Satoshi Nakamoto's original vision was to make Bitcoin a "purely peer-to-peer version of electronic cash" that would be affordable and reliable for the common man to use.
However, ever since Bitcoin's blocksize was left capped at 1MB, it has turned into something that more resembles digital gold - an asset for Wall Street to speculate on. The transaction fees are unaffordable for most of the world's population, especially when demand rises or Ordinals are being minted on-chain.
In response, several alternative cryptocurrecy projects sprung up to fill the need for digital cash. In this article, we will briefly cover the latest developments of three cryptocurrencies that have been innovating to make permissionless payments both faster and cheaper.
Similar to Bitcoin, these crypto projects run using the Proof of Work (PoW) consensus algorithm, however they have been adding additional functionality such as storage, privacy, and real world assets (RWAs) throughout multiple bear markets.
DASH
A cryptocurrency that focuses on fast transactions and privacy, DASH enables features like InstantSend for quick transactions, and PrivateSend for enhanced privacy. Dash also invented the first Decentralized Autonomous Organization (DAO) to sustainably self-fund development and community projects.
There have been ongoing advancements in Dash's Evolution upgrade.
Since its activation in September 2024, Dash Evolution has seen rapid upgrades, including six hard forks by late March. A notable feature mentioned is a "data storage fee refund," which allows users to get refunded for storage space they only use temporarily.
Digibyte
Running since 2014, Digibyte has been focused on improving security, speed, and scalability. It uses five mining algorithms to enhance security, has faster block times (15 seconds compared to Bitcoin's 10 minutes), and a larger maximum supply of 21 billion coins, compared to Bitcoin's 21 million.
DigiByte experienced a surge in decentralization through the addition of new full nodes running the DigiByte Core Wallet. On March 19, co-founder Jared Tate reported that 3,100 new full nodes had been downloaded in the previous two and a half weeks. Earlier in March he had noted that roughly 1,000 new nodes were added in just 48 hours.
Ravencoin
A cryptocurrency designed for the creation and transfer of assets on a peer-to-peer network, Ravencoin was launched without a pre-mine, has a block time of 1 minute, and allows for asset creation directly on its blockchain, making it more suitable for tokenization efforts.
Ravencoin’s purpose-built design for creating and issuing RWAs gained attention, as noted in X posts in late March. Discussions linked RVN to initiatives like tZERO, a platform for tokenizing assets.
Until next time...
While Bitcoin has remained relatively stable (yet stagnant) in terms of development, the above cryptocurrencies have been innovating throughout multiple bear markets. Considering their relentless building and ongoing community zeal, these projects may be worth monitoring as we progress into 2025.
If you learned something new from this article, be sure to check out my other posts on crypto and finance here on the Hive blockchain. You can also follow me on InLeo for more frequent updates.