Cold Staking

Bitcoin has inspired thousands of cryptocurrencies. At the moment, there are 7,434 cryptocurrencies, according to Coinmarketcap. Each cryptocurrency comes with aspirations of being better than the last one in one way or another. Others want to solve the issues inherent with Bitcoin, such as lack of complete privacy, scalability issues, etc.

PIVX is one of such cryptocurrencies. Launched in 2016, PIVX was the first to use a two-tier staking reward model and both cold and hot staking.

This article explores the PIVX protocol and what innovations it brings to the space. We’ll also see its native token and how it fits in the puzzle.

Understanding PIVX

PIVX, Private Instant Verified Transaction (Tx), is a decentralized, Proof-of-stake (PoS) cryptocurrency dedicated to privacy, fungibility, community governance, and real-world utilization. PIVX wants to achieve this with the power of several key characteristics:

#1. Dash/Bitcoin core source-code: The PIVX protocol is forked off of the source code for Dash, which in itself forked off Bitcoin’s source code. Dash’s code is fortified with a tailored PoS algorithm and an enhanced privacy protocol.

#2. Customized PoS algorithm: PIVX’s improved PoS is intended to achieve true decentralization while using as little energy as possible. This PoS also implements a community governance system to be “the ultimate people’s fungible cryptocurrency.” After transitioning from Proof of Work (PoW), PIVX has solely relied on PoS to generate new blocks. Block generation is done by holders of the PIVX token

#3. Masternode network: PIVX features a second-tier network of masternodes through which users can set up specialized full-node wallets if they stake in at least 10,000 of PIVX tokens. The masternodes are entitled to network governance, a role for which they are rewarded with more PIVX. All payouts are done in a completely decentralized manner.

How Does PIVX Differ From Other Blockchain Networks?

PIVX distinguishes itself from other blockchain networks with the following characteristics:

#1. Private and Public Staking:

PIVX utilizes a customized Proof of Stake model in which users can stake in PIVX using both hot and cold wallets. Through this, users can mint new tokens and get rewards. Masternodes are also rewarded for every new block that’s minted.

#2. Cold Staking:

This feature allows users to store coins in one wallet, with the possibility of delegating those coins for staking by another node. This means a staker can have their wallets online and still stake without necessarily having spending access to the coins. Cold staking ensures security for coins and ensures the user can still stake and get rewards even if their coins are stored offline.

#3. Sapling

This is a faster and more efficient replacement for the Zerocoin protocol.

#4. PIVX Foundation:

PIVX features its own legal footprint, which supports the project legally and financially. The foundation stepped in in 2019 as a subset of the Sustainable Development Goals Impact Fund (SDG) – a Public Charity Donor Advised Fund (DAF). This DAF is the only one in the US that’s not controlled by a bank, uses cryptocurrency, and is focused on helping advance the United Nations’ SDGs.

How to Stake PIVX

There are two ways to stake PIVX (PIV). One is hot staking, which involves installing PIVX’s core desktop wallet and unlocking it in Staking Only mode. When you deposit coins, they’ll start when they gain 600 confirmations. Hot staking requires that the wallet be online for the process to take place.

The other method is cold staking, which can be done by installing the core desktop wallet, depositing crypto, and delegating the staking of those coins via the Cold Staking tab to an offline staking address. That address could either be your own wallet or one belonging to a third-party cold staking service provider.

Specs of the PIVX Token

Proof-of-Stake consensus algorithm (both hot and cold staking)
Block size of 2 MB
Block time of 60 seconds (which re-targets after every block)
173 transactions per second (TPS)
Stake-able, with rewards for ownership
Masternode support upon staking 10,000 PIV

Key Metrics

As of October 16, the PIVX token traded at $0.368337, ata market cap of $20, 914, 580, placing it at #337. PIVX has a 24-hour volume of $705, 146, and a circulating and total supply of 56, 781,166. The token’s all-time high was $9.20 (Jan 23, 2018), while its all-time low was $0.000422 (Feb 16, 2016), per Coinmarketcap.

