How to Create Your Own Cryptocurrency

“In the Future, Everyone Will Have Their Own Cryptocurrency.” written by Simon de la Rouviere made a bold prediction: “Everyone in the next 10-20 years will have their own altcoin (or derivative of it). I’ll have a simoncoin”. That is a very bold statement for futurists find why we need cryptocurrencies in the first place and create one for ourselves.

Cryptocurrency is utilized in trading and obtaining digital data /assets. While in case of Bitcoin, it is used as digital gold. Cryptography is a unique idea, which encourages the use of digital currency for secure and confidential transactions without any third party control over the transaction, making it even more reliable.

So why exactly people are moving away from usual Fiat currencies and choosing Cryptocurrencies over it? There are several reasons why more and more users are moving away from traditional Fiat currency market to newly born Cryptocurrencies. It is revolutionizing the economy and perhaps the biggest revolution in centuries. The fintech incorporated in this process has enabled the users to achieve their dream of secure, untraceable, incorruptible currency.

Let’s just highlight the reasons that lead to the tremendous success of cryptocurrencies:

1. It’s fraud-proof: Making and launching a digital currency is not entirely a new concept. David Chaum published the first electronic cash in 1983. In 1990 he founded DigiCash in Amsterdam which later filed bankruptcy in 1998. A similar form of currency was formed in 1996 known as e-gold.

Coca-Cola also invented vending machines, which operated through mobile payments. All those projects failed at some point because the idea was there but not the technology. In 2008 Satoshi Nakamoto created Bitcoin cryptocurrency based on blockchain (Peer to Peer encrypted) technology which resolved all the problems of security and privacy with 100% authenticated transactions.

2. Ease of accessibility: The need of building fast, accurate and reliable transaction method was always there but couldn’t be executed. The lethargic and cumbersome process of online/international payments was a headache for both consumers and service providers. Whereas now you can make transaction securely with one click and in a matter of minutes.

3. No third-party involved: There is no third party involved in transactions. Nobody controls your privacy, no fear of theft or lack of trust. It’s all about secure, transparent and swift transactions.

How can you create a new cryptocurrency? There are two main options available:

• Build a new blockchain from scratch in which you need to create a whole network where you would need to define miners and consensus algorithms like proof of stake, proof of work, proof of burn or something else as verification mechanism and Node management. It is very costly in terms of time, effort and money and is not recommended at all.
• The second choice would be to create a new cryptocurrency on an existing blockchain. It is relatively quick, stable and easy to maintain as compared to the previous one. There are four main platforms named as Ethereum (ERC20 Tokens), Blockstack, Qtum, and HyperLedger.

1. ERC20 Tokens [Ethereum]

More than 90% of altcoins are being launched as ERC20 tokens on Ethereum Network. So here comes the next question what is ERC20. Simply we create a smart contract to deploy into ethereum network. Once deployed, they are accessible through web3js. “ERC20 token standard describes the functions and events that an Ethereum token contract has to implement”.

2. ERC20 Token Standard      

Following is an interface contract declaring the required functions and events to meet the ERC20 standard:https://github.com/ethereum/EIPs/issues/20
contract ERC20

{
function totalSupply() constant returns (uint totalSupply);
function balanceOf(address _owner) constant returns (uint balance);
function transfer(address _to, uint _value) returns (bool success);
function transferFrom(address _from, address _to, uint _value) returns (bool success);
function approve(address _spender, uint _value) returns (bool success);
function allowance(address _owner, address _spender) constant returns (uint remaining);
event Transfer(address indexed _from, address indexed _to, uint _value);
event Approval(address indexed _owner, address indexed _spender, uint _value);
}

3. Tokens on Blockstack

Currently creating new tokens on top of blockstack is a feature under development. Blockstack team is looking forward to launching this feature in the first quarter of 2018. They have successfully launched their own Tokens and with these tokens, you can implement your own cryptocurrency on top of blockstack (virtual chain).

Conclusion

If you aren’t sure about which platform to use or lack the required technical expertise, get in touch with some reliable blockchain development company. At IQVIS, we have a dedicated team of experts who provide blockchain development and consultancy services to startups. If you are aiming at getting started with your own cryptocurrency, get started with a Free discovery workshop. Contact us, so we could schedule your free consultancy session on priority basis.