What makes Myriadcoin different?
The short answer is that Myriadcoin addresses the issues with mining centralisation, 51% attacks and unfair distribution with a multi-algorithm blockchain.
But to anyone unfamiliar with how cryptocurrencies works that might sound like a bunch of technical mumbo jumbo and to others it might sound like a very simple solution to a very complex problem.
How could possible the use of five different mining algorithms make any real difference on these issues that still haunts the major cryptocurrencies. In this article I will try to explore and explain just that.
What is a 51% attack?
A 51% attack is when a miner or a group of miners has enough computing power so that they can generate more than 50% of the blocks. This entity would then be able to prevent new transactions from confirming and even reverse transactions and thus double spend coins.
A successfully performed attack would not only be a financial hit for those that lose their coins in the actual attack. It could also erode trust in the currency leaving it completely worthless for anyone that have invested in it.
Read more in this article from investopedia
Decentralising the mining ecosystem
In order to mitigate the risk of a 51% attack the mining ecosystem needs to be decentralised.
The use of five different mining algorithms is a good start. But in order to incentivise decentralisation even more, the developers of Myriadcoin have carefully selected algorithms that are each best mined using one out of three distinct hardware types. Two algos are optimised for asics, two algos are optimised for GPUs and one algo is optimised for CPUs.
This means that we get the added security from the powerful asic pools but also makes sure that anyone with an off the shelf CPU or GPU can start mining. Making Myriadcoin’s mining ecosystem truly decentralised and thus very secure.
Is it really more secure?
Let’s make a comparison shall we..
In a single algo blockchain an attacker would simply need to control 51% of that single algorithm in order to perform an attack. That might sound simple enough, but it is severely worsened in cryptocurrencies that have a heavily centralised mining ecosystem.
Believe it or not but many, maybe even the majority of cryptocurrencies (even bitcoin), have only a few large mining pools that control the majority of the hash rate. Imagine if one or two of those pools were shut down (maybe in a separate attack), it would then be relatively easy for a malicious entity to attack the coin. This is why mining centralisation is so harmful for network security
For Myriadcoin on the other hand the attacker would need to control 51% of the total block generating power across all five algorithms which is immensely more difficult compared to controlling a single algorithm, and it is made even harder thanks to the decentralised nature of Myriadcoin’s mining ecosystem.
So is Myriadcoin on a fundamental level more secure than other single algo cryptocurrencies? — Yes, yes it is. By quite a lot if you ask me.
Keeping Myriadcoin decentralised
So now that we’ve laid clear the case that a decentralised mining ecosystem is so important for network security. How do we make sure it stays decentralised and secure?
Imagine for instance if one of the algorithms starts to suffer from centralisation. In order to preserve a decentralised mining ecosystem the developers would probably want to replace that algorithm with a new one. But if they simply released a new version without any community support it would most likely result in a contentious fork. A contentious fork is when a currency and community is split into two, creating havoc for both users and service providers.
So it is really important that large changes like this has the support of the community. But as you might understand it is really hard to estimate the support by just looking at the community forums. Even if most users of a cryptocurrency is on board for a change it is way more important that the miners agree to it.
This is where something called mining consensus comes in.
Mining consensus
Mining consensus is a clever, transparent and democratic way to implement larger changes to the core client. Once a change has been suggested by the developers, the miners can choose to start to signal support for that change in the new blocks they generate. Once enough blocks signal in support for the change it is activated across the network.
So essentially it is a blockchain based voting system. Which in itself is pretty awesome. But what is even more awesome is that Myriadcoin has employed the method multiple times to great success. In fact it was the first cryptocurrency to ever use it to change a mining algorithm.
What we have learnt is that a multi-algorithm blockchain is vital for using the method to replace mining algorithms in order to keep it secure and decentralised. A more centralised blockchain (like bitcoin) would simple not have the same success, there is simply no incentive for the miners to change the status quo.
Welcome to the community
I think that pretty much wraps up this little article. Hopefully you have learnt what makes Myriadcoin different and why at least I think it is a very promising cryptocurrency for the long run.
If you have any questions or just want to chat, head over to our channels in the links below.
