In this article Nyzo and its protocol will be discussed in detail — mainly because it’s remarkably different than what the current standard is for developers of protocols attempting to engage the community with its future prospects.
Nyzo utilizes a novel consensus mechanism dubbed Proof of Diversity.
If you are unfamiliar with the way the network works, it is recommended to read:
This article will mainly focus on the protocol and its mediatory role which facilitates building in a democratic and decentralized fashion. As is partly explained in the article above, Nyzo takes on the role of a highly efficient, ecologically responsible, democratic network.
What stands out about Nyzo when it comes to engaging its community in its endeavors is the way in which governance is the main element of the network.
Blocks are voted for by verifiers (automatically — within the consensus’ boundaries), new cycle entrants are voted for by the verifiers (automatically — within the consensus’ boundaries) and cycle fund proposals are voted for by the verifiers (manually — within the consensus’ boundaries).
The Nyzo supply currently looks as follows (on the date of publishing):
- 8,281,308 Nyzo has been ‘mined’
- 2,879,472 Nyzo has been awarded manually by the developers back when they still had control over a large amount of coins in circulation — these rewards mainly covered security patches and small airdrops to the cycle and queue in the early stages of the project
- 11,718,678 Nyzo is left to be ‘mined’ over the next 4 years
- 77,120,527 Nyzo has been allocated by the developers to a locked cycle fund, of which its expenditures are governed by the entirety of the network
(To get a better idea of the amount of money which is available to developers, check the price of Nyzo on coingecko →)
In this article we will mainly discuss the locked cycle fund and how it facilitates building for and on top of Nyzo. I have recently stumbled upon ‘Protocols as minimally extractive coordinators’ written by Chris Burniske and, upon reading, I felt as if the article was written for what Nyzo is currently trying to accomplish.
‘Nyzo community fund proposals’ or NCFP’s, are proposals which can be published by anyone seeking to receive Nyzo in exchange for an accomplishment which directly or indirectly benefits the network, the miners, its users or its community.
The decision, whether or not the proposer receives the requested amount of Nyzo, lays in the hands of the entirety of the network. Nodes have the power in their hands to approve or deny expenditure proposals.
Where classical consensus systems have trouble reaching consensus about important decisions which have to be made (direction of development, grants), Nyzo does not have this problem due to the way consensus is formed. Its consensus mechanism relies on time and diversity to succeed.
The IPv4 address is ‘turned into’ a commodity and the time aspect protects the network from rapidly executable 51% attacks (carrying out an attack would take years, is unpredictable and unrealistic).
The sentinel (a shadow node waiting for something bad to happen to an in-cycle verifier) protects the individual verifiers, and thus the network against DDoS attacks as it has the power to stealthily produce a block from a seperate machine and IP address.
Since the network does not rely upon mathematical equations being solved (PoW) or on a particular amount of Nyzo being at stake (PoS), it can leverage its well-engineered consensus system based on automatic and manual voting processes to create the cycle fund, as the weight of the votes are not influenced by amount of hardware or amount of Nyzo in possession.
Where time in its consensus system is the largest factor in assuring that the network can not be, realistically, 51% attacked — it is also the mediator of access to voting power given to any entity looking to approve their own proposal. There is no room for swamping the network with a large wad of cash or hardware when time is the currency of influence.
What all of this boils down to is that Nyzo is primed for businesses and individuals to build on Nyzo and to get rewarded by the network for doing so. You, yourself, can publish an NCFP and create a cycle transaction and have the network vote for it.
There are already active NCFP’s which you can find here.
Join the community on Discord if you feel inspired by the possibilities which Nyzo brings to the table. I hope to meet you there.
Stay tuned for more on:
Nyzo.co — official website, made by the anonymous developers
Nyzo.net — unofficial website, made by a community member
Nyzo.io — unofficial website, made by a community member
Nyzo.today — unofficial website, made by a community member
@nyzo_currency — Twitter, unofficial
@nyzogang — Twitter, unofficial
@nyzo_io — Twitter, unofficial
