Introduction

While reading into Bitcoin and other digital currencies, I am sure you have come across phrases like “the blockchain is the answer to everything” and “the blockchain is our future”. When I see this, I wonder if this almighty and powerful blockchain is up to the task. What makes it strong? And are all blockchains created equal?

The purpose of this article is to identify important qualities which I believe bring strength to the blockchain. This will not cover complicated coding and cryptographic functions explanations, instead we will go over the driving forces that strengthen the blockchain itself. After a general overview of blockchain strength, we will look at all the ways that Nav Coin is creating a very strong and resilient blockchain along with data to show relatable comparisons.

I do own some Nav Coin and thus am providing information from a biased viewpoint, but will do my best at presenting facts and be as un-biased as possible. Please remember to do your own research before making any investment decisions. I will include a section at the end with some helpful links to assist with further digging into Nav Coin if you’re interested.

What makes a blockchain Strong?

First and foremost a strong blockchain must be decentralized, if there is any controlling power involved in a blockchain, the whole purpose is defeated. A strong blockchain must be protected by world class security measures, people need to know their digital tokens are safe from theft. The blockchain needs to be able to protect itself from attacks and those who wish to harm it. The blockchain is wonderful and is fully capable of accomplishing all of this, but it can’t do it alone.

Most blockchains have the same overall design as the one used in Bitcoin and for good reason of course. Since this first blockchain was released to the world, thousands of hybrids and alternatives have emerged from its path creating quite an impressive array of variations. Regardless of a blockchains function and purpose, it is often quite simple to measure its strength. A strong blockchain only requires three ingredients, and the more of each of these ingredients it has, the stronger it will get.

Miners/Stakers : Perform the heavy lifting, process transactions via block creation. Nodes : Verify and uphold the rules of the blockchain. Users : Bring value to the underlying asset.

Without a proper balance of these three groups, a blockchain is destined to fail as each group plays an integral role in its survival. The miners/stakers and full node wallets are essentially the backbone of the blockchain and are what add strength to it. The miners/stakers secure the network while the full node wallet ensures all blockchain rules are upheld. The users are what add value to the under lying asset of the blockchain

Miners(POW)/Stakers(POS)

I believe the most important and widely known factor in identifying a strong blockchain is the amount of miners/stakers that are actively securing it. The more miners/stakers you have supporting the blockchain, the less susceptible it is to an attack. Blockchains can be susceptible to attack if someone is able to acquire a majority of the mining/staking power. Although the amount of miners/stakers is very important, the dispersity of them plays a key role as well. If there is a small group of miners/stakers that own a majority of the network, they could decide to perform an attack from within. This is the reason why large mining pools are often frowned upon by blockchain enthusiasts.

Full node wallets

I believe this is often an area of blockchain strength that is either unknown or is not given the credit it deserves. Reading from the bitcoin wiki: “full nodes form the backbone of the network”

Nodes, or more specifically full node wallets are what ensure the rules of the blockchain are adhered too. Every block/transaction that the miners/stakers process for the blockchain goes through a vigorous validation process by the nodes on the network before it is deemed valid. It is crucial to ensure there are no malicious miners/stakers trying to manipulate the blockchain. Full node wallets are required to have a copy of the entire blockchain and typically receive no rewards, this is often an area where blockchains fall short.

Users

This group covers the people that are using the blockchain for its intended purpose and are the sole reason it has any real value at all. With wide spread adoption and use of a blockchain, the under lying asset will increase in value. This value increase is directly proportional to the block rewards payed out to the miners/stakers, which in turn will attract more miners/stakers to join in strengthening the network.

What makes the Nav Coin blockchain strong?

I believe Nav Coin developed a perfectly balanced incentive system which encourages a strong and decentralized blockchain.

Proof of Stake

With Proof of Stake (POS), Stakers get 5% interest for supporting the blockchain, this reward is enough to generate profit while not upsetting the everyday users with an overly high inflation rate. The real-world inflation rate for Nav coin is closer to 2% as not all coins are actively staking. This creates a deflationary scenario for stakers since they are earning more than the true inflation rate. POS systems encourage a much more decentralized blockchain network. Staking is rather simple and can be done by just about anyone with a computer and requires no further effort once setup, set it and forget it. The more people that can take part in the staking process, the more decentralized the blockchain will become.

