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Primecoin

Primecoin logo
Denominations
Plural	Primecoin, primecoins
Nickname	XPM
Subunits
0.001	mXPM (millicoin)
0.000001	μXPM (microcoin)
0.00000001	Smallest unit
Demographics
Official user(s)	International
Administration
Issuing authority	None, the primecoin peer-to-peer network regulates and distributes through consensus in protocol.
Date of introduction	7 July 2013
Inflation_rate	Limited release, production rate before this limit re-evaluated with the production of every block (at a rate of approximately 1 block per minute) based on the difficulty with which primecoins are produced.

Primecoin (Abbreviation: XPM) is a cryptocurrency that implements a proof-of-work system that searches for chains of prime numbers.

History

Primecoin was launched in 2013 by Sunny King, who also founded Peercoin.

Unlike other cryptocurrencies, which are mined using algorithms that solved mathematical problems with no extrinsic value, mining Primecoin involves producing chains of prime numbers (Cunningham and bi-twin chains). These are useful to scientists and mathematicians and meet the requirements for a proof of work system of being hard to compute but easy to verify and having an adjustable difficulty.

Shortly after its launch, some trade journals reported that the rush of over 18,000 new users seeking to mine Primecoin overwhelmed providers of dedicated servers. It was ranked as being one of the top ten currencies before 2014.

Primecoin has a block time of one minute, changes difficulty every block, and has a block reward that is a function of the difficulty.

References

1. ^ Clark, Jack (16 July 2013). "Virtual currency speculators shut down cloud". The Register. Retrieved 17 November 2018.
2. Learning Bitcoin. Packt Publishing. 30 October 2015. ISBN 978-1-78528-615-5.
3. Cryptoeconomics: Economic Mechanisms Behind Blockchains. Cambridge University Press. 28 February 2024. ISBN 978-1-009-02815-8.
4. ^ Franco, Pedro (21 October 2018). Understanding Bitcoin: Cryptography, Engineering and Economics. Chichester, West Sussex, UK: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 175–76. ISBN 978-1-119-01914-5. Archived from the original on 17 November 2018.
5. ^ Peck, Morgen E. (29 April 2014). "Bitcoin Vies with New Cryptocurrencies as Coin of the Cyber Realm". Scientific American. Retrieved 17 November 2018.
6. "Exploring Primecoin: An Alternative Cryptocurrency Project - Codemotion". Codemotion Magazine. 16 November 2020. Retrieved 12 July 2022.
7. Pirjan, Alexandru; Petrosanu, Dana-Mihaela; Huth, Mihnea; Negoita, Mihaela (2015). "Research issues regarding the Bitcoin and Alternative Coins digital currencies". www.thefreelibrary.com. Romanian-American University via Gale. Archived from the original on 17 November 2018. Retrieved 17 November 2018.
8. ^ Gibbs, Samuel (28 November 2013). "Nine Bitcoin alternatives for future currency investments". The Guardian. Retrieved 17 November 2018.
9. Miller, Rich (17 December 2013). "Currency Miners Cause Spot Shortages of Dedicated Servers". Data Center Knowledge. Retrieved 18 December 2013.
10. Gina Clarke (16 October 2018). "Proof-Of-Stake Guru Sunny King: "Blockchain Is Easy - We Just Need To Use It Like A Database"". Forbes. Retrieved 2 August 2024.

Further reading

• Orrell, David; Chlupatý, Roman (2016). The Evolution of Money. New York: Columbia University Press. pp. 200–201. ISBN 978-0-231-17372-8. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
• Antonopoulos, Andreas M. (2014). Mastering Bitcoin: Unlocking Digital Cryptocurrencies. Sebastopol, California: O'Reilly Media. ISBN 978-1-4919-2198-2. Retrieved 13 November 2018.
• Fanning, Kurt; Centers, David P. (13 June 2016). "Blockchain and Its Coming Impact on Financial Services". Journal of Corporate Accounting & Finance. 27 (5): 54–55. doi:10.1002/jcaf.22179.

External links

• Official website

• Anarchism
• Economics
• Free and open-source software
• Internet
• Numismatics

• Currencies without ISO 4217 code
• Cryptocurrency projects
• Prime numbers
• Currencies introduced in 2013