secure and modern crypto algorithms” which “cannot be hacked. The creators of Bytecoin argue that breaking a cryptocurrency “will require a lot of expensive electricity and the computing power of supercomputers.”
Secure personal data: Bytecoin states that “it is absolutely impossible to obtain information about your financial transactions and the balance of your wallet” if you do not want to disclose your data one day. Only the user can manage data that partners and third parties can see.

Bytecoin Mining

Bytecoin is a CPU-mined currency which makes it more attractive to more people. Bytecoin is using Egalitarian Proof-of-Work egalitarian ASIC/GPU resistant CryptoNight algorithm. Basically, every modern PC should be able to handle profitable Bytecoin mining.

Bytecoins genesis block was found all the way back in July 2012.

The emission of Bytecoins is limited to just 184.47 billion. Every 120 seconds, the number of Bytecoin that are emitted decreases slightly. As this happens, the BCN tokens increase in value with the exchange rate increasing; essentially, BCN is becoming more expensive.

Emitting Bytecoin is very different than emitting fiat currencies, as that is a closed process. Bytecoin emission, by contrast, is open and uses the computing powers from all members of the network. Any user is welcome to join the network and help emit Bytecoin, which turns them into a miner.

Miners ensure that the transactions, which occur every 120 seconds, are correctly processed. They also provide cryptographic protection for both personal data and transactions. There is no concern about privacy, as miners have no access to the financial data of users. Bytecoin conceals all the information regarding the sender, recipient, and transaction amount immediately.

Mining pools

You can mine BCN at several mining pools such as MinerGate and Eobot.

Bytecoin price

The price of BCN token or Bytecoin is always chaining, however, BitcoinWiki gives you a chance to see the prices online on Coin360 widget.

Bytecoin Exchanges

Bytecoin is available on major cryptocurrency exchanges including HitBTC, Poloniex, Cryptonator, Coinspot, Changelly, Binance and etc.

Mysteries

There always been a lot of mystery behind the Bytecoin. Reddit user joethejudge77 created a theory of why Bytecoin was meant to start in 2012. How the technology logically came to the advent of cryptocurrencies with ring signature and memory-bound function PoW implementation. Soon after Bitcoin’s release, the community started to raise concerns about its anonymity with multiple solutions and propositions.

One other thing worth mentioning is so-called “teams” that were working, testing and mining Bytecoin back in a day. Old BCN website newsfeed contains a lot of references to these teams, such as V. Hugo, The R guy, Dante, etc. This part of the history was also confirmed in the Bytecoin thread on Bitcointalk.

Usage

Bytecoin is primarily used for anonymous transactions. In addition, Bytecoin is used as a currency in some online stores.

As of 1 December 2017, the Dukley Hotel & Resort in Montenegro allows booking rooms by paying with Bytecoin. Since January of 2018, the Domaine de Cromey in Saint-Sernin-du-Plain, France allows booking of food and wine-related holidays by paying in Bytecoin. Also in January, online wine retailer Burgundy Wine Cellars who delivers small production Burgundy wine to most of the United States began accepting payment in Bytecoin and other Cryptocurrencies.

Specifications

Algorithm	CryptoNight
Block time	120 seconds (2 minutes)
Difficulty	block
Block reward	Decreases each block according to the formula: BaseReward = (MSupply – A)/2^18, where MSupply = (2^64 – 1) atomic units and ‘A’ is amount of already generated coins;
Coin division	One coin is divisible down to 8 decimal places (divisible up to 10^8);
Total coins	18 446 744 073 709 551 616 atomic units (= 184.46 billion BCN)

Criticism

It is rumored that Bytecoin was premine. But there is no evidence of this. The very same news was published by Monero coin holders.