NavPi staking

A main contributor to the popularity of staking Nav Coin is a system called NavPi. Nav Coin has built a customized image so you can stake Nav Coin on the Raspberry Pi. Since the Pi only uses about 2W of power, this both maximizes staking profits and allows more nodes to support the network 24/7.

There is a pre-built plug and play NavPi system which can be purchased through the Nav Coin website for $100 USD here:

High percentage of coins actively staking

I had a hard time locating information on active staking numbers for POS coins, but managed to get a comparison of 4 from the cryptoID block explorer site. Would be very much interested if anyone can point me to other comparisons for this chart.

No mining pools

POS mining pools are quite different (not very popular either) as you are required to store all your coins in their wallets which requires a significant level of trust to go ahead with. Without large mining pools, the dispersity of stakers is vastly more spread out.

As you can see above, the 5 largest bitcoin POW mining pools combine to a whopping 62% of the network. The Nav Coin blockchain on the other hand has 208 separate miners in about the same share of its network.

Full Node effect

Another beneficial by-product of POS is that it greatly increases the number of full node wallets supporting the network as it is a pre-requisite for staking. This works great as full nodes are typically the area in which some blockchains fall short. The chart below is a relational comparison of different crypto currencies weighted by their market cap. I believe this is a good way to see the effect POS has on increasing the number of full node wallets online.

This chart is not ranked by what I believe to be the strongest blockchain, but rather gives an indication of which incentive system is making the biggest difference. If anyone has a better way to relate difference sized cryptocurrencies, please share in the comments section.

Nav Coin features

Nav Coin has positioned themselves very well in a thriving section of cryptocurrency with numerous features and very exciting projects underway. I believe Nav Coin’s focus will maximize growth moving forward for years to come. Here is a summary of features and projects that Nav Coin has to offer:

Private send: Very lucrative option in this space. This is an optional feature that provides a very high-level of anonymity for transactions. It is using a second blockchain (the sub-chain) to break the connection between sender and receiver, which is unique to Nav Coin.

NavPay: this is a soon to be released light version of the Nav Coin full node wallet, it will be available on Desktop, Android and pending approval from Apple, the iPhone. This will include the option to users to use the private send feature from their mobile phone. This has not been accomplished by any other cryptocurrency and is certainly poised to be a game changer.

Polymorph: Nav Coin has partnered with Changelly (an instant crypto exchange service) to provide the ability for all 66 cryptocurrencies supported by Changelly to utilize the Nav Coin private send feature and sub-chain technology. The project development is well underway and is probably only months away from being ready.

ADapps (Anonymous Dapps): this is currently the most anticipated feature of Nav Coin and is still in the planning stages. This would change Nav Coin from a currency into a platform, allowing users to create applications on top of the blockchain like what Ethereum has done. The big difference is that this platform will utilize the privacy features Nav Coin offers. A whitepaper is expected to be released shortly with full details on how this platform will work.

I could go into much further detail on all the above projects, but it is out of the scope of this article. Please see the links section at the bottom to dig further into exactly what these projects bring to the table.

Conclusion

I believe a system which encourages a strong and healthy blockchain is the base foundation for the long-term survival of any cryptocurrency. To achieve this strength a cryptocurrency needs to set a base of well-balanced incentives so that everyone (stakers/nodes/users) will rejoice in profits (both financial and practical) for years to come. I whole heartily believe Nav Coin has done an amazing job in designing a currency that will encourage a strong and decentralized blockchain for years to come.

Any information in this document has been based on knowledge I have acquired over the years learning about cryptocurrencies. I have barely ever looked at the code and have only learned through reading material and discussion with fellow enthusiasts. If you see anything that is incorrect or have an idea on how to better explain something, I am all ears. Please leave a comment below or contact me via @bocyaj1 on the Nav Coin slack channel. I believe in the power of information and the more informed everyone is in the crypto space, the better chances it has of succeeding.

Planning to move back onto Nav Coin related setup guides and such from now on, so if you have any requests for a procedure that you believe needs clarification or something that you are missing, please let me know. My next plan is to work on a setup guide for creating a NavTech cluster to process the private send feature so that anybody can do it themselves. Thanks for reading, don’t forget to follow me on Medium to ensure you don’t miss out on any further article/posts/guides I put together.

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