When credit cards were introduced to the mass market in the early1960's it was very difficult to get the general public interested. Interest rates were sky high and perks were non-existent. By the mid 1970's however banks were beginning to realize that you have to give something to get something and bonuses and other rewards started to enter the scene.

When checking accounts first appeared there was no interest-building possible. The only way to build interest was to either open a savings account or invest in CD's or Money Market. When banks began offering interest bearing checking accounts, more people signed up for the program.

Alternate currencies will be going through a similar phase. Since Bitcoin's introduction just a few years ago, literally dozens of new altcoins have cropped up - some standalone coins much like Bitcoin, and others supporting organizations or companies like GENERcoin. But, the first company to offer perks such as interest bearing coins is Vericoin.

Enter developer Patrick Nosker of Vericoin who saw what he considered to be stagnation in the industry. And because in his view the technology seemed to have to have come to a grinding halt, he believed it was time to spice the pot and in May the company announced the soon to come opening of Veribank.

In the pipeline

Some new features of Vericoin are still in development by a third-party developer, but from the description it looks very promising and something that the community has looked forward to but the traditional banks are sure to hate.

Users will be able to open both “checking” and “savings” accounts. The funds in savings accounts will earn “Proof of Stake” (PoS) interest. The checking account will function as a hot wallet for purchases and easy transfers. Vericoin’s Patrick Nosker stated in an interview with CNN about the new development:

“We were investors and owners of other coins, but were very disappointed in the lack of innovation and general stagnation in all coins besides Bitcoin. We were also tired of pump and dump schemes that got the developers very rich for almost no additional work.”

As an incentive to use Vericoin, an interest rate is paid to users that the developers hope will secure the network.

“The more coins staking, the higher the interest rate,” says Patrick, “It scales according to the network stake weight.”

Vericoin Specs

  • No Premine, No IPO
  • Proof-of-Stake: Network-Stake-Dependent Interest
  • Min Stake Time of 8 hours, No Max Stake Time or Amount
  • PoW ended at Block 20160, Minted 26,751,452.35 VRC
  • Minimum Transaction Fee: 0.0001 VRC (Paid to Stakers)
  • RPC Port: 58683, P2Port: 58684
  • Confirmations: 10, Maturity: 500

Vericoin has shown a surprisingly steady growth since its introduction and is now valued at $0.07USD and is already listed on Bittrex, Bter, Cryptsy and Mintpad exchanges. But the company wants to change the way that all altcoins do business by introducing Veribit.

Veribit/VeriSMS

Veribit allows holders of Vericoin to exchange them on the spot for Bitcoin at any vendor who accepts Bitcoin. Simply enter the vendor’s Bitcoin address and the amount into Veribit, Vericoin will convert your VRC into BTC and submit payment to the vendor.

But the developers at Vericoin were not done yet. They have also introduced VeriSMS which allows users to send Vericoin via text message similar to TXT Coins Now. Payments via text messaging could give more people access to cryptopayments as one Pew Research study in 2011 found that 83% of Americans owned cellphones and that 73% of those people send or receive text messages daily.

Text messaging is still extremely popular even since the introduction of social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter. And Vericoin feels that their new SMS Wallet will give people who text frequently and lack constant internet access an easier way of using digital currencies.

Vericoin seems to be on a serious roll in the promotion of altcoins in general and Vericoin in particular. By making it easier to convert to BTC, which is accepted in an ever-widening array of merchants, Vericoin gained access to more than 30,000 merchants in one swoop.

With Veribank coming soon and the option for newcomers to use a medium that they are familiar with, Vericoin seems to have significant advantages on its side that could help it rise in the cryptocurrency market in the near future.