Datacoin

Datacoin (sign: D; code: DTC) is a peer-to-peer open source censorship-free cryptocurrency that as a Primecoin fork implements a scientific computing proof-of-work system and can be used for blockchain data storage. Datacoin's proof-of-work system searches for chains of prime numbers. Datacoin was created by Bitcointalk forum user oocook5u and released in 17 November 2013. Datacoin was inspired by Bitcoin and Primecoin, and it shares much of the source code and technical implementation of those two. The Datacoin source code is distributed under a conditional MIT/X11 software license. Datacoin is both a reliable and decentralized data storage service and a currency to pay for this service.
Datacoin is the 38th-largest cryptocurrency, according to Coin Market Cap as of 20 January 2014.
Differences from Bitcoin
*Different proof-of-work system: Uses the Primecoin proof-of-work.
*Faster block generation time: The Bitcoin protocol aims for a target rate of creating 1 new block every 10 minutes. In contrast, The Datacoin protocol's target rate is 1 new block per minute.
*Faster transaction confirmations: Since Datacoin blocks are generated 10 times as fast as Bitcoin blocks on average, Datacoin transactions are confirmed approximately 10 times as fast.
*Smoother difficulty adjustment: The Bitcoin protocol adjusts its difficulty every 2016 blocks (approximately 2 weeks) to achieve its the target rate of 1 block per 10 minutes. In contrast, the Datacoin protocol adjusts its difficulty slightly every block.
*Self-adjusting block reward: The Datacoin protocol takes approach different from Bitcoin or Primecoin: the number of Datacoins released per block follow the Primecoin calculation for block reward but also rely on how much data has been uploaded to the blockchain at current block. A fully loaded block will give 51.2 coins to miner additionally to block reward.
Primecoin's Proof-of-work system
Primecoin's proof-of work system is designed so that the work is efficiently verifiable by all nodes on the Primecoin network. To meet this requirement, the size of the prime numbers in the system cannot be too large.The Primecoin proof-of-work system has the following characteristics:
*Mersenne primes are precluded due to their extremely large size.
*Primecoin's work takes the form of prime number chains.
*Finding the prime number chains becomes exponentially harder as the chain length is increased.
*Verification of the reasonably sized prime number chains can be performed efficiently by all network nodes.
*Three types of prime number chains are accepted as proof-of-work:
# Cunningham chain of the first kind.
# Cunningham chain of the second kind.
# Bi-twin chain.
Cryptocurrency exchanges
Primecoin can be bought and sold on several cryptocurrency exchanges for Bitcoin.

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