Top Things You Should Know About Lisk (LSK)

By MuyAsk | Crypto Truth Lexicon | 14 Feb 2020

Hey guys :) I’ve compiled a comprehensive list of questions about the popular user-friendly blockchain application platform, Lisk, and its cryptocurrency LSK. If you haven’t checked out my other pieces like this on Binance and BNB, Nano, and others, be sure to check those out too!

Hope you enjoy the read!

The list of Q&A is pretty long so first comes the list of questions that I have prepared the answers to:

What is Lisk?
Who and When Created Lisk?
Does Lisk Have a Blockchain?
What is Lisk’s LSK Token Used For?
Is Lisk Decentralized?
How is Lisk different from Ethereum?
Can you stake Lisk?
Where to buy Lisk?
What is the best wallet to store Lisk?
What is Lisk SDK?
What is the Lisk Foundation?
Did Lisk Have an ICO?
How Much Money Left Has the Lisk Team?

1. What is Lisk?

Lisk website homepage

Lisk is a blockchain application platform that enables developers to easily build decentralized blockchain-based applications (dapps).

The Lisk ecosystem offers everyone the opportunity to benefit from blockchain technology through its own energy-efficient blockchain network, developer tools, and community. The primary goal for Lisk is to enable blockchain’s full potential and to help it gain mass adoption.

Lisk intends on achieving this goal by becoming a safe and secure gateway to blockchain technology for developers and enthusiasts alike. It simplifies blockchain development by offering its user base with a set of tools and products that enable them to more easily build and deploy a decentralized future of blockchain applications.

Developers who understand JavaScript and TypeScript programming languages can build their own blockchain applications on Lisk. They will be able to create, build and deploy their own scalable sidechains that are connected to Lisk's secure mainchain and benefit from the greater Lisk ecosystem.

Overall, Lisk makes blockchain technology more accessible to the masses by focusing on user experience, developer support, and in-depth documentation.

Lisk Features:

Build and Deploy Blockchain Applications:

Gaming
Value transfer
Content creation
Supply chain infrastructure
Healthcare
Real estate
+ many more

High Functionality:

Sidechain management (high scalability for powerful dapps)
ICO operation (issue tokens for sidechain networks)
Application deployment (easy deployment of dapps)
Enterprise infrastructure (underlying infrastructure for enterprise dapps)

Developer Friendly

JavaScript SDK (frameworks, libraries, CLI node, network manager)
LIP proposal system for research and development
Easy-to-understand programming languages (JavaScript and TypeScript)
Lisk builders program (receive funding and mentorship)
Complete documentation (guides, tutorials, resources, references)

2. Who and When Created Lisk?

Lisk founders, Max Kordek (left) and Oliver Beddows (right)

The Lisk (LSK) cryptocurrency and blockchain application platform was founded by Max Kordek and Oliver Beddows in early 2016 with its headquarters based out of Zug, Switzerland.

Though Lisk was created in early 2016, its origin goes back to 2014 with Crypti – one of the earliest open-source blockchain application platforms.

Crypti was successful on a community level but needed further development to succeed on a technical level. This is why Lisk founders Max and Oliver forked the platform’s code and created Lisk.

Very early on in Lisk’s development, shortly after the Crypti fork, valuable recruits were added to the project. Charles Hoskinson, ex-CEO of Ethereum, and Steven Nerayoff, ex-advisor for Ethereum, were appointed as senior advisors for the development of Lisk.

Lisk Founders

Max Kordek
Max was born in 1992 and lives in Aachen, Germany. He was an early adopter of Bitcoin (BTC) in 2012 and quickly became fascinated with blockchain technology. When he was only 24 years old, he launched Lisk with co-founder Oliver Beddows in 2016.

Upon launching Lisk he said:

“Bitcoin is very slow. You have to wait 10 minutes for every transaction. Our own network, with our own cryptocurrency, you have to wait 10 seconds.”

Oliver Beddows
Oliver, born in 1979, had over 12 years of software development experience before he decided to bring his experience to blockchain technology. Like Max, Oliver worked on Crypti before co-founding Lisk in 2016.

3. Does Lisk Have a Blockchain?

Yes, Lisk has a blockchain that went live on May 24th, 2016 with the creation of the first block on the Lisk blockchain (the genesis block, which contained 100 million LSK).

Lisk’s blockchain is a secure and decentralized blockchain with no central points of failure. Its blockchain is run by a global network of computers that store information on the blockchain. This global network of computers is where the Lisk blockchain exists and is referred to as the Lisk Network.

On this blockchain network, Lisk users can transfer Lisk’s cryptocurrency token (LSK) from one account to another, register accounts as delegates, vote for delegates, and register blockchain applications.

The Lisk blockchain network uses a Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) consensus algorithm, in which 101 democratically elected delegates secure the network and process transactions by forging blocks into the Lisk blockchain in 10-second intervals.

