A Beginner’s Guide to Verge Cryptocurrency

By Prashant Jha

Verge started as DogeCoinDark in 2014 and got its current name in February 2016, all thanks to Doge memes.

The Verge is privacy-centric cryptocurrency which promises anonymous transactions and fast transaction confirmation times, which in turn increases the throughput.

The major attraction and interest for the project because it’s entirely open source and involve the whole community, a true decentralization in every sense.

There are no stakeholders or company behind the project, and to prove their determination for bringing anonymity and decentralization to the center stage, the core team has signed the black paper with only their usernames.

Verge in its two-year time-frame of existence has made significant strides and are already pushing to stake their claims on the title of Best Privacy Coin on the Market.

This article would dive deep and touch every aspect of the cryptocurrency, be its privacy measures or the new protocols it implements.

You May Also Read: Best Altcoins To Invest In 2018

The Anonymity Factor

The major selling point for Verge is its promise of total anonymity and un-traceability of the transaction on its network. The crypto world has always been divided on the debate of complete anonymity of the operations.

Verge is going to change the way people generally connect to a network.

Let us take the internet, for example; a user needs an ISP to connect with a different computer on the web. The ISP provides the user with an IP address. The user then sends a message to a different IP, which is intercepted by the ISP. The ISP verifies the two IPs and forwards the message to the end user. However, anyone can hack in between the transaction and can know a ton of information through the IP address.

Verge has decided to change the way information is shared on its network, instead of using standard internet protocol, Verge uses Tor and I2P. Let us see how these two approaches bring in anonymity to the system.

The ‘Tor’ Factor

If you have been an internet user, you must have heard of it as the popular Tor browser used for masking IP address; Verge is going to implement the same on its network.

Whenever you send a message on the network, it gets encrypted on multiple layers, and the IP address gets bounced on multiple computers. This does not reveal any significant information about the sender’s IP address.

Since Tor is a Peer-to-Peer network, your computer also gets used as a resource to bounce off IP addresses.

Verge use the Tor network for each of its transaction, so the information about the transaction maker can’t be accessed.

The I2P Protocol

I2P protocol is the next generation of internet protocols which will add to the anonymity factor and strengthen it more.

While Tor uses directory based bouncing of IP address, I2P allows for dynamic routing of the information Packets. Since there are no directories in the protocol, the congestion is minimal.

I2P also uses two separate tunnels for receiving and sending the information. So, the messages you send are on a different route while the receiving of messages is done through a separate path.

The I2P protocol provides a more Robust Anonymity factor to the Verge network.

The end-user has a final say in which protocol they want to use, Tor or I2P. however, IP anonymity is standard. Since the anonymity is usual, the whole community is harder to track, or we can say the transaction over the Verge network is comparatively safer.

You May Also Read: Which Is A Better Alternative to Money: Bitcoin or Altcoins?

Wraith Protocol

The wraith protocol on the Verge network gives the user a choice between public blockchain and private blockchain for their transaction. On the one hand, a Public transfer would have more transparency and speed while the private one wouldn’t have the option of being reviewed. So, it’s a win-win situation for the consumer.

Verge Cryptography is based on a famous Elliptic Curve Cryptography, which has taken its critical parts from the Bitcoin. The protocol allows users to share and agree on transaction keys without the need of a third-party observer.

How to Mine Verge Cryptocurrency?

Verge is planning on to incorporate various algorithm consensus, which would allow the users to mine Verge (XVG) in 5 different ways.

All the protocols are based on Proof Of Work (PoW). The mining gear will also favor both ASIC hardware based as well as GPU based. 

The five algorithms are:

  • Script
  • X17
  • Lyra2rev2
  • Myr-Groestl
  • Blake2s

There will be a total of 16.5 Billion XVG coins out of which 9 Billion would be minable in the first year and 1 billion every year after that.

There were no ICO conducted for the coin offer, and developers bought it like any other member of the community.

Verge is currently among the top 30 cryptocurrencies and listed on significant crypto Exchanges of the world.

Verge is using Electrum wallet which was initially designed for Bitcoin. Electrum wallet provides supports for both Tor and I2P protocols.

You May Also Read: Key Differences Between Bitcoin And Altcoin

Final Thoughts

The focus on true decentralization along with anonymity for the transaction inevitably propels Verge’s case towards the top in the crypto realm, especially among the privacy coin.

However, the absence of any centralized authority can prove troublesome in the future.

Verge has implemented many protocols and methodologies of the highest quality with the main focus of transparency.

The Verge without a core wonder also misses out on various resources which capital can bring in. However, their novel approach of hiding the IP address to provide anonymity is undoubtedly getting it the attention it deserves.

Here Are A Few Other Articles For You To Read Next:

Prashant Jha

As a content writer Prashant believes in presenting complex topics in simple laymen terms. He is a tech enthusiast and an avid reader.

Related Posts