For a long time, people weren’t as serious about cryptocurrencies. However, over the past couple of years, as the price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies skyrocketed, even the general population started investing in cryptocurrencies.
Over this year, Altcoins have become highly popular. People have started investing in Altcoins as they promise higher returns, compared to Bitcoin and ETH, and have a lower entry point. In this article, we’ll be looking into an Altcoin that has recently become popular called Verge (XVG). Read on to know about the Verge coin and its features!
What is Verge Cryptocurrency?
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The Verge (XVG) is an open-source, decentralized cryptocurrency. The XVG claims to offer completely anonymous transactions by hiding and changing the location and IP addresses of the people involved in making XVG transactions.
Verge is a fork of the popular Dogecoin blockchain and was created to provide an anonymous alternative to Dogecoin. It was originally called ‘DogeCoinDark’. However, in 2016, the coin was renamed Verge with the code XVG. Verge is a popular cryptocurrency that is available on major global crypto exchanges.
Verge offers many advantages to users over other popular cryptocurrencies such as lower transaction fees, fast mining and transfer speeds, and support from many platforms.
While BTC and ETH are the most popular, their networks have become slow and sluggish while transaction fees have skyrocketed. In contrast, Verge makes for faster transactions, lower speeds, and the added advantage of privacy.
The Privacy Altcoin
Verge focuses on anonymity by obfuscating users’ IP addresses. An IP address is an identifying number that is associated with a specific computer or computer network. Using an IP address, it is possible to trace the user and the online activities they performed on the connected device; obfuscating IP addresses makes transactions completely untraceable.
One of the most interesting features of Verge is that the cryptocurrency’s blockchain features both TOR and I2P integration. Both TOR and I2P are effective tools to help anonymize their users but they work in slightly different ways.
TOR Integration
The TOR Router or “The Onion Router” works by directing a user’s traffic through a worldwide overlay network consisting of over 7000 relays. The package is encrypted and is then sent on to another relay that can only read enough information to send and receive the package. This is then re-wrapped and sent on to the next relay until the package has reached its destination.
At this point, the final relay can decrypt the information held in the package but will be unable to pinpoint the source I.P. This grants the user anonymity.
I2P Integration
Like TOR, I2P transactions are designed to shield a user’s IP address and activities from prying eyes. Unlike TOR, I2P uses packet-based routing rather than circuit-based routing.
This means that the service can move around a congested network and maintain a more secure service at times of heavy load. When users send information to each other, the sender and receiver both build a series of tunnels.
The information is then randomly sent through these tunnels until it reaches its destination. In essence, I2P is a large P2P network.
How is Verge Made?
To counter this influence, Verge uses five different algorithms; Scrypt, X17, lyra2Rev2, Myr-Goestl, and Blake2s.
Each of these algorithms favors a different hardware setup and so utilizing all five allows for a wide variety of hardware to be able to effectively mine Verge to ensure a more equal distribution of newly created coins.
Decentralized Ledger
Like most cryptocurrencies, Verge is based on a decentralized ledger of all transactions, a blockchain. This blockchain is secured through a consensus mechanism called Proof of Work (POW).
A miner uses their computer to solve complicated equations. Once the equation is solved a new block is added to the chain and the miner is rewarded with some Verge.
XVG In Numbers
The graph below from CoinMarketCap shows XVG trends for the past three months.
- Verge Price: $0.02422
- Market Cap: $400,373,335.61
- All-Time High: $0.3006
- All-Time Low: $0.00000217
Wraith Protocol
The creators of Verge are rolling out the Wraith Protocol. This will provide users with a “toggle” option where they can decide to either allow their transactions to be publically viewable on the blockchain or to hide them completely.
The Wraith protocol will use a combination of Key agreements, Stealth addresses, and Tor + SSL integration to protect its users. The protocol is covered in detail in Verge’s Blackpaper.
The Future of Verge
Verge tries to tackle the problem of securing user anonymity technically. It does not rely heavily on cryptography; rather it banks on the existing and tested technology of TOR and I2P networks to achieve its goals of user identity protection which makes for a great growth point.
As of September 2021, Verge is ranked 152 in the list of cryptocurrencies by market capitalization.
If the Wraith Protocol is a success, then the price could continue to grow. Verge is also working on a project called Rootstock. This will allow the Verge blockchain to process smart contracts, something that would be a real achievement.
However, it is also important to remember that Verge is not the only blockchain to offer privacy. Projects like Monero and Zcash all do the same thing. In fact, Monero’s technology is more private than Verge, however, transactions are also more expensive. This is something to keep in mind before making any decisions.
Experts are also quite bullish on Verge and privacy-focused cryptocurrency in general. All in all, the future looks bright.
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