If for some reason a delegate fails to properly forge their assigned block, it is moved to the next 10-second block, and transactions in that block are extended by 10 seconds.

Lisk’s blockchain is the mainchain for the Lisk network and all of its side chains where blockchain applications are built. Lisk sidechains plug into the main Lisk blockchain for security and transaction finality.

Lisk Blockchain Explorer

Explorer.lisk.io website homepage

The Lisk blockchain has an explorer in which anyone can use to search for transactions, addresses, delegates, or blocks.

Additionally, the explorer can be used to view various Lisk statistics including:

LSK transaction volume
LSK transaction fees
LSK supply
LSK price in USD/BTC
Lisk blockchain block height
Number of peers in the Lisk Network
Location of peers in the Lisk Network
Top Lisk accounts (LSK rich list)
Live graphical visualization of the Lisk blockchain’s network activity
Lisk (LSK) market data

Check out the official Lisk Explorer Here

4. What is Lisk’s Token LSK Used For?

The Lisk (LSK) cryptocurrency token is a utility token used to fuel the Lisk ecosystem and has a variety of use cases including:

LSK is used to pay for transaction fees on the Lisk blockchain
LSK is used to pay for block rewards to Lisk’s 101 delegates
LSK is used to transfer value
LSK can be used to vote for delegates
LSK is used to create blockchain applications

1. Paying for Transaction Fees
Transaction fees on the Lisk blockchain are paid in LSK tokens and distributed to Lisk’s 101 delegates for maintaining the Lisk blockchain by forging blocks, which processes transactions.

2. Paying for Block Rewards
Lisk delegates receive block rewards paid out in newly minted LSK tokens. With every new block created, 5 new LSK is added to the total supply and distributed among all 101 delegates.

This LSK block reward is reduced every 3,000,000 blocks (~1 year) by 1 LSK and stops reducing when the reward reaches 1 LSK per block, which is where it will stay forever.

3. Transfer Value
Apart from being used to pay for transaction fees and block rewards, LSK is also used as a currency within the network to transfer value. LSK tokens can be transferred between accounts for minimal fees.

4. Vote for Delegates
Lisk users can use their LSK tokens to vote for their favorite delegates to forge blocks and secure the blockchain.

5. Create Blockchain Applications
From a development standpoint, LSK is used to create blockchain applications. Developers and entrepreneurs wanting to build on the Lisk platform will be required to purchase LSK tokens and pay for Lisk’s blockchain development services using LSK.

Lisk (LSK) Transaction Fees

Currently, the Lisk fees are as follows:

Outgoing transaction: 0.1 LSK
Second passphrase: 5 LSK
Delegate registration: 25 LSK
Voting: 1 LSK per voting round (33 votes can be made per voting round)
Multi-sig: 5 LSK per member

5. Is Lisk Decentralized?

Explorer.lisk.io website network monitor

Yes, Lisk is decentralized.

The Lisk blockchain network is both decentralized and trustless because no single individual or entity is in direct control of the network.

Lisk’s blockchain is globally distributed with more than 270 peers running the Lisk blockchain and its secured by 101 delegates who forge blocks and process transactions.

While 101 delegates may not seem very decentralized, Lisk’s Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) governance system ensures that it is. Lisk users who hold LSK tokens can vote for their favorite delegates to maintain the network.

To help them make a voting decision, they can evaluate and monitor different delegates on the Lisk Block Explorer on the Delegate Monitor page. Here, users can view various stats on delegates and delegate candidates including the number of blocks forged, forging time, status, productivity, and approval.

These stats help LSK holders to make an informed voting decision as to who they want to secure the network. Also, if one of the voted in delegates goes rogue or doesn’t perform, it’s not a big deal because there are over 1700 standby delegates that can quickly take their place.

All in all, I think it’s safe to say that Lisk is secure and decentralized. Throughout its 4 year history, the Lisk blockchain has never been hacked, nor has it suffered from a 51% attack or other centralization issues.

6. How is Lisk different from Ethereum?

Ethereum Logo

Both Lisk and Ethereum are blockchain platforms that support the development of decentralized applications (dapps) and support the issuance of cryptocurrency tokens.

However, there are many differences between them such as:

1. Consensus Model
2. Block Time
3. Programming Language
4. Execution Environment

Consensus Model
A fundamental difference between Lisk and Ethereum is their consensus models. Lisk uses a Delegated-Proof-of-Stake (DPoS) consensus model while Ethereum started with a Proof-of-Work (PoW) model and is transitioning to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) in 2020.

Ethereum’s consensus model is touted as being more secure and decentralized than Lisk’s but less scalable. As such, Lisk can process more transactions per second than Ethereum and has lower fees, and faster transactions.

2. Block Time
Lisk’s block time of 10 seconds is about 5 seconds faster than Ethereum’s block time of 15 seconds. Therefore, coupled with the consensus model, Lisk can process transactions faster than Ethereum.

