What is Ravencoin (RVN)? How does It Work? A Complete Beginner’s Guide[2024]

Bitcoin, popularly called the ‘king of coin,’ is a model for many emerging cryptocurrencies, including Ravencoin. Compared to the original parent currency, Ravencoin uses similar technology with a few modifications as its unique selling point. One of such variations is a special algorithm that allows Ravencoin to be mined on regular computers.

Unlike Ravencoin, mining Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are energy-intensive, costly and often requires specialist hardware. Nevertheless, Ravencoin aims to maintain Bitcoin’s first vision – decentralisation, which we will discuss as we progress. Considering the many cryptocurrencies out there, could Ravencoin be the heir to the throne? Let’s find out.

Key Takeaways

• Ravencoin is a protocol forked from Bitcoin that was created specifically for asset issuance and management. RVN is a native utility token (coin) of the protocol, mostly used for transaction and mint fees;
• Ravencoin is a community-driven project, which defines its strengths and weaknesses alike. The products in its ecosystem are mostly small businesses or volunteer initiatives with a few rare exceptions;
• Ravencoin mining seems to be popular with enthusiasts and decently profitable. Even solo mining RVN is affordable since the algorithm is ASIC-resistant.

Who created Ravencoin?

Ravencoin was launched by businessman Bruce Fenton and developer Tron Black, them being co-writers of the Ravencoin white paper. Bruce Fenton hosts the Satoshi Roundtable, an event for decision-makers in the blockchain industry. Tron Black is the lead developer of the project, an entrepreneur and founder of two startups. Both of them went on to become publicly traded companies. He was also one of the first 4 employees of t0 (tzero). Check out Tron Black’s Medium in order to learn more about Ravencoin.

Origins

The story of the Ravencoin protocol started in 2018 when it was launched as an open-source fork of the Bitcoin code, which allowed it to add new features to the existing Bitcoin foundation. The creators of this cryptocurrency developed it as a solution for digital peer-to-peer transfers of assets. Their motivation was a desire to introduce a system that would be secure, censorship-resistant, and would grant users more control and opportunities to utilize it in ways that would be most suitable for their needs.

Despite having a large team of professional crypto developers behind it, none of them received any special allocations of Ravencoins. Moreover, the crypto also did not have an ICO, as well as opted against pre-mine and masternodes in order to both avoid any excessive scrutiny from the regulators and ensure fair distribution. This helped Ravencoin attract mining enthusiasts from various parts of the world and establish a solid decentralized network.

What is Ravencoin?

Ravencoin is an open-source program forked from Bitcoin. As previously stated, the primary objective of Raven coin is to create an avenue for instant transactions from one user to the other. 

Over time, barriers have limited cryptocurrency mining to only experienced miners. When random systems that use AISC mine more for themselves, it overrules a top blockchain principle known as decentralisation. Ravencoin, on the other hand, aims to remain decentralised by using the ever-evolving AISC resistant algorithms to stay ahead.

The lead developer of Ravencoin, Tron Black, stated that ASIC miners found a way to game Ravencoin’s original algorithms, giving them a leg up on computers with regular processing power. 

In an attempt to fix the problem, the Ravencoin development team further customised its algorithms. So, even if miners decided to use ASICs, their devices would still behave like regular computer systems. Essentially, this setup evens the playing field and makes mining fair.

How does Ravencoin works?

Ravencoin uses a mining algorithm called KAWPOW, designed to address the problems created by Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) miners, ranging from centralisation to monopoly. 

According to the X16R algorithm whitepaper, the development team stated that the design of ordinary hashing algorithms used in this system lends itself to the systems used by Application-Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) miners.

There have been two algorithms used in the past:

1. The first algorithm – X16R, was designed to fix the problem caused by AISC miners by interrupting the hashing algorithm orders. It implemented similar algorithms used in SHA512 and X15 but with the X16R, whereby the ordering of its algorithms was modified based on the previous block’s Hash. With time, it became possible for AISC’s to mine X16R, and the community voted to create new algorithms that would fix the unfair distribution AISC’s made. 

To mitigate and balance the potential efficiency upgrades that AISC miners might make to their hardware, the community has conducted two algorithm votes which led to forks. The decision was made to strike a balance between regular consumer-grade hardware and AISC miners hardware.

