Innova is a coin centered around the masternode system that stresses anonymous transactions, ongoing active community development, and a fair mining process that is ASIC resistant.

“Innova is an innovative and adaptive new age cryptocurrency available to everyone,” the developers wrote. “It is going to take the lead in cryptocurrency progress and diversity, because it is easy to use and it has the most secure and developing program. With this mission statement we want to show what a humble community can do, and that anything is possible.”

The coin features two unique approaches. The first is the heavy reliance upon masternodes, which will eventually shift the coin from proof of work to proof of stake. The second is community input. The Innova team views its online community as part of the developer team, and input from its community is considered for future developments and steps on the roadmap.

What Is a Masternode?

Masternodes serve as the hubs and backbone of a decentralized system. They consist of “power users” who own a substantial amount of the cryptocurrency in question. Their primary purpose is to keep a full copy of the blockchain running in real-time. In addition to this core duty, masternodes help to process and verify transactions and form the basis for a voting and governance system. Masternode ownership is recognized as one of the key ways to generate income via participation in a blockchain.

Masternodes originated in the original Bitcoin blockchain system and have since become a feature of many successful cryptocurrencies. Innova believes its particular masternode creation and reward system provides the highest return on investment of all extant masternode coins.

How Does It Work?

Innova’s team provides clear instructions for new Innova users who wish to set up a Masternode. The first step is installing a wallet. The home wallet is supported on a variety of operating systems, but masternode wallets must be configured with Linux – Ubuntu 16.04 is the suggested distribution.

Once a wallet is created, a potential masternode host must fund the wallet to the tune of 1,000 INN. It is recommended to pay yourself 1,000 coins but buy 1,001 to cover the small fees associated with sending INN from wallet to wallet. An exchange where INN can be bought is listed on the INN homepage.

Allow the transaction to be confirmed and verified. Once you possess 1,000 INN in your masternode wallet, you’re ready to begin. The INN team gives potential masternode hosts all the scripts they need to run to both install and configure their masternodes. The team also offers ongoing support for masternode hosts and INN users alike.

What About Privacy?

Innova utilizes DarkSend to keep its transactions private. DarkSend is essentially a mixing process that obscures the senders and receivers of a given coin.

“We use DarkSend, which makes the transactions anonymous,” the developers explained. “You can trust us completely and have no need to worry about your transactions. Anonymity allows for peace-of-mind and additional security.”

Who Is the Team Behind Innova?

Innova does not list its team members or the number of team members it has. It also does not provide any other identifying information on its homepage.

The team maintains a presence on Telegram, Discord, and Twitter. The active community surrounding Innova is one of its chief selling points, the developers said on their homepage.

“We continually strive to make our community happy and encourage them to be part of the growth of Innova Coin,” they wrote. “We involve the community in discussions about updates and amendments, as their opinions and usage are ultimately what shape Innova’s future.”

What’s the Market Look Like?

As of May 2018, INN was being traded for about $0.44 with a daily volume of just $9,596. The coin’s market cap is $1.33 million with a circulating supply of 3.1 million, a total supply of 3.9 million, and a maximum supply of 42 million.

How Can I Get INN?

INN is currently traded on Cryptotopia. Mining is done via proof of work for the time being with intentional ASIC resistance.

“Everyone can earn coins with mining which is efficient, superior, and fair,” the developers wrote. “ASIC resistance means that there will be no significant speedup when implementing the algorithm in an ASIC when compared to a CPU-based implementation.”

Eventually, however, INN plans to switch to a proof-of-stake system in keeping with its focus on maintaining and rewarding masternodes. Innova noted that this is both more environmentally friendly and more in keeping with the spirit of the masternode system.

Innova Wallets

There are wallets to download from the official site for Windows, Linux and Mac along with a mobile wallet for Android and an iOS app currently waiting to be approved in the app store.

What’s Next on Innova’s Roadmap?

Innova’s official roadmap began with its December 2017 launch of its website and initial masternode setup instructions. The team covered enhanced marketing and mobile wallet development in the first quarter of 2018. During the second quarter, Innova’s team plans to launch its CoinPayment platform to facilitate transactions. This will be built upon during the third quarter, where merchant accounts will be sought and further integration with WordPress will be performed. Innova is also slated to be listed on Bittrex during this quarter. By the end of the year, Innova hopes to flip from a proof-of-work (POW) system to a proof-of-stake (POS) one.

“We plan to make the switch to POS in Q4, as it has numerous advantages over the POW system,” the developers said. “POS requires less computing power than POW (and is thus more energy efficient) and results in both faster validations and increasingly loyal validators.”

Community development is key to the direction of Innova beyond the immediate roadmap. Input at this stage in the coin’s development is being used to shape the coin’s features and future use cases.

“Innova Coin has accomplished so much already in a short timeframe,” the developers said. “Innova’s bright and promising future is largely due to our outlook and community relations. We have built up a reputation for ourselves in the cryptocurrency community, and our users trust our system wholeheartedly.”