PIVX, a cryptocurrency with a strong focus on privacy is an offshoot of DASH. It came to life when the crypto community couldn’t agree on the future of DASH. According to insider Crypto S.I. the DASH community was torn between building the ultimate privacy coin and scaling to reach a mass audience. When they couldn’t agree on this a few members of the community decided to pursue mass adoption and to launch PIVX.

What is PIVX?

PIVX takes the best features of DASH and adds a few unique features. The cryptocurrency uses a privacy protocol called zk-SNARKs or zero-knowledge proofs which is also used in zCash, Monero and DASH. It is similar to ZCoin in that it also uses a custom version of the Zerocoin protocol. It has an optional feature to send private coins. Users can send fractional amounts and send coins directly to a receiving wallet. In this sense it is a hybrid between DASH and ZCoin, incorporating privacy and Proof of Stake (PoS). It is claimed that PIVX is the only Proof of Stake cryptocurrency (PoS) that has implemented the entire set of requirements as set out in the Zerocoin whitepaper.

The Zerocoin Whitepaper

Zerocoin is a cryptocurrency that was proposed in a paper by professor Matthew D. Green and two graduate students. Its aim is to extend the Bitcoin protocol with true anonymous transactions. In this sense, PIVX has superior privacy features compared to Bitcoin.

What Are the Benefits of PIVX?

PIVX is more energy efficient than other Proof of Work (PoW) cryptocurrencies due to the PoS consensus mechanism. There is also a network of masternodes that maintain the PIVX blockchain. Masternodes govern the network and can vote on decisions regarding future development of the coin. There is also a self-funding treasury that releases funds for new development of the PIVX blockchain.

What Features Make PIVX Different From DASH?

Instead of being built on a PoW algorithm like DASH, where miners have to spend computer resources to verify the blockchain, the PIVX algorithms relies on PoS. PIVX is also completely different to other privacy coins like Monero (XMR) and ZCash (ZEC) in that it doesn’t require mining to generate new coins but holders earn a stake or reward for simply holding PIVX in a wallet. Proof of Stake is a method of distributed consensus. Holders of PIVX are rewarded for having the coins in their wallet. Another great feature of PIVX is the see-saw algorithm and Instant Transactions using SwiftTX.

What is a PIVX Masternode?

A PIVX Masternode needs 10 000 PIVX to be locked in a wallet on the server as collateral. Masternodes earn rewards for offering services to the PIVX network. The nature of the masternodes concept is that they must be fully decentralized and trustless. The rewards to masternode holders are slightly higher returns than to wallet holder who stake PIVX for rewards. These rewards are variable and are determined by a see-saw algorithm.

What is The See-saw algorithm?

This custom algorithm is a clever response to networks that become too masternode heavy. This leads to issues related to governance. With DASH masternode owners have voting rights and greater control over the network. The more masternodes someone has the more influence they have over decisions. This makes influence more centralized and that access to owning a masternode is only accessible to a select few. The see-saw algorithm of PIVX checks the amount of masternodes in comparison to the amount of PIVX staked at the same moment. If the amount of masternodes is too many then the algorithm adjusts the rewards that are released to masternode owners. They will earn less rewards. This is to incentivize masternode owners to rather stake coins and give up voting rights. In this sense there is a greater decentralization of voting rights and a greater distribution of PIVX holders. Unlike most cryptocurrencies, the supply of PIVX is unlimited.

What is SwiftTX?

PIVX’s SwiftTX is near instant transaction times where transactions are confirmed within seconds. This is accomplished through the network of masternodes and transactions do not need multiple confirmations like Bitcoin before it is spendable.

Why Does PIVX Have An Unlimited Coin Supply?

Unlike Bitcoin which has a maximum coin supply of 21 million Bitcoin, PIVX does not have this limit. The reasoning behind this is that while Bitcoin is more of a digital asset, PIVX acts like a digital currency. The supply of any currency should increase and be subject to inflation. This is called quantitative easing in the central banking world.

The PIVX supply will increase by 5% per year. The reasoning is that people will be incentivized to transact with PIVX, not hold it. It will not increase in value but be deflationary like fiat currency. Instead of a central bank benefiting from the currency devaluation, the new coins that are generated are returned to the masternode and wallet holders through PoS rewards. This benefits the community directly. The prices of masternodes will not skyrocket in future and actually be affordable which is an added bonus.

How to Buy PIVX? You are not able to purchase PIVX with “Fiat” currency so you will need to first purchase another currency – the easiest to buy are Bitcoin or Ethereum which you can do at Coinbase using a bank transfer or debit / credit card purchase and then trade that for PIVX at an exchange which lists the token. Make sure you use our link to signup you will be credited with $10 in free bitcoin when you make your first purchase of $100. You can purchase PIVX on the following Exchanges: Bittrex

UpBit

Binance

Cryptopia

CoinRoom

YoBit

LiveCoin

What Is the Roadmap for PIVX?

The development team is busy implementing the Zerocoin protocol into deterministic wallets for PIVX. This protocol is dubbed zPIV. A great and unique feature of zPIV is that your wallet balance can be masked. This is great for security and for deterring potential hackers from stealing your funds. It is also a completely unique feature to only PIVX.

Is zPIV A Different Coin to PIVX?

No, zPIV and PIVX are the same cryptocurrency. The zPIV protocol pools the private transactions on pIVX using zero-knowledge proofs.

What is a Deterministic PIVX Wallet?

A deterministic wallet is a wallet that can easily be restored or backup using a backup phrase. This is usually a long list of words. The user does not need to know the private key to restore the wallet. Since the zPIV protocol works with zero knowledge proofs there is no link between the sender and receiver. Sending PIVX using the zPIV protocol is 100% anonymous and untraceable. This is good news as users will not have to keep backups every time they mint new private PIVX coins. This will include future and past backups of any private PIVX minted. In addition to the wallet features they also plan to introduce staking of zPIV called zProof-of-stake (zPOS).

What is zPOS?

Similar to staking normal PIVX coins, holders can also stake zPIV coins. The advantage of this is that they will be able to earn higher rewards. A new block reward system is proposed that will see zPIV holders earn 50% greater rewards than holding normal PIVX coins. To earn rewards, users must keep their wallets open 24/7. This creates a bigger network of nodes that are instantly available.

What Does the Team Look LIke?

Since the PIVX coin is a privacy cryptocurrency, a lot of the contributors like to keep their identities hidden. Very few of the actual team members are listed on the website. Anyone that is a trusted member of the PIVX community and is active contributor to the project can asked to be listed on their website by reaching out on the official DIscord channel.

Conclusion

PIVX is a next generation cryptocurrency that focuses on decentralization, privacy and real-world adoption as payment system. To this end it can handle fast transactions, is secure and offers the private sending of funds.