The mass adoption of blockchain technology is upon us, and it is here to stay.
Amongst the overwhelming number of blockchain projects, it will be those who are truly innovative and have inherent social utility that will forge new and unique opportunities for growth and market dominance.
Furthermore, privacy ought to be at the heart of decentralised blockchain cryptocurrencies, and it is the utility and desire for privacy that sets Spectrecoin apart from the masses.
The vision of the lead developer, Jbg, and the lead cryptographer, Brycel, is a scalable, energy-efficient, low-fee cryptocurrency that does not sacrifice function and ease of use for anonymity and privacy.
Behind them, a community of volunteers has grown in order to help achieve that vision.
What is Spectrecoin?
According to the Spectrecoin website:
Spectrecoin (XSPEC) is an innovative privacy focused cryptocurrency, featuring an energy-efficient proof-of-stake algorithm that provides rapid transaction confirmations, ring signatures for privacy and anonymity, and a fully integrated Tor+OBFS4 layer for IP obfuscation within the wallet.
In order to maintain sender and receiver anonymity when using stealth addresses, Spectrecoin utilises ring signatures. An example of an anonymous transaction sent using Spectrecoin can be found here.
Spectrecoin differs from traditional Proof-of-Work models in that it utilizes Proof-of-Stake (PoSv3) consensus to confirm transactions and reward contributors to the network with staked coins. This equates to a 5% reward in total coins per annum for those staking.
What makes Spectrecoin unique from all other privacy coins on the market is the fact that it incorporates Tor OBFS4 into the client. This effectively obfuscates the IP address of the user and also circumvents the censorship of countries such as China and Iran which actively seek to block Tor traffic.
OBFS4 masks the traffic to appear as if it is normal internet traffic, thus evading the increasingly sophisticated censorship methods employed by these governments.
The Innovation of Spectrecoin
Spectrecoin seeks to address a present issue in Proof-of-Stake cryptocurrencies – how to incorporate staking reward privacy into the Proof-of-Stake model. At the present time, Spectrecoin has both stealth and public addresses, due to the fact that staking rewards are issued to the public addresses.
The 2.0 update scheduled for release in Q2 2018 will not only ensure that stealth addresses become default, but an entirely new innovation called “stealth staking” will be implemented. This will ensure that the sending and receiving addresses from the staking rewards with be anonymous – a first for any Proof-of-stake coin on the market!
Jbg, the lead developer of Spectrecoin, made the following remark:
We have a working protocol for stealth staking which is being tested and fine-tuned now, this is a major advancement as it means we have a coin when even the smallest participants can help to run the network without pooling under the control of a few central third parties; and remain anonymous while they do so.
The Potential of Spectrecoin
Spectrecoin employs a “tech-first approach” and this becomes apparent if one were to spend time chatting to the lead developer, Jbg, in the Slack channel.
However, it is not just the innovative technology behind Spectrecoin that makes it unique but the active and helpful community, the developers who listen to community suggestions and are open to new ideas, and the growing marketing campaign which seeks to promote the vision of Spectrecoin to the world.
Spectrecoin provides low-fee, decentralised, private and anonymous transactions and remittance services for all. It is set to become a leader within the cryptocurrency privacy sphere in 2018 and beyond.
Recent Updates and the Road Ahead
The latest version of the Spectrecoin wallet (v1.3.5) was released for Windows on January 16, 2018 and the official source code and all updates can be found on the Github repository.
2018 is set to be an exciting year for Spectrecoin with multiple updates and innovations along the way including stealth staking and an android wallet. The roadmap can be viewed here.
If you would like to stay in contact with the Spectrecoin team, you can do so by joining the slack channel (where the lead developer is most active). Alternatively, you can visit their website and Facebook page or join their community on Twitter, Reddit and Telegram.