Where to Buy and Store PIV

Today, you can find PIV listed on a variety of exchanges as a market pair of BTC, KRW, ETH, EUR and USDT. Some of the exchanges include Binance, Finexbox, VCC Exchange, Bithumb, Bittrex, KuCoin, Graviex, YoBit, LiteBite.eu, Birake Network, HotBit, Txbit, and VALR.

You can hold PIV tokens in the PIVX core wallet (Desktop), PIVX Light wallet (desktop), Ledger Nano S (hardware), PIVX Mobile, Coinomi (Mobile/Desktop), and Satowallet (Desktop/Mobile/Web).

Final Thoughts

PIVX manages to provide something novel for the crypto space, whether its pioneering the Zerocoin protocol or supporting both cold and hot staking. However, its place in the market is not exactly enviable at this point, and if it means to stay relevant, it will need to up its game or risk being relegated to oblivion.

Introduction

Callisto Network is a blockchain-based Ethereum protocol developed by Ethereum Commonwealth, an ETH development team.

The Callisto Network is missioned towards boosting the Ethereum ecosystem by enhancing the methods of smart contract development and implement the experimental protocol. These implemented protocols are incorporated within smart contracts using merged protocol-level config.

The Callisto Network has been developed to use built-in mechanisms like smart contracts, which can be used to implement the vital features of the platform. The network wants to define and standardize the protocol with a governance system, cold staking, and a funding system for development. All these will be based on smart contracts.

In simple terms, the primary goal of the Callisto Network is to create an ecosystem that is self-funded, self-sustaining development, and self-governed. Note that, Callisto Network always creates new enhancements on the protocol level. This is because the ETC community typically has a conservative approach.

Quite some enhancements come from the CLO network when the other ETC development teams acknowledge them. Examples of the same include cold staking protocol and on-chain governance system.

How does Callisto Address Scalability?

A significant issue that Callisto addresses is the scalability of both ETC networks and CLO networks. The team developers realized that it would be time-consuming to discover their mechanism for implementing sidechains and relaying transactions. As an alternative, they are planning towards implementing the cross chain-relation mechanism.

This is a mechanism that can be spotted on third-generation blockchains like EOS and AION. In essence, Callisto will be improving the scalability of ETC and CLO with mechanics that already exist in the market and have proved their effectiveness.

Features on Callisto

An issue encountered with Ethereum Classic is that the users receive no incentive for holding their coins. With the introduction of “Cold Staking” by Callisto Network, users will now be rewarded with interest in holding CLO tokens. This is possible when users add their tokens into a smart contract for over a month. Apart from that, there are no other requirements, unlike Masternode coins that require running a node.

CLO coin

The Callisto Network has its native currency – CLO token. It is currently listed on BiteBTC, Stocks. Exchange, SimpleSwap, EXRATES, OOOBTC. The list is expected to expand in the coming months.

Mining Pools

CLO tokens can be mined just like ETC is mined. Various pools support the mining of Callisto. The mining pools include clopool.pro, 2miners.com, coinfoundry.org, callisto-pool.com, epool.io, callistopool.org, callistopool.io, solopool.org, clopool.net, clona.ru, minerpool.net, comining.io, mole-pool.net, etc.

Callisto Network Wallets

As Callisto Network is growing at a good pace, presently, several wallets support Callisto. Some of them include Trust Wallet App, Classic Ether Wallet, Guarda Wallet, and coinomi Wallet. One can verify the compatibility of Callisto by checking if it allows exporting your account.

Conclusion

The Callisto Network developed by Ethereum Commonwealth is based on the Ethereum protocol. With this network, Ethereum Commonwealth addresses the issues relating to Ethereum Classic, specifically security and scalability of smart contract ecosystems. Besides, it has a Cold Staking feature, which is compelling to the platform as it encourages the holding of CLO tokens.