What Is Pirate Chain (ARRR)?

Pirate Chain (ARRR) is an independent blockchain supporting a completely anonymous coin focused on financial privacy. The platform uses a privacy protocol that other users' activity cannot compromise on the network. The network uses a unique technology to shield 100% of the peer-to-peer transactions on the blockchain.

According to the whitepaper, Pirate Chain's mission is to preserve users' financial privacy in a system dominated by transparent transactions. Conventionally, cryptocurrencies are most commonly used as a payment method. However, the public ledger of a blockchain exposes users' data and spending habits to outside observers, jeopardizing their financial privacy. Crypto assets have used the techniques of ring confidential signatures and zero-knowledge proofs to protect transactions and account information. Both protocols have advantages and disadvantages. The ring confidential signature technique exposes data to be studied by ring members using advanced technologies. The ring size impacts the complexity and difficulty of locating the "actual output," which is determined by the number of possible signers. The larger the ring, the more private it is.

Additionally, many cryptocurrencies use a decentralized anonymous payment method. The technique adds a shielded payment mechanism to the conventional transparent payment technique. The entire system is protected by zk-SNARKs (zero-knowledge succinct non-interactive arguments of knowledge). However, a relatively high number of non-shielded transactions and balances limits the fungibility of currencies. Fungibility is the ability of cryptocurrencies to be traded or exchanged, one for another. 

Pirate Chain seeks to improve the privacy and security features of ring confidential signatures. Also, the blockchain aims to fix the "fungibility problem" of the shielded payment scheme. Pirate Chain does this by only accepting shielded transactions (z-tx). Moreover, Pirate Chain employs the delayed proof-of-work mechanism to make the protocol more private and secure than its contemporaries.

Furthermore, delayed proof of work (dPoW) is a hybrid consensus mechanism that combines many existing methods into a single system. dPoW is as energy efficient as proof of stake (PoS) while fortified by proof of work (PoW). As a result, dPoW allows even the most insecure blockchains to benefit from the encryption rates of popular cryptocurrencies while being eco-friendly and protecting the entire network. The delayed proof-of-work (dPoW) mechanism stems from Komodo, another privacy-oriented cryptocurrency. dPoW provides strong security but does not require additional costs to run the network. As mentioned in the whitepaper, notary nodes maintain Komodo's security. Notary nodes record unique encryption of the blocks (block-hash) onto the blockchain (a process known as notarization). Notarization includes the generation of a group-signed Bitcoin transaction with the most recent Komodo block-hash, signed by an unknown number of notary nodes. For notarizing the Komodo blockchain, the notary nodes pay a transaction fee. Block rewards and transaction fees from the Komodo blockchain pay the transaction fees for notary nodes.

ARRR is the native cryptocurrency of the platform, which is primarily used to make anonymous transactions. ARRRs are distributed as rewards to miners for creating new blocks. 

History of Pirate Chain (ARRR)

On August 29, 2018, Pirate Chain began on Discord as a concept for a 100% zk-SNARKs coin. The platform has a maximum total supply of 200 million Pirate coins (ARRR). Pirate Chain, as previously stated, is an asset chain component of the Komodo platform ecosystem. The Komodo project leverages blockchain technology to give blockchain entrepreneurs and everyday cryptocurrency users more freedom and ease of use. Draeth, FishyGuts, Flexatron, j1777, KOSIUS, and the ARRR/KMD community co-authored the whitepaper. 

How Are New ARRR Tokens Created? 

The ARRR coin is self-financed. There has been no ICO or premining. Pirate Chain uses delayed proof of work as a mining algorithm to mint new coins.