Is SnowGem (XSG) The Most Secured Blockchain Project?

Blockchain technology is an industry that gives room for improvement. For those conversant with the happenings in the crypto industry, it is no longer a secret that some of the most popular cryptos on the market right now, lack what it takes to truly replace the traditional financial system. One key issue associated with them is their lack of scalability and transactional speed. This is why new Cryptocurrencies are being created to address this problem.

One word common with most crypto sales pitch (white paper) is “security”. In the true sense of things, the blockchain represents one of the most secure ways of securing data. But if one is to judge from the recent hacking incidents that have rocked the industry in recent time one might think otherwise. It is important to note that, the hacking problem is more human-made, as it is impossible to hack cryptos stored offline. However, there is still the 51 percent attack problem. For those who don’t know what that is, a 51 percent attack is a situation whereby an individual miner or group of miners controls more than 50% of a network’s mining power, also known as hash rate or hash power. As a result, these individuals get to double spend on the network and alter transactions.

Recently a popular blockchain network, Ethereum Classic was under a 51 percent attack. This resulted in more than $1million dollar worth of ETC stolen. This is a major security concern, which is a factor of how the blockchain network is designed. It is also important to note that several other Cryptocurrencies are susceptible to the 51 percent attack.
Fortunately, the industry is taking more of these flop in security into consideration and making adjustments to prevent it. So far, the only crypto project which has recently made an adjustment to its algorithm to protect the network against a 51 percent attack recently, is the SnowGem (XSG) project.

SnowGem (XSG)

SnowGem (XSG) is a digital currency which makes it possible for value to be transferred either transparently or privately. The digital currency is not controlled by any authority or centralised organisation, therefore, it can be accessed by anyone with access to the internet. Sending and receiving of XSG can be done quickly, reliably and securely using a personal computer, laptop or mobile device.

According to the project’s white paper, SnowGem is based on Zcash which is the first cryptocurrency to apply zkSNARKs (Zero-Knowledge Succinct Non-Interactive Argument of Knowledge). As a result of the zkSNARKs, network participants can easily prove a statement without revealing any information other than the validity of the statement. SnowGem which began as a fork of the Zcash blockchain(5) also inherited all features of Zcash at that time of the fork (23rd December 2017).

During its official launch on the 25th of December 2017, 72 blocks were timestamped. During the first 72 blocks, no external miners could mine (less than 7 XSG was mined during this period). This is to ensure that the blockchain’s launch was not affected.

With the activation of its masternodes on the 15th April 2018, SnowGem became the first Equihash algorithm oriented cryptocurrency with zkSNARKs(6) to implement active masternode technology.

SnowGem is also the first Equihash – zkSNARKs – Masternode coin. Equihash is a memory-hard Proof-of-Work algorithm with ASIC resistance in mind to maintain a decentralized network protocol.

Protection against 51 Percent Attack

With the news of Ethereum Classic 51 percent attack, it has become clear that with the right tools and skills sets, a blockchain network can be compromised. As a project which makes the safety of its network a top priority, SnowGem’s team has recently upgraded the network to prevent it against a 51 percent attack. According to the developers, a new phenomenon known as Thor’s Hammer has been introduced into the SnowGem’s network code. According to the report announcing the integration, it was stated that: “Thor’s Hammer will task the growing SnowGem Masternode network with protecting and securing the blockchain.”

As a result of this integration, Masternode protection will be activated across both SnowGem’s exchanges and pools. The exchanges and pools will also be allowed to communicate with the Masternode network directly, thereby protecting them from the reorganization process.

As a result of Thor’s Hammer, upon detecting a longer chain, instead of starting the reorganization process, the masternode will verify block hashes from its own chain to the new chain.

So if the block hash does not match the existing chain, the Masternode will reject the new chain and maintain the original chain. In light of this, the attempt to perform a double spend by an attacker on the network will be halted.

Although the SnowGem (XSG) project shares some similarities with some popular crypto in the market right now, the team behind the project is one of the most forward thinking teams in the industry and the recent integration of the Thor’s Hammer protocol has proven this to be a fact.

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