Popular altcoin Vertcoin released a new update on the teams development. In the update, the team announced they’ve made great progress on their mobile multi-currency lightning wallet, and that partner websites Vertpig and Vertbase are helping move the currency towards wider adoption through easy fiat access.
What is Vertcoin?
For those unfamiliar, Vertcoin is a popular altcoin that has been around since 2014. The currency is a lightweight proof-of-work coin that has some similarities to Litecoin in its implementation. The main difference between Vertcoin and other proof-of-work coins is its staunch anti-ASIC and anti-Bitmain sentiments. The group recently launched a Twitter hashtag called #FairMining and called out for other projects to join them in their goal of achieving widespread ASIC resistance.
For more information about Vertcoin and an in-depth analysis on the project, check out our article on the subject here.
Lightning Wallet Incoming
The main focus of the recent update was on the upcoming Vertcoin-focused mobile Lightning wallet, LitBox.
Since the Lightning Network went live on bitcoin not long ago, a quick scramble has ensued as various communities attempt to upgrade and implement the technology.
LitBox, Image from Vertcoin Medium
Even for bitcoin, the vast majority of transactions are still not using Lightning yet, indicating the technology still has a long way to go before widespread adoption takes over. And just for some context, recent reports suggest that still less than half of all bitcoin transactions make use of SegWit. SegWit adoption is increasing quickly, however, as major players like Coinbase finally implemented the technology after a protracted delay.
The Lightning wallet for Vertcoin could prove to be a unique feature for the currency as it would allow for even faster and even lower-cost transactions. Vertcoin transaction fees already are among the lowest in the industry and in many cases even no fee transactions can be processed by the network.
Vertpig is Live, But for Euros Only
VertPig is a project not created by the Vertcoin team itself, but it is being actively supported by them.
VertPig is a fiat gateway site that was designed to allow easy exchanges into and out of Vertcoin. The site went live not long ago and currently allows for trading pairs between bitcoin, Litecoin, and euros.
The site’s fees use the taker/maker structure, and stand at 0% and 0.25% respectively.
Vertbase facing troubles, but still moving forward
Towards the end of the developer update, mention of Vertbase, another project like Vertpig, suggested that the project may be facing some difficulties. Vertbase is intended to specifically support US dollar trading pairs and aims to compete with Coinbase by offering a more competitive and lower-cost on-ramp into cryptocurrency through Vertcoin.
This links to a Reddit post from about a week ago. In it, Vertbase leader Justin describes some difficulties they were having with banking. Specifically, Justin wrote that while they were successful in getting a compatible bank account for the business (which they claim is a major step forward), they were still having trouble being able to accept ACH bank transfers.
ACH bank transfers is the standard method of sending and receiving money through the Internet for online purchases in the US. For instance, if one were to purchase bitcoin on Coinbase using a US bank account, it would almost certainly be through an ACH transfer.
All hope is not lost, however, as Justin said that even though this could create as much as a three month delay, it does not mean that Vertbase is destined to disappear. Instead, he appeared hopeful and confident that the launch would eventually occur, and a new cryptocurrency on-ramp for US dollars would be created.
They also indicated that great progress is being made towards setting up a business entity in Australia that would allow for an Australian dollar on-ramp that could also prove to be quite promising.
Vertcoin Developments Ongoing
Vertcoin is a currency has seen some tumultuous times. In recent days, prices for the currency have been generally moving downwards since the massive all-market pump in December of 2017. Prices currently sit around around $1.55 at press time.
But with constant development and innovation, as well as the creation of Vertcoin-specific fiat gateways could be a game changer. This is especially true if they are able to offer fees that are lower than or at least highly competitive to incumbent competitors like Coinbase that charge higher fees.
Even if these fiat gateways only cause people to purchase Vertcoin with the intent of immediately swapping it for something else, this still creates a real-world use case for Vertcoin that could increase its adoption and overall profile.
