Is Ravencoin the Next Bitcoin?

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In January 2014, Overstock made the headlines when they started allowing customers to make purchases using Bitcoin. 3 years later, crypto-savvy customers of Overstock are spoiled for choice, after the online retailer integrated ShapeShift in August 2017 to allow payments via not only Bitcoin but also Ethereum, Litecoin, Monero, Dash, and BitcoinCash. Now, in February 2018, Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne has once again confounded mainstream media when he revealed that Overstock had invested millions of dollars in an obscure new open-source blockchain project-- Ravencoin (RVN).

According to Ravencoin's github, the name was inspired by Game of Thrones where ravens were used as messengers by the Seven Kingdoms. Similarly, the founder of Ravencoin intends to create a blockchain, based on a fork of the Bitcoin code, to facilitate the transfer of asset ownership from one party to another.

Ravencoin was first announced by its founder in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Bentley College and Texas Bitcoin Conference in October 2017. The official announcement was posted via twitter and on Medium on 1 November 2017.

In the interest of a fair distribution, the founder and development team decided against a premine and Ravencoin was officially launched on 3 January 2018. However, the launch was not announced on the Bitcointalk (BCT) forum until 14 January. Even then, the announcement was not posted by a member of the Ravencoin team but by one of the miners who thought he would share this promising altcoin with the BCT community.

As a result of the 11 day delay, allegations of a ninja launch were made by more than one forum member and the project threaten to go down in flames before it had even started to gather steam. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed and at the time of this article, the RVN community and discord chat is thriving. There is even an online shop for Ravencoin merchandise; the proceeds of which will go to the operator of RVNStats.

Supporters of Ravencoin have pointed out the similarities between the fledgling project and Bitcoin, given its focus on open-source and community driven development. Numerous comparisons have been made between the two and Ravencoin's more ardent advocates believe that RVN would pick up where Bitcoin has obviously left off.

While Ravencoin is essentially a Bitcoin fork, it utilises a brand new mining algorithm, X16R, designed to be ASIC resistant by cycling through 16 different hashing algorithms in a seemingly random manner. By keeping ASICs out of the picture, Ravencoin aims to remain relevant to miners without the need for expensive high-end mining equipment.

_{Source: Pixabay & PNG Mart}

It is still too early to say whether Ravencoin would be able to follow in the footsteps of its more illustrious predecessor. But Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne must have seen something promising in RVN to justify the investment of millions of dollars into a project that is still trying to find its feet in the cryptoverse. So make your own decision about Ravencoin-- is it a one-hit wonder or will it be a heavyweight in time to come?

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