Coins to look out for — 4 new cryptocurrencies designed to actually ‘do’ something

One of the most meaningful criticisms of the seemingly mad rush to create and market new cryptocurrencies and blockchain applications is that so many are just ‘more of the same’. Bitcoin was revolutionary, yes. Etherium was… less so. It seems like 90% or more of the ICOs and start-ups we hear about are simply reinventions of the wheel, with barely enough technical differences to count as new IPs.

They aren’t even improvements. They’re just slightly different ways of doing the exact same thing. The world may still need a better mousetrap, but it certainly doesn’t need 200 incrementally different mousetraps competing for time and attention.

However, not all blockchain-based coins are of that ilk. Here, we’ve highlighted a few coins which were designed to address new problems, achieve now capabilities, and generally to do new things in new ways. Actual innovations, not just Bitcoin Mark 15.

1) SelfKey

SelfKey is a different approach to encoding data using blockchain technology. This currency would allow individuals, companies and organisations of any kind to secure their digital identities.

Think about all the personal data about you that exists out in the infosphere today. Even if you narrow that down to a few large, centralised databases like the recently-hacked NHS or Equifax, that is one big pile of ones and zeroes. I mention the Equifax and NHS hacks because, in theory, SeflKey could have secured all of the personal data in those systems.

SelfKey uses an ‘identity wallet’ which stores the entirely of your data on a local device you control, under cryptological lock and key. It isn’t out on the cloud, in Equifax’s database, or even coded into the blockchain of a coin. Your data is only accessible when you are actively sharing it with a trusted business or organisation.

The plan of to make that SelfKey wallet a way to apply for bank accounts, passports, and even to apply for citizenship or resident status in various countries. So far, participation sounds limited to institutions in so-called ‘tax haven’ nations like the Cayman Islands, but the developers tell us to expect a lot more in the near future.

2) MXC

MXC has an entirely new use for cryptocurrencies in mind. They want to change the way the IoT (internet of things) data is monetised. Companies and organisations of all sizes effectively subsidise the IoT. Their machinery and devices incorporate a huge number of IoT nodes, creating literal floods of data on a global scale. These companies already pay for the power these nodes use, but few recapture much value from the information these devices stream.

MXC is a first step towards making a market for this IoT data both for companies and for individuals. They are making it easy for either to collect data as an asset and automate the sale of live data. This is intended to reduce the admin time of data collection and sale to a practical level.

MXC has developed the MXProtocol, which encodes machine-generated data into the blockchain itself. The point of origin and current ownership of that data follows it for its entire life. This allows for the automation of payments for blocks of data, and for value to be recovered at any point in the data’s lifecycle.

This entire platform is built for LPWAN (low power, wide area network), what they believe will be the standard used for connected devices in smart cities. To encourage this development, they have made it possible for companies or even individuals to “harvest” MXC by setting up an LPWAN gateway. This is moving IoT data from large centralized companies, to a decentralized community of companies and individuals.

Will MXC be the first in a thriving ecosystem of blockchain-based IoT economies? Again, we shall see. This one looks like a very interesting experiment at the very least.

3) Callisto (CLO)

Callisto was designed to change the way coins are held. It is a fairly new concept for the people who created Etherium Classic, so it comes with a bit of a pedigree. The idea is to incentivise users to keep these coins in reserve, building up massively decentralised wealth. This is done by introducing the rough economic equivalent of banker’s interest to the coins — something Callisto’s creators call ‘Cold Stacking’.

Cold stacking works like interest in a savings account — if you do nothing with the coins, you are rewarded with extra value. Unlike other schemes where you had to somehow leverage the value of your coins, cold stacking pays off even if you do not run a node, do not vote, indeed do not participate in anything. Simply holding the coins draws the rough equivalent of interest.

This is something Etherium was intended to achieve but the creators discovered that simple value speculation was not sufficient incentive for users to hold their ETC. Will ‘cold stacking’ do the trick? Who knows? But it will be very interesting to find out.

4) Decred

Decred has been in development for some time, but this doesn’t mean it’s not seeing progress. Decred is being developed by some of the minds behind Bitcoin itself, and by all lights seems to be the focus of a great deal of solid, innovating engineering.

Decred is an experiment in creating a coin with truly decentralised governance — the blockchain protocol at its heart can be updated by a polity of the Decred community as a whole, and is not controlled by the developers.

Is this revolutionary? Yes, but not as much as you might think. Bitcoin.org’s Cobra recently suggested moving that cornerstone cryptocurrency to a PoW algorithm should be changed to one that is fundamentally identical to Decred’s hybrid PoW/PoS algorithm. That’s at least a vote of confidence.

Now, please note that I have not said ‘re-mortgage the house and put the kid’s college money into these 4 currencies’. They may be huge successes, but that isn’t the point I’m trying to make. The important factor is that these are true innovations, seeking to do new things with blockchain technology. Succeed or fail, they will teach us all about new ways to leverage it, and what it is actually capable of.

I will go so far as to say that, whether they succeed or fail, you’ll probably see the spiritual successors to these technologies and approaches in the next generation of blockchain-based technologies.