Creating a simple cryptocurrency: part 14

The latest repository

Completion

The initial stage of Scryp development is complete. The final step was to enhance the user interface (UI) to display transactions involving the client account in a scrolling text box.

Testing revealed that the client is not always able to verify the consensus of the servers because it does not always receive at least two of three torrents fro the servers. There must still be another bug in the NPM bittorrent-dht package or its dependencies, beyond the two I have already found and reported. Evidently, the client is able to retrieve the list of torrents from the fixed server DHT locations, because the .boot file saves frequently visited nodes. But every new torrent is located in another part of the DHT network, which the bittorrent-dht package is unable to find as it should. I'll work on finding that bug next, and maybe even write my own version.

Aside from this problem, which is fixable, the Scryp software works well, even with only a one-minute consensus interval when the account balances database is not too large. For a very large number of accounts, it would be sensible to use a greater interval.

Future development would include:

• Extensive testing before actual deployment, with special emphasis on security
• An improved UI with features such as account aliases and a QR code generator/reader

But I will end this series of articles here.

Conclusion

Thus far, no one is interested in using this software but I thought it worthwhile to create it for my own education but also to make a point: It's possible to create a simple cryptocurrency consisting of less than one thousand lines of Node.js code, in one month by oneself, with modest programming skills and without using a blockchain.

Therefore, it may be that:

• Blockchains may be somewhat overrated compared to previously existing breakthrough technologies; digital signatures, crytpographic hashing, distributed hash tables, torrents and the internet itself are perhaps more significant.
• Blockchain cryptocurrencies, especially those that use vast amounts of electricity, may be displaced by more clever uses of the previously existing technologies.
• Many of the hundreds of existing cryptocurrencies may be overvalued.

Another important point is that all of the big cryptos have a significant degree of central control, and in some cases their success is due to a single prominent person, thus defeating one of the original motivations for cryptocurrencies, decentralization.

The current speculative mania in the crytpo markets is reflective of a mass consciousness still dominated by a belief in scarcity, when real abundance is the result of local communities sharing with each other and caring for their natural environment. Technology such as cryptos can either increase abundance or promote scarcity and wealth inequality, depending on the consciousness of those using them.

Half of all bitcoins (currently worth about $20 billion) are owned by only a few thousand entities, or less than 0.1% of all bitcoin wallets. Sound familiar?

Scryp is available to be used by any local community under the BSD-3 licence.

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