Execoin Innovates Again

Execoin is progressing rapidly up the ladder of altcoin success, a month after its official release.


The coin is a member of the family of ASIC-resistant altcoins that have adopted a defiant stance against scrypt ASIC mining. The formation of a GPU-only strain of altcoin pre-empts the market-shaking effects of the looming scrypt ASIC invasion and these altcoins have positioned themselves for the changes that are about to sweep across the cryptocurrency domain.

Disclaimer

It should be mentioned at the outset that the writer has some bias in favour of Execoin, namely operation of mining pools that host Execoin, EXE holdings, as well as, a long term “buy-and-hold” strategy with regards to the ASIC-resistant altcoins.

Updates

In addition to a revamped website, the past week has seen some notable Execoin developments:

Execoin Listing on Cryptsy

Android Wallet made available via Google Play Store

Release of ExecoinJ Java Library for application development

Exelite SPV Thin-client wallet released

The new developments are discussed below. First, some background for those unfamiliar with Execoin and the changing scrypt ASIC landscape

Recap: ASICs

Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) are purpose-built hardware devices that can achieve much faster hash rates than non-specific hardware devices such as a GPU. Due to the highly specialized functionality of ASICs, they need to be carefully customized and adapted to a particular hashing algorithm’s exact process and bitwise flow. What makes an ASIC capable of hashing a particular algorithm at such great speed is the fact that most of the repetitive hashing functionality (normally done via software) is transferred to dedicated hardware circuits. The ASIC’s hashing ability is, therefore, hard-coded and immutable.

A consequence of the ASIC specialization is that the tiniest alteration in the hashing algorithm renders any purpose-built ASIC useless and requires a complete redesign and re-manufacture of the application specific circuit.

Making changes to the Scrypt hashing algorithm is the express purpose of the Progressive-N Scrypt algorithm.

Built from the ground up, Execoin’s Progressive-N Scrypt algorithm disrupts the development of ASICs that are capable of mining the coin. The N-factor refers to a memory size multiplier and is calibrated to increment the coin hashing algo’s memory size requirement at specific time epochs in the future, thereby disrupting any attempts by manufacturers to develop ASICs targeting the coin. Doing so would be costly and ultimately futile, as a scheduled N-factor change would render a successful ASIC devise useless.

Execoin ASIC-free ZoneASIC-resistant

Since the generic Scrypt hashing algorithm is now being targeted by ASIC manufacturers, we can expect to see the Scrypt-based altcoin market change significantly during the coming months: as ASIC manufacturers start delivering their pre-orders, many generic scrypt-based coins will have their network hashrate increased by factors ranging from 10 to as much as 100. This is not a distant event, in fact, scrypt ASICs have already been spotted in the wild and some sites are offering ASIC mining devices for sale at the time of writing.:

Some altcoin teams have opted to position for this period of turmoil by developing their coins with scrypt ASIC resistance as the primary objective. This family of coins includes (amongst others) Yacoin, Vertcoin, Hirocoin, Darkcoin and Execoin. These coins use different hashing algorithms to prevent ASIC mining and their quality of implementation also varies: some are clones hacked together by enthusiasts while others feature innovative source code designed by experienced developers.

By defying ASIC mining, the resistant coins create a haven where GPU miners can operate profitably. The existence of these safe havens, therefore, sustains the market for GPU manufacturers to innovate and cater to cryptocoin mining.

This market dynamic informs the ASIC-resistant business model and underpins Execoin’s objective of providing GPU miners with an “ASIC-free zone”. With each new wave of ASIC devices entering the market, GPU miners will be forced out of their Scrypt altcoin comfort zones and will systematically be forced to migrate to the ASIC-free zone where the ASIC-resistant coins’ market cap and valuations are expected to benefit from the influx.

Cryptsy

On April 4, Execoin was listed on Cryptsy. Traders and investors can find the EXE/BTC pair here.

Developers

ExecoinJ – a Java Development Library has been released. This library enables Java developers to create applications for Execoin and it is available on GitHub.

Android WalletExecoin Android Wallet

The Execoin Android Wallet is the team’s first mobile app and was Google verified and made available via Google Play Store during the week.

The wallet is based on Andreas Schildbach’s Litecoin wallet and has been ported to Execoin in a clean and consistent manner.

Significantly, payment requests are possible via the Android device’s available sharing methods. The writer was able to effortlessly initiate payment requests via email, bluetooth and QR-code. Payment to the Execoin Android wallet was received within seconds of sending the transactions out to the network.

The ease-of-use and speed is very impressive, especially benefiting merchants who seek to receive payments as reliably and near-instant as possible.

Exelite SPV

This week, the team released a Lightweight Java Wallet utilizing their in-house ExecoinJ library.

Named “Exelite“, it features a Paper Backup functionality and makes Execoin the first ASIC-resistant coin with a Simplified Payment Verification (SPV) client.

Exelite is a portable, cross-platform SPV with fast synchronization and minimal disk space requirements.

Exelite SPV Java wallet

The Execoin developers share the Bitcoin developers’ sense that cryptocurrency user interfaces and transaction handling will move away from the cumbersome desktop installations we have now, and instead

reside on Simplified Payment Verification clients. This is the reason why the team specifically implemented a faster block time – for faster propagation and, therefore, faster payment verification.

Specifications

Algorithm: Scrypt-Progressive-N with optimized schedule

(technical name: scrypt Salsa20/8(N, 1, 1), PBKDF2(SHA2))

Symbol: EXE

Max Coins: 84 million

Block time: 45 seconds

Subsidy: halves every 840,000 blocks (~437 days)

Difficulty Re-Target Time: Every block (KGW)

Block Rewards: 50 coins per block

Get the latest Execoin news and more information about the features mentioned above on Execoin’s website: http://execoin.com

source: http://www.cryptocoinsnews.com/news/asic-resistant-execoin-innovates/2014/04/12

Execoin Innovates Again