2. KAWPOW is the latest algorithm by the Ravencoin community. It aims to resolve the problem of centralisation caused by the AISC miners by implementing counter Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) memory methods. As a result, it will allow the majority of consumer-grade GPUs to mine Ravencoin fairly. The KAWPOW algorithm is the birth child of ethhash and ProgPOW algorithms with certain modifications intended to maintain fair mining and ensure adequate distribution of Ravencoin to every user.

As of this moment, there has been no talk of a new algorithm fork in the nearest future. However, it could spark the development of new ASIC technology to counter existing systems, but none have been found as of writing this article.

Ravencoin vs Bitcoin

Now that we know Ravencoin is a fork of Bitcoin, what are some of the differences between the two? Based Based on the Ravencoin whitepaper there are four differences between Ravencoin and Bitcoin:

• First, we can see from the issuance schedule. Ravencoin mining rewards began at 5,000 RVN whereas Bitcoin started with 50 BTC. 
• Second, the block time for Ravencoin is one minute, compared to 10 minutes on Bitcoin. This means that Ravencoin transactions confirm up to four times faster than those of Bitcoin. 
• Third, the total coin supply for Ravencoin is also much larger than Bitcoin at 21 billion (2100 trillion) as opposed to 21 million for Bitcoins. 
• Lastly, the mining algorithm used by Bitcoin is SHA-256 whereas Ravencoin uses X16R at the first and now changed to KAWPOW – which is ASIC resistant. 

Ravencoin Tokenomics

Ravencoin was launched in 2018 along with its RVN token. The token was launched without pre-sale or ICO—there was no funding goal, and no coins were sold prior to the network going live. Also, there is no private, public, founder, or developer allocation set aside. 

This creates a fairer, more democratic system than some other cryptocurrencies with similar features have used in their development. The goal of the project is to build a blockchain platform for the transfer of assets from one party to another. 

This allows Ravencoin to have interesting applications outside of simply acting as a store of value or medium of exchange, and the Ravencoin team has taken full advantage of this by creating an ecosystem for its token around the concept of transferring assets.

Governance

Ravencoin functions on a ‘No On-chain system of governance’. Therefore, there is no single body or individual that can make discussions on the protocols. Instead, all decisions are voted upon by the community. It makes use of the BIP9 rule of governance when modifications are needed on the system.

Native Coin

The Official coin for Ravencoin is RVN, and tokens can be used to issue assets and make transfers to holders. Also, they can be used for anything according to the holder’s needs, ranging from energy credits, land deeds, virtual goods, security, Airline miles, car ownership, etc. All payments, as well as rewards, can be made through the native coin, RVN.

The RVN coin is the official governance token for the Ravencoin blockchain. According to its white paper, users must destroy many RVNs to make a new cryptocurrency asset. The total number of RVN coins in supply is 21 billion, and as the blockchain grows, more exchanges are making use of this digital currency.

What makes Ravencoin unique?

• Fair launch: no presale, pre-mine (issuance of a part of or all token supply in genesis or early block), or allocations to insiders.
• Block reward of 2,500 RVN (means higher supply and issuance rate than in Bitcoin). Ravencoin features block reward halving like Bitcoin.
• Block time of 1 minute.
• Ravencoin’s supply cap is 21 billion.
• Ravencoin mining algorithm KAWPOW (ProgPoW modified for Ravencoin) allows for more decentralized mining by being ASIC-resistant. The idea behind choosing a GPU-intensive mining algorithm is to make profitable mining available for everyone, which helps to decentralize the network;
• Asset & Sub-asset issuance and transfer, unique assets, dividends/rewards, secure messaging, IPFS metadata, and restricted assets (help with KYC requirements).

Ravencoin Use Cases

Mining Reward

The Ravencoin blockchain creates new coins through the process of mining. Mining refers to the act of verifying transactions on the blockchain and adding them to its ledger (blockchain). 

Miners are rewarded with newly created RVN coins when they verify transactions and add them to the blockchain. The current block reward for miners is 2500 RVN.

This means that, on average, miners earn 2500 RVN for every valid block adde.d to the blockchain. However, just like Bitcoin, Ravencoin’s block rewards are always halved every four years. 

Related: What is Bitcoin mining?

Asset Issuance and Transfer

A unique feature of Ravencoin is that anyone can create their own token on the blockchain. This is the same as that of any ERC20 tokens built on the Ethereum blockchain or other blockchains that support smart contracts. 

However, a common problem with smart contracts is their inability to protect against identical names. There are multiple ERC20 tokens with identical names, which can cause confusion for users.

