<p>You should study the current alt-coins world:</p>

<ul>
<li><p><a href="https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/List_of_alternative_cryptocurrencies" rel="nofollow">en.bitcoin.it: List of alternative cryptocurrencies</a></p></li>
<li><p><a href="https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=134179.0" rel="nofollow">bitcointalk.org: List of all cryptocoins</a></p></li>
</ul>

<p>The most interesting alt-coins today on my sight are:</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=260031.0" rel="nofollow">Quarkcoin (QRK)</a> blake, bmw, groestl, jh, keccak, skein</li>
<li><a href="https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=245953.0" rel="nofollow">Primecoin (XPM)</a> <code>First non-hashcash proof-of-work in cryptocurrency, pure prime number based proof-of-work</code></li>
<li><a href="https://litecoin.org/" rel="nofollow">Litecoin (LTC)</a> scrypt</li>
</ul>

<p>The fastest way to understand what <strong>must</strong> be changed is take a source <code>bitcoin-0.6.3-linux.tar.gz</code> and source of <code>litecoin 60300</code>.</p>

<p>Thereafter, extract both archives into two directories and simply <code>diff -rHvn bitcoin litecoin</code>.</p>

<p>Change the names of configuration files, number of ports, etc... And change the hash function, if you wish.</p>

<p>You surely will meet two common troubles:</p>

<ul>
<li><strong>Kill network by difficulty.</strong> Someone may come to your network with >50% of power, increase the difficulty and then disappear. After that, your network participants would found next block with <strong>BIG delay</strong>, which will break the stability of transactions, etc...  </li>
<li><strong>ASIC miner.</strong> Today, any gamer with a TOP video card can't mine, in the top pool, not even <strong>ONE Bitcoin</strong> for <strong>years</strong>, because of ASIC miners. What to say about a finding of block, solo-mining.</li>
</ul>

<p>First can be solved, I think, by reinventing dependence on the difficulty by adding a dependency on <strong><em>Time</em></strong>. For example:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Next block must be with 10 zeroes in the start, but after one minute the
  number of zeroes would be decreased by one, at the second minute decrease
  this doorstep again, etc...</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Second, the ASIC miner, may be conquered by the really hard hash algorithm. Look at the <strong>QRK</strong>: probably nobody will draw such circuit while the game isn't worth the candles. But here you'll meet next attack: someone may analyze the cascade of hashes and find a much easiest way to getting blocks.</p>

<hr>

<p>You can observe the world of alt-coins and you will realize that nobody needs your <strong>new</strong> coin. There are about 30 very active alt-coins and about 100 in incipience. I predict: "In the next year this numbers would be multiplied by <strong>10</strong>!": 300 active alt-coins with various difference from bitcoin and 1000 full clones, differing only by labels.</p>

<p>You could blow up the market with <strong>super innovation</strong>.</p>

<p>One of the most interesting and costly thing is traceability of money, on my sight. E.g. Look at <a href="http://zerocoin.org/" rel="nofollow">zerocoin</a>.</p>

<p>The second is a dying of mining. The market of bitcoin might plop in.</p>

<hr>

<p><strong>Edit:</strong> Also, there is <a href="https://ripple.com/guide/" rel="nofollow">rippled/xrp</a>, sometimes ago it has become opensource.</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="https://github.com/ripple/rippled/" rel="nofollow">https://github.com/ripple/rippled/</a></li>
<li><a href="https://ripple.com/wiki/Introduction_to_Ripple_for_Bitcoiners" rel="nofollow">https://ripple.com/wiki/Introduction_to_Ripple_for_Bitcoiners</a></li>
</ul>

<p>Also, look at granpa of ripple:</p>

<ul>
<li><a href="https://classic.ripplepay.com/login/" rel="nofollow">https://classic.ripplepay.com/login/</a></li>
</ul>

<p>One day, surely, there will appear a child of bitcoin and ripple. Kind of crypto-money-mutant.</p>

<hr>

<p><code>I leave here a little space for the future to add more interesting questions and answers.</code></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-11-03T20:54:59.680Z
How do I get the `litecoin 60300` source?
Shamoon
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-11-04T22:08:46.007Z
Something like: `cd /usr/src; git clone https://github.com/litecoin-project/litecoin; cd litecoin; git rebase 3aaa7ba5d05ff7ec35e2cd704e1e1b3da58b70b4;`. You should download full bitcoin's and litecoin's gits.
bellicose
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-11-04T22:18:08.763Z
Where did you come up with `3aaa7ba5d05ff7ec35e2cd704e1e1b3da58b70b4`?
Shamoon
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-11-16T07:33:23.510Z
When you clone full litecoin's git repository,  you could check the log `git log`, there is record from Date: Fri Jun 29 13:42:04 2012 -0700: `Change version to 0.6.3`, thereafter going a couple of fixes. My current version of git for experiments with clones is: Date: Sun Apr 14 01:50:46 2013 -0700: with last log record: `Do not warn about obsolete version.`. It looks like a complete litecoin v.60300. Just try to rebase here and compare with bitcoin 0.6.3, you'll see that there is no so many differences between ltc and btc.
bellicose
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-02-09T12:02:19.480Z
Please add a reference to Nxt ( www.thenxtcoin.com ), 2nd crypto-currency whose code doesn't descend from Bitcoin. It's an interesting concept: all coins have been pre-mined and no more will ever be, you earn interest just by holding some Nxt (receiving a share of the transaction fees paid by others) which is proportional to how many Nxt coins you have.
Joe Pineda
CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-11-02T20:19:27.973Z
2014-02-09T15:08:13.447Z
2014-02-09T15:08:13.447Z
bellicose
<p>In attempting to create a clone, a few things have to be considered... things like block time, reward, etc are often changed. What other things should be considered when messing with the source code?</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-10-30T21:02:16.743Z
Number of confirms for accepting mature coins from mining and transacting. Very few people understand that waiting for 6 confirms on the Bitcoin network is not equal to waiting for 6 confirms in Litecoin, for example.
bvpx
<altcoin-development>
When making an altcoin copy of Bitcoin, where should one start?
Shamoon
# When making an altcoin copy of Bitcoin, where should one start?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2013-10-30)

In attempting to create a clone, a few things have to be considered... things like block time, reward, etc are often changed. What other things should be considered when messing with the source code?

**Tags:** altcoin-development

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: Number of confirms for accepting mature coins from mining and transacting. Very few people understand that waiting for 6 confirms on the Bitcoin network is not equal to waiting for 6 confirms in Litecoin, for example.  

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2013-11-02. Score: 9 | Accepted answer

You should study the current alt-coins world:

* [en.bitcoin.it: List of alternative cryptocurrencies](https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/List_of_alternative_cryptocurrencies)
* [bitcointalk.org: List of all cryptocoins](https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=134179.0)

The most interesting alt-coins today on my sight are:

* [Quarkcoin (QRK)](https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=260031.0) blake, bmw, groestl, jh, keccak, skein
* [Primecoin (XPM)](https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=245953.0) `First non-hashcash proof-of-work in cryptocurrency, pure prime number based proof-of-work`
* [Litecoin (LTC)](https://litecoin.org/) scrypt

The fastest way to understand what **must** be changed is take a source `bitcoin-0.6.3-linux.tar.gz` and source of `litecoin 60300`.

Thereafter, extract both archives into two directories and simply `diff -rHvn bitcoin litecoin`.

Change the names of configuration files, number of ports, etc... And change the hash function, if you wish.

You surely will meet two common troubles:

* **Kill network by difficulty.** Someone may come to your network with >50% of power, increase the difficulty and then disappear. After that, your network participants would found next block with **BIG delay**, which will break the stability of transactions, etc...
* **ASIC miner.** Today, any gamer with a TOP video card can't mine, in the top pool, not even **ONE Bitcoin** for **years**, because of ASIC miners. What to say about a finding of block, solo-mining.

First can be solved, I think, by reinventing dependence on the difficulty by adding a dependency on ***Time***. For example:

> Next block must be with 10 zeroes in the start, but after one minute the
> number of zeroes would be decreased by one, at the second minute decrease
> this doorstep again, etc...

Second, the ASIC miner, may be conquered by the really hard hash algorithm. Look at the **QRK**: probably nobody will draw such circuit while the game isn't worth the candles. But here you'll meet next attack: someone may analyze the cascade of hashes and find a much easiest way to getting blocks.

---

You can observe the world of alt-coins and you will realize that nobody needs your **new** coin. There are about 30 very active alt-coins and about 100 in incipience. I predict: "In the next year this numbers would be multiplied by **10**!": 300 active alt-coins with various difference from bitcoin and 1000 full clones, differing only by labels.

You could blow up the market with **super innovation**.

One of the most interesting and costly thing is traceability of money, on my sight. E.g. Look at [zerocoin](http://zerocoin.org/).

The second is a dying of mining. The market of bitcoin might plop in.

---

**Edit:** Also, there is [rippled/xrp](https://ripple.com/guide/), sometimes ago it has become opensource.

* <https://github.com/ripple/rippled/>
* <https://ripple.com/wiki/Introduction_to_Ripple_for_Bitcoiners>

Also, look at granpa of ripple:

* <https://classic.ripplepay.com/login/>

One day, surely, there will appear a child of bitcoin and ripple. Kind of crypto-money-mutant.

---

`I leave here a little space for the future to add more interesting questions and answers.`

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: How do I get the `litecoin 60300` source?  
> **username_2**: Something like: `cd /usr/src; git clone https://github.com/litecoin-project/litecoin; cd litecoin; git rebase 3aaa7ba5d05ff7ec35e2cd704e1e1b3da58b70b4;`. You should download full bitcoin's and litecoin's gits.  
> **username_0**: Where did you come up with `3aaa7ba5d05ff7ec35e2cd704e1e1b3da58b70b4`?  
> **username_2**: When you clone full litecoin's git repository,  you could check the log `git log`, there is record from Date: Fri Jun 29 13:42:04 2012 -0700: `Change version to 0.6.3`, thereafter going a couple of fixes. My current version of git for experiments with clones is: Date: Sun Apr 14 01:50:46 2013 -0700: with last log record: `Do not warn about obsolete version.`. It looks like a complete litecoin v.60300. Just try to rebase here and compare with bitcoin 0.6.3, you'll see that there is no so many differences between ltc and btc.  
> **username_3**: Please add a reference to Nxt ( www.thenxtcoin.com ), 2nd crypto-currency whose code doesn't descend from Bitcoin. It's an interesting concept: all coins have been pre-mined and no more will ever be, you earn interest just by holding some Nxt (receiving a share of the transaction fees paid by others) which is proportional to how many Nxt coins you have.  

---

