VIA is an open-source digital currency created on the Bitcoin protocol in 2014. It supports embedded consensus and extended OP_RETURN with 120 bytes auxiliary. VIA features Scrypt merge mining, also known as Auxiliary Proof-of-Work (AuxPoW), which is 25 times faster than Bitcoin (with a block time of 24 seconds).

The mining reward halves every six months (the current block reward is 0.3125 coins per block), keeping the inflation rate and mining rewards relatively low. To maintain mining profitability, merge mining (AuxPoW) has been implemented, with the largest share of hash power coming from the Litecoin network. VIA is currently mined by F2Pool, the world’s largest mining pool, maintaining a very high hash rate.

Other features of VIA include the Dark Gravity Wave mining difficulty adjustment algorithm, aimed at addressing issues in Kimotos Gravity Well and BIP9, allowing up to 29 parallel soft fork functions in the codebase, as well as SegWit and Lightning Network execution.

1. Project Overview

The ViaCoin (VIA) project aims to develop a "ClearingHouse" protocol to build VIA blocks and allow applications to be built on top of it. The total supply reaches 92 million. The initial 10 million were distributed through a presale without pre-mined coins for developers. The remaining 82 million VIA will be distributed as block rewards over the next 24 years. VIA is currently approaching block 700, with a block confirmation time of 24 seconds. The zero-reward mining period will continue until some time tomorrow morning. After block rewards start, they decrease every 10,000 blocks.

VIA has the Styx feature, characterized by high anonymity using zero-knowledge contingent payment proofs, enabling users to make anonymous payments securely and quickly without leaving any traceable information. This allows VIA holders to protect their assets safely, reducing the risk of theft. VIA has atomic mixing functionality, using smart contracts within the ViaCoinScript to execute atomic payment protocols. It allows one VIA to be exchanged for a hash or an elliptic curve cryptographic calculation. VIAs script functionality combines off-blockchain encryption with RSA encryption, random oracle models (ROM), and elliptic curve cryptography.

VIA was created to enable decentralized services on the blockchain, such as trading platforms, asset tracking, and voting. Like contract coins, VIA aims to solve problems faced by previous projects by moving decentralized services from the Bitcoin blockchain to a blockchain explicitly supporting such development.

2. Commentary

Viacoin is an open-source cryptocurrency project based on the Bitcoin blockchain. Viacoin was publicly launched in the cryptocurrency market in mid-2014, integrating decentralized asset trading onto the blockchain at unprecedented speeds for cryptocurrencies. The purpose of creating this Scrypt-based Proof-of-Work coin was to address structural issues with Bitcoin, primarily due to its transition from a digital currency to a store of value like gold, which congests the blockchain and delays microtransactions.

Related Links:

https://viacoin.org/
https://info.binance.com/cn/currencies/viacoin
https://medium.com/@DustinKCochran/viacoin-via-in-depth-review-c56fbe76f5a6
https://github.com/viacoin/documents/blob/master/whitepapers/styx/Viacoin-Styx-Whitepaper.pdf