Byteball

Byteball Bytes (GBYTE) is a DAG-based cryptocurrency developed by Anton (Tony) Churyumov. Byteball is a peer-to-peer, decentralized database that provides for the tamper-proof storage of data. By linking transactions to one another in the system, Byteball aims to create safe contracts that can be trusted to execute exactly as agreed upon.

Byteball Review

The Byteball network was launched in December 2016 by founder and chief developer Tony Churyumoff. At the same time, the first GBYTE coin distribution took place. Rather than using blockchain, Byteball stores and orders transactions using a Distributed Acyclic Graph (DAG), which links storage units to one another.

Just like other common cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, Byteball allows you to initiate a payment by specifying the receiver’s wallet address and the amount you want to send. However, one key difference is that Byteball makes it possible to send conditional payments – in other words, the person you’re sending GBYTE to will only receive the funds once they have met the other conditions you specify as part of the contract.

Bytes are the native currency of Byteball, and they reflect the value of storing transactional data on the decentralized system. You use Bytes to pay for adding data to the database, and they can also be used to issue your own currencies.

Before making a decision about whether to purchase Byteball Bytes or any other cryptocurrency, you should make sure you understand the risks attached. There are several factors people typically consider before deciding whether to purchase GBYTE.

Supply. At the time of writing, there have been 10 GBYTE coin distribution rounds, with the next round scheduled for March 2018. As of 17 January 2018, this meant there was a circulating supply of 645,222 GBYTE. To encourage mass adoption of the Byteball system, 98% of all Bytes are to be distributed for free.
Demand. Consider the potential real-world applications of Byteball as well as the current trading volume of GBYTE on cryptocurrency markets to get a better idea of the demand for Byteball Bytes.
How Bytes are used. Bytes are used to pay for adding data to the Byteball database. They can also be used to issue other currencies that represent property rights, debt, shares and more.
Market competition. You’ll also need to consider how Byteball is placed to deal with competition from other companies offering a similar service. For example, while there are several key differences between the two cryptocurrencies, IOTA is also based on DAG technology.

Smart/conditional payments

The killer feature is the Smart/Conditional Payment. You set a condition for how the payee receives the money. If the condition is not met, you get your money back. This substitutes for trust between strangers because neither is able to scam the other.

This feature has many real-world peer-to-peer applications, including:

no-fee crypto exchanges
sports betting
selling or buying insurance concerning negative events like a flight delay.

Textcoin

One can send Bytes (Byteball funds) by email or WhatsApp etc, even if the recipient is not in Byteball yet. For email, the sender just writes an email address where he would normally write a Byteball address. When he hits “Send”, his email app is opened with pre-filled text for the recipient. The sender can edit the textcoin text before sending. The recipient receives an email with a link. Example:

Identity verification for cryptos

Every Byteball user can link his Byteball address to his real world identity. The user’s personal data is verified by Jumio, the leading provider of identity verification services, and stored in the user’s Byteball wallet. At the same time, a hash of the personal data is stored on the public DAG and signed by a trusted attestor.

This attestation allows the user to prove to anybody that his Byteball address is linked to a verified person, without disclosing any personal information. It also allows revealing the private information to individual service providers on demand, and the service provider can easily verify the authenticity of this information using the hash stored on the public DAG.

Sending payments directly to email addresses

When you have attested an email address using the Email attestation bot, anyone can make payments to you from their wallet using only that email address. The platform will automatically replace it with the attested Byteball address.

Note that if you have several email addresses you can link each one to separate single-address wallets you create in your main wallet. This is all independent of the identity verification procedure above.

Blackbytes

Private payments can be made using blackbytes, a cash-like untraceable currency. Its transactions are not visible on the public database that shows all payments made with (white)bytes. Blackbytes are sent peer-to-peer instead in an encrypted chat session in the wallet.

Chatbots

Chatbots are fun and facilitate real-world transactions, including shopping with a merchant and paying with two clicks. Current chatbots are: Real name attestation bot, Email attestation bot, Exchange bot, Flight delay insurance, Byte-BTC exchange, Flight delays oracle Sports oracle, BTC oracle, Rosie bot, Byteball Asset Manager, Zork | game, Poll bot, Blackbytes Exchange BEEB (Trustful), Blackbyte Exchange (Semi-trustless^), Buy blackbytes (trustless), Slice&Dice MUD, Betting bot (Semi-trustless), Luckybytes Lottery (provably fair), TitanCoin ICO, Byteball-Altcoin Exchange Bot, Fun-coins faucet, SilentNotary ICO. These are all available free of charge in the wallet’s built-in Bot Store in the Chat tab.

Byteball wallets

The Byteball wallet is available for download from the Byteball website. The wallet is compatible with the following platforms:

iOS;
Android;
Windows;
Mac;
Linux;

The wallet is also available for download from GitHub and features a peer-to-peer exchange where you can sell Bytes and BTC.

Byteball Price (GBYTE)

Byteball Market cap on 10 July 2018: $77,314,570 USD

Byteball Price on 10 July 2018: $119.69 USD

Byteball ICO

Start Time: 7-August-2017 @ 18:10 UTC
End Time: N/A (end of day).
Total Supply: 10^15 Bytes (unclear amount of BlackBytes), 98% for distributions.
Maximum Raise: N/A. Byteball are not raising funds via their distributions. Bytes are linked to BTC, however.
Pricing Structure: 1 GB (1 billion Bytes) for every 16 BTC, and an additional 1 GB for every 5 GB.
Holding of Funds: N/A, however Travin Keith (Nxt Foundation Marketing Director and Blockchain Consultant | Board Member) is a community fund escrow signatory.

Platform

Byteball has its native currencies, Bytes and Blackbytes. It is also a platform for new assets (coins/tokens) you can create yourself at minimal cost in five minutes. You can simply send your asset to anyone with a Byteball wallet, or you can use your asset in many smart contracts.

Some examples:

Fun-coins: You can get millions of Tingos, Tangos, Zingos, Zangos and Credits from the free faucet in the Bot Store. The idea is use them to practise with textcoins, smart contracts, family/social tokens etc without worrying if you lose them somehow.
TitanCoin ICO: Independent ICO, where coins can be bought via the bot paying with GB, BTC, or Ethereum.
SilentNotary ICO: Independent ICO, where coins can be bought via the bot paying with GB, BTC, or Ethereum.

Basic info

Native currencies

Bytes: Total supply = 10^15 bytes. Unit on exchanges is the GBYTE. 1 GB = 1,000 MB = 1,000,000 KB = 1,000,000,000 Bytes.
Blackbytes: Total supply = 2.1111 x 10^15. 1 GBB = 1,000 MBB = 1,000,000 KBB = 1,000,000,000 Blackbytes.

All Bytes and Blackbytes were created at the genesis unit. So far approx 65% have been issued for use.

Date introduced

First announced 5 September 2016.
Platform went live on 25 December 2016.

DAG

Byteball data is stored and ordered using a directed acyclic graph rather than a blockchain. This allows all users to secure each other’s data by referencing earlier data units created by other users, and also removes scalability limits common to blockchains such as the block size issue.

There are no blocks: there are only transactions. You just add your transaction to the end of the DAG yourself, without waiting for the miners to (hopefully) include it in some future block.

The Byteball DAG is about 20 GB in March 2018.

Zurich presentation

A presentation given by Tony Churyumov on 2 February 2018, that gives an excellent overview of Byteball.