Ravencoin is trying to solve this problem with their system. The first to issue a token with a given name is the owner of that project. It will deter anyone from stealing someone else’s idea and creating a new token with the same name, thus avoiding confusion among users.

Additionally, Raven allows users to create their own purpose and rules on their token. It’s a limited quantity of a unique symbol, and transferable to any Ravecoin address. The assets are available on some platforms such as Open Assets, Mastercoin, and Counterparty.

Minting NFTs

The Ravencoin network has been used to create many different types of assets, including tokens for non-fungible tokens (NFTs). 

If you want to mint your NFTs, you have to register to RVNFT. It’s a place where you can sell and buy NFTs just like OpenSea. It also provides consultation services for artists who want to create their own NFTs.

New to NFTs? Read our intro on NFTs.

Messaging Stakeholders and Voting Features

As a token issuer, the ability to communicate with your token holders is essential. It’s important to remember that not every token holder wants to be identified, so it is important to design the communications in such a way that they can opt-out of receiving messages at any time.

The messaging system of Ravencoin is an effective way to facilitate communication and coordination among members of an organization or community.

However, if the messaging system is open to all participants, it functions primarily as a conduit for spam. 

In order to prevent this from happening, only specific parties should be able to send messages through the messaging channel.

This system also can be used for a variety of purposes, but one of the most popular is to facilitate voting. The RVN protocol allows anyone to build a messaging system that can be used to send notifications or ballots to shareholders or voters. This system also gives the holders of the token the notification of the vote. 

Is Ravencoin criticized for anything?

Being a grassroots project comes with a lot of challenges. In 2020, a shortcoming in code made an attack on the network possible. As a result, the total supply of RVN has increased by 1.5%, which had an impact on both the price and the reputation of the project.

Despite being resistant to mining with ASIC hardware, the X16R algorithm was not immune to it. In late 2019, the community decided to implement a new mining algorithm. But it also was changed again five months later to the current one (KAWPOW algorithm).

In a community-driven project, such cases are inevitable because in real life not all members operate in good faith. Risks like these are natural for open-source projects. The community believes these battle tests will strengthen RVN in the long run.

These days, members of the community and token holders raise concerns about the activity in the Ravencoin network. Changes in the open-source code are few and far between, and there is not much going on in the Ravencoin news. The chain activity does not create an impression of a bustling network either: the tx/s count is low, and it can be hours between asset transactions.

Reading the Reddit thread, however, shows that the community begs to differ. Mining RVN is profitable and popular, and new assets and use cases still emerge. And for a community-driven project like Ravencoin, having the evidence there are people caring about it is all it needs to live on.

Partnerships and future plans

The RVN protocol is a work in progress: developers are still working on features like voting and more advanced GUIs that make it easier to work with all the new functions.

The RVN community promotes the project as a community effort. This idea falls in line with the grassroots ethos of the project. One of the partners that expressed interest in Ravencoin is American painter Rick DeMont. He uses the Ravencoin blockchain to issue certificates of authenticity for his works, akin to what NFTs were thought to be useful for.

Tokenization of real estate is also a use case that the community seems to find fascinating, and some projects even attempted it. A couple of examples would be BRIKbc and Tinaga Resorts Corporation but the degree of their success is debatable.

Which Ravencoin crypto wallet to use?

If you are just getting into Ravencoin, you will need a wallet since most probably you don’t have one yet. Ravencoin has developed an official wallet specifically for RVN. However, if you want to hold and manage multiple assets in one place, we recommend Edge and Exodus. It is available on mobile devices (iOS and Android). In Edge Wallet, you can seamlessly exchange cryptocurrencies thanks to an integration of ChangeHero.

How to exchange RVN?

A RVN Beginner’s guide would be incomplete without instructions. How to get RVN using ChangeHero? In five simple steps:

1. Choose the currencies on the home page, amounts, and the type of exchange. Provide your RVN wallet address in the next step and check the details;
2. Double-check the provided information, read and accept the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy;
3. Send the cryptocurrency for exchange in a single transaction. Fixed Rate transactions have a 15-minute limit;
4. And now you can relax. At this step we are doing all the work: checking the incoming transaction and doing the exchange as soon as it arrives;
5. As soon as the exchange has been processed, your RVN is on its way to your wallet. Congratulations! We’ll be happy to hear your feedback.

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