Ravencoin was launched on January 3’rd 2018 by Tron Black and Ivan Jolicic. There's a great article/interview with Tron Black here.
Ravencoin is built on a fork of Bitcoin’s code and has a lot of similarities, like a total coin supply of 21 Billion compared to Bitcoin’s 21 million. For miners there is a block reward of 5000 RVN instead of 50 BTC. The Block time is 1 minute instead of 10. Great incentive to mine, especially if the value increases! Ravencoin halves the reward every 2 100 000 Blocks until the reward cannot be halved. Block 1 629 751 is being mined at the time of writing.
The last Ravencoin will be mined in over 150 years and like Bitcoin, the miners will be rewarded with transaction fees from the blocks they mine thereafter. Like Bitcoin, it is a cryptocurrency allowing transfers of RVN from peer to peer and records the transactions in an open ledger. Transfers are quick and the fees are very low.
There are several differences too, like a new mining algorithm, KAWPOW, which is ASIC resistant, making it easier for GPU miners to compete. The most important difference is that a user can create and issue asset tokens. These tokens can be transferred from one user to another as proof of transfer of ownership of the asset.
Use cases include physical assets, like artworks in a gallery where the token is transferred on sale as proof of ownership. The tokens can represent any digital assets like tickets to an event that can be verified instantly and prevent duplication of tickets. Shares or stock where they are digitally represented. There are also timeshare certificates, gift cards, loyalty points, airline miles and rewards systems.
In-game assets in MMORPG’s can be transferred peer to peer outside of the game itself allowing the private and secure sale and transfer of rare and powerful game items. (More popular than than you'd want to believe.)
Although still in development, Blockchain verified voting systems and a decentralized messaging and file transfer system that is compatible with the blockchain network are also planned for development.
Useful, no?
Ravencoin is listed with most crypto exchanges and is paired with over 70 other currencies. Ravencoin has an active social community network on many platforms with a very positive outlook.
Let’s look at the money:
On March 21st 2018 RVN started trading at approx. $0.02 with a trading volume of $143 518. Today, after 3 years, RVN is trading at $ 0.133198 with a 24-hour trading volume of $689,720,489 and a market cap of $1,077,321,683. RVN is currently 45.5% up against BTC and 53.1% up against the dollar. In the last month RVN market rank moved from #104 to #68.
Generally speaking, a small cap market (under 1 billion) has greater potential for growth and reward on investment with a correspondingly high risk factor. Funny thing, I started this article yesterday and Ravencoin’s market cap had reached it’s highest point at roughly $750 000 000
There are 8,168,505,000 RVN in circulation representing 39% of the total 21 billion.
Ravencoin’s value climbed by 53.1% in 24 hours, 192.6% over the last week, 688.5% in the last month and 310% up year to date. Remarkable performance.
Pro's & Cons
When a new asset tokens is issued, 500RVN are burned, then when sub assets are issued a further 100RVN per token is burned, which reduces the overall supply and will serve to reduce the inflationary effect somewhat. The more users on the Ravencoin network and the more tokens issued, the better it is for the price.
Ravencoin has an active, multiplatform supporter base of thousands of people who hold various amounts of RVN and are optimistic about the future of the coin.
The first halving will be in January 2022. Although the block reward will still be high, this will help to slow the inflation further and will contribute to increasing the price value. Then every four years (21 million minutes) after it will halve again
2022 to 2026 – 2500 RVN per block (1 block per minute)
2026 to 2030 – 1250 RVN
2030 to 2034 – 625 RVN
The Etherium network is also ASIC resistant, but 4GB graphics cards don’t have enough memory to mine ETH anymore. Many of those miners are moving to mine Ravencoin, which is still mineable with 4GB GPU’s, which is very positive for Ravencoin’s network for the next few years at least.
Every day 7 200 000 new RVN are paid in block rewards, diluting the value. It is simple supply and demand really. Scarcity adds to value as Bitcoin is evidence of. Increase in supply without a corresponding increase in demand leads to inflation and the devaluing of a currency.
On the other hand, if demand does keep up with supply with demand-pull effect, Ravencoin will show a liquid market with a very high 24-hour trading volume and market cap and a rising value.
So what's the forcast?
Ravencoin has a lot of very strong points and is performing remarkably. We cannot ignore the 'Bitcoin effect' on alt-coins. This year Bitcoin's tide did lift all ships, but Ravencoin's growth has impetus of it's own. On a strictly % basis outperforming and gaining on Bitcoin and Etherium. My feeling is that Ravencoin will continue to grow and rise in the ranks. If the bullish market in cryptocurrencies lasts, Ravencoin should reach the $1 dollar mark this year