3. Programming Language
One of the most important differences between Lisk and Ethereum is their programming language. Lisk uses the popular JavaScript programming language which is already widely known among developers and used to create popular apps on the web.

Ethereum, on the other hand, uses its own, new programming language called Solidity. Therefore, Ethereum developers have to learn Solidity while Lisk developers already understand JavaScript.

This is one of Lisk’s biggest advantages over Ethereum.

4. Execution Environment
Lisk utilizes a sidechain concept in which decentralized applications are developed on their own sidechains which are connected onto the Lisk mainchain. This method ensures that no particular dapp can negatively affect and slow down the entire Lisk network.

Ethereum dapps are built directly on the main chain and can bog down the entire Ethereum network. However, various scaling solutions, including sidechains, are being developed to help Ethereum scale as well.

7. Can you stake Lisk?

On January 8, 2020, the world’s first Lisk (LSK) staking service was introduced to the world by Coincheck, a popular Japanese cryptocurrency exchange.

The staking service offered solely by Coincheck provides LSK holders with new value as it enables them to earn more LSK tokens just by holding LSK in their Coincheck accounts.

Additionally, LSK users participating in the staking service will be contributing to the further development and enhanced security of the Lisk blockchain network.

Staking Service Details

By staking LSK tokens on Coincheck, the user gives up their delegate voting rights to Coincheck.

Coincheck then uses the staked LSK tokens to vote for delegates. If enough LSK tokens are staked on Coincheck, the exchange will have enough voting power to be selected as one of the 101 delegates.

If Coincheck manages to become one of the top 101 delegates, then they will receive a portion of the forging reward and in turn, share part of this reward with LSK stakers. The reward stakers receive will be in accordance with the volume of their staked LSK holdings.

In order to stake LSK on Coincheck, customers must own and stake at least 10 LSK tokens a day in a Coincheck transaction account. Upon doing so, staking rewards will be paid out every Wednesday.

Moreover, it’s speculated that more LSK staking services like the one offered by Coincheck will start popping up as Lisk gains more popularity.

8. Where to buy Lisk?

Lisk (LSK) is one of the more popular cryptocurrencies as it is consistently ranked among the top 50 coins on CoinMarketCap.

That being said, Lisk has a very healthy trading market and the LSK cryptocurrency can be bought, sold, and traded at a variety of popular cryptocurrency exchanges. Typically though, for the majority of exchanges, you will have to fund your account with fiat, buy BTC or ETH, and then buy Lisk (symbol LSK).

See below, a list of the top cryptocurrency exchanges to buy, sell, and trade LSK:

Binance (Trading pairs: LSK/BTC, LSK/ETH, LSK/BNB)
BitBay (Trading pairs: LSK/BTC, LSK/EUR, LSK/PLN, LSK/USD)
bitFlyer (Trading pairs: LSK/EUR, LSK/JPY, LSK/USD)
Bitpanda (Trading pairs: LSK/CHF, LSK/EUR, LSK/GBP, LSK/USD)
Bittrex (Trading pairs: LSK/BTC)
Coincheck (Trading pairs: LSK/JPY)
Huobi (Trading pairs: LSK/BTC, LSK/ETH)
Kraken (Trading pairs: LSK/BTC, LSK/ETH, LSK/EUR, LSK/USD)
KuCoin (Trading pairs: LSK/BTC, LSK/ETH)
OKEx (Trading pairs: LSK/BTC, LSK/USDT)
Poloniex (Trading pairs: LSK/BTC, LSK/USDT)
UPbit (Trading pairs: LSK/BTC, LSK/IDR, LSK/KRW, LSK/SGD)

In addition to the exchanges listed above, Lisk (LSK) is also traded on a number of other exchanges, although they are not as reputable and have lower trading volume for the LSK trading pair.

9. What is the best wallet to store Lisk?

Lisk Wallet interface

Lisk is a very user-friendly cryptocurrency and is supported by many great cryptocurrency wallets for both mobile, web, and desktop.

Best Lisk-Only Wallets for Storing LSK

Lisk Wallet (Desktop, Mobile)
Lisk Nano (Desktop)
Lisk Hub (Web, Desktop)
Lisk Paper Wallet (Paper)
Lisk Commander (CLI Desktop)
Lisk Core (Desktop)

Best Multi-Currency Wallets

Ledger Nano S & X (hardware)
Exodus Wallet (Desktop, Mobile)
Atomic Wallet (Desktop, Mobile)
Guarda Wallet (Web, Desktop, Mobile)

All of the above-listed wallets including all of the Lisk Wallets and Multi-Currency Wallets are excellent options for storing LSK. However, the absolute best Lisk wallet is the first listed wallet – Lisk Wallet.

Lisk Wallet

The “Lisk Wallet” is the official wallet developed by the team behind Lisk. It is a full featured wallet that puts the user in full control of their LSK funds and enables them to participate in the Lisk blockchain network.

Lisk Wallet Features:