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Grin: Everything You Need To Know About The Most Hyped Cryptocurrency

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Grin Coin logo on white background

Grin is an open source crypto project that focuses on scalability, fungibility, and privacy. Its built on the Mimble Wimble blockchain that has some optimizations that have impressed investors and crypto enthusiasts. Tom Jedusor initially proposed the blockchain protocol in July 2016, and it quickly gained popularity among Bitcoin and privacy supporters.

To understand Grin we need to understand its blockchain first.

The Mimble Wimble Blockchain

Mimble Wimble is a blockchain protocol that mixes several different innovative technologies with the aim of radically changing how Bitcoin transactions are designed. It also aims to reduce the size of the entire blockchain. Tom Elvis Jedusor initially proposed the protocol in 2016 before it was revised by Adam Poelstra only a few months later.

Mimble Wimble focus on two main areas:

  • Scalability
  • privacy

Scalability

Mimble Wimble uses a more direct path to solve scalability issues. The protocol eliminates old and unnecessary transactions that are on the blockchain to improve efficiency.

It removes spent inputs from the blockchain over some time by aggregating all intermediary transactions together which significantly reduces the size of the blockchain. The method is known as cut-through.

Privacy

Transactions within the new blockchain protocol are usually opaque. However, they are validated appropriately even though there are no addresses and the amounts transacted are entirely hidden.

The protocol relies on Elliptic Curve Cryptography (ECC) properties to structure transactions that are based on possession of private keys and verification through zero sums.

To verify transactions with Mimble Wimble, the sum of transaction outputs when deducted from the sum of the inputs should always equal to zero.

This is possible through the use of Confidential Transactions which are used to prove that a double spend has not occurred.

CTs also ensure no new funds are created within a transaction while at the same time they hide the actual amounts involved in the transaction.

When it comes to proof of ownership, the protocol relies on blinding factors.  These factors utilize private keys of the users and also the excess values that make up the transaction kernel. The blinding elements can then be leveraged to prove ownership of transaction values without revealing the actual values.

By validating transactions without knowledge of the value transacted, Mimble Wimble mirrors Zcash and Monero protocols that use zero-knowledge proofs and RingCTs respectively.

With Mimble Wimble there are no addresses involved. In case of a transaction, two wallets can communicate and exchange data. The process consists of the recipient creating and sending an address to the sender.

The data is only visible to the participants, and outside parties cannot use the information. Additionally, the participating parties don’t need to be online at the same time.

Also, blocks within the blockchain don’t list separate transactions however they aggregate them into a single transaction that contains mixed inputs and outputs.

This ensures even if one were to view a block they wouldn’t get any insights on the specifics of the transaction.

So, like Mimble Wimble, Grin maintains the fungibility and privacy features where there are no addresses, no transaction amounts displayed and transactions can be merged. Also, its blocks look like one giant transaction.

Grin Monetary Policy

Grin aims to function as a currency that can be used for everyday transactions rather than be a store of value like Bitcoin. To achieve this, it has created a monetary system that makes the value of the currency more stable.

To tackle inflation, Grin uses a linear supply schedule where its overall supply is unlimited. It’s a model that also encourages individuals to spend rather than hold.

The inflation rate is designed to start high, and over time it should fall below 10 percent after ten years before going to almost zero. As for the block reward, its fixed over time.

Cuckoo Proof-of-Work Consensus

To achieve consensus Grin uses a Cuckoo PoW algorithm. It’s a style that aims to address Bitcoin’s shortcomings where individuals with the most powerful machines can control the network.

Cuckoo Cycle algorithm is designed to be ASIC resistant.  It also focuses on memory which makes it suitable to be mined using CPUs. It’s something that increases its decentralization.

Earn And Buy Grin

You can start earning Grin by mining. Use this Grin mining guide to get that setup.

If you’d like to purchase Grin, we recommend using the LBank exchange, as the bigger exchanges like Binance are not featuring the coin, though we expect that to change.

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