Last week the Counterparty developers announced that they are integrating Ethereum capabilities on their platform. Counterparty is a decentralized financial program for creating and exchanging tokens using Bitcoin’s blockchain. Launched in 2014, it has its own currency. called XCP. It has it’s own currency called XCP, which is destroyed via fees when creating new assets. XCP has a fixed supply of around 2.6M and is deflationary. Token Use-cases
Counterparty makes it really easy for users to create tokens without needing any programming knowledge. The tokens can be stored and traded as Bitcoin transactions; the most secure blockchain in the world. There are a variety of Ethereum use-cases for creating tokens such as:
- Derivatives
- Customer reward points
- Verifiable voting
- Coupons
- Membership access
- Game pieces
- Betting
- Crowdfunding
Counterparty also has a decentralized asset exchange where users can trade tokens without needing to store their private keys with a third party.
Additionally, here are some of the projects using that are using Counterparty
Storj
Storj is a decentralized cloud storage service that allows users to rent space and bandwidth. The owner can access their data using a private key that assembles and decrypts the information. Also, users can earn a regular stream of storjcoins by leasing out their extra hard drive space.
Foldingcoin
Foldingcoin is a decentralized supercomputer used as a protein folding simulator for medical research. It takes an incredible amount of computing power to fold proteins because it happens in a millionth of a second. Rather than investing millions of dollars in a centralized supercomputer, the network can combine the power of over 100,000 regular computers which produces over 40,000 teraflops of processing power. Additionally, anyone who rents out their CPU get a token.
Spells of Genesis
Spells of Genesis is a fantasy card game created by issuing collectable tokens on the blockchain. Card tokens can be stored, traded, sold and are unforgeable because of the encrypted ledger system.
Ethereum Integration
Integrating Ethereum source code into Counterparty will bring the platform to the next level. It will allow users to create decentralized applications with its tokens. The main thing being debated right now is how to fuel smart contracts with XCP. Contract fees would likely need to be dynamic based on the price and supply of XCP.
Also, this new integration may boost the Counterparty ecosystem, attracting new entrepreneurs and developers into the space. Lastly, there’s also a possibility that the added demand for XCP will increase liquidity and potentially trigger a bull market.
