Overall Vertcoin does really show it is by the people for the people through its various aspects, one in example easy click mining the fact you can make such a simple miner for anybody even if they have zero knowledge of blockchain technology is a smart play this allows them to become more mainstream friendly. However, how do we know we can actually trust Vertcoin as they have no white paper anywhere on their site and in the “team” tab on the website a lot of the images are just taken from google.
Decentralization
The team behind Vertcoin wants to stay true to the original proposal by Satoshi Nakamoto and is supposed to resist centralization. Vertcoin’s algorithm is designed to resist the development of custom mining hardware and multipool mining, ensuring that transactions are validated by a widely distributed network. With Vertcoin, one does not have to sign up for a mining pool, one can just download the mining software.
A copy of Bitcoin
Vertcoin is an obvious copycat of Bitcoin, with the difference in aiming to avoid having a few big mining pools doing all the mining, risking a 50% attack. Vertcoin has segregated witness activated since May 2017 so to increase Vertcoin’s block size limit and allowing for the implementation of second-layer solutions for faster and cheaper transactions.
Lightning Network
One of those proposed second-layer off chain being the implementation of Lightning Network. Lightning Network scalable, instant and cheap transactions and is now in alpha on the Vertcoin blockchain. The lighting network is a payment layer that brings a possibility of scalable, instant blockchain to the playing field. This means that literally, millions of transactions can be processed nearly instantly. How this shapes up to similar competitors is quite interesting for example Bitcoin and Litecoin transactions speeds are extremely slow this is a key aspect of Vertcoin as it allows it to gain the title “Instant Transaction Speeds”.
Atomic Swap
Atomic Swaps allows for decentralized swapping of cryptocurrencies without any need for a third party, in turn, this means you can easily swap your Vertcoin into any supported currency (SegWit Coins). However, Atomic Swaps is yet to be released but is stated to be included in the new platform in order to make a move away from centralized exchanges ruining the main purpose of cryptocurrencies. Both the Lighting Network and Atomic Swaps are really good concepts but there is no valid proof that it will actually work leaving us to take the risk is it worth it.
Hardware wallet support
The roadmap for the Vertcoin is openly shared by the team via Trello. One of the more significant plans for 2018 is the coming integration with the TREZOR hardware wallet. Though, if you already want to start using a hardware wallet, this can already be done by using the Ledger Nano S or The Ledger Blue.
Mining
Vertcoin is really big about mining for the people, mining Vertcoin can only be done using consumer grade GPU’s, anyone who has a decent graphics card can make a small profit on the side. They set it up by having multiple networks in specific categories such as new miners, part-time miners, low-end miner and high-end miners. This is done by splitting miners who have an average mega hash rate over one hundred and the other half who average below one hundred mega hashes. This allows miners with less power to still earn a share of the mining, which is more difficult to do when running with more powerful hash rate capable machines.
Another key feature when mining is the “Vertcoin 1 Click Miner” which is a piece of software that basically anyone is capable of downloading. This software allows users to put their computer at work when not in use, the software is so simple it acts like a light switch by pressing “on” to mine and “off” to stop mining. The fact Vertcoin has provided something so easy and simple to use for the people is kinda impressive and this definitely backs up the statement “for the people” as they don’t leave anyone feeling left out.
