Cryptocurrency, uses a hashing algorithm, to find out a cryptographic solution, to let the first miner, who found it, to create a block. When a block is created, the miner can put transactions on it, When this happens, the miners, gets the transaction fees, from the transactions, placed on the block and the miner reward. Different hashing algorithms, have different requirements from hardware. Older hashing algorithms, as SHA-256 (Bitcoin's hashing algorithm), needed computing power. Special chips were made (ASIC), to increase processing power.

This lead to great and expensive mining rigs, and the mining power became centralized. Quark hashing algorithm, was created, to be something different. Quark is a lightweight hash function, based on a single security level, on the sponge construction, to minimize memory requirements. Amy more technical details, are out of the scope of this article, but a search on the internet, will give many answers. Let's look at four coins, that they use this algorithm.

ALQO

The ALQO blockchain, can be used for sending money, instantly around the world, to buy goods and services. The network, is peer-to-peer, open and accessible to anyone, with great security. The network, uses an advance proof of stake consensus, to protect the network, from malicious attacks. Alqo, has created, cloud services, based on a highly-distributed network, for over 2500 servers, that are always on-line, called masternodes. With this setup, a resilient, decentralized cloud network, is created by the masternodes. The governance of the coin, is done with a Decentralized Autonomous Organization. A democratic procedure, called Carbon Voting, giving one vote, for each 1 ALQO holder. It is used to accept, or reject, proposals, about the coin evolution.

More about ALQO: https://alqo.org/

VITAE

With Vitae, a Social Media Application, can enable access to products or services, offered by a company. This coin, was not created for investment, it was created to be utilized on the social media application. The token, was created from a PIVx fork. It was based on Blackcoin Pos 2.0 protocol and Bitcoin core 0.10.x base. The coin has a network of masternodes/supernodes with an openly visible decentralized governance, and increased transaction privacy. The token, has pre-mined one million tokens, to create the network, to begin the proof of stake mechanism, and the block reward system.

More about VITAE: https://www.vitaetoken.io/

KALKULUS

Kalkulus is a decentralized digital asset, offering blockchain based solutions. With it, anyone can do transactions instantly, from anywhere in the world. The total supply of the coins, is 20 millions, distributed with proof of stake consensus. The block rewards and coin emission scheme, was designed to reduce inflation, and prevent investors from coin flood. The coin, has a governance system, based on consensus, to submit, and vote on proposals though blockchain, favoring decisions, on how to allocate budgets for development.

More about KALKULUS: https://kalkul.us/

LOCKTRIP

LockTrip, is a multifaceted project consisting on three elements. The first, is a travel marketplace, that allows customers to book hotels and vacation rentals, on average, 20% cheaper, compared to current market prices, found on major booking sites. The second, is a distributed database, that supports the market infrastructure. This database, can be used from travel agencies, to source inventories, without paying commissions or fees. The third, the Locktrip blockchain, enables the smooth operation of the first two elements.

The Locktrip blockchain, is based on a proof-of-stake mechanism. This ensures that block validators, stake their own cryptocurrency, in order to validate blocks. Trying to attack, the network, a validator, will most damage himself.

More about LOCKTRIP: https://locktrip.com/

In the preface, we mentioned about the quark hashing algorithm, for miner rewards. But the algorithm, can be used also in the staking process (block validation), as we can see, with the coins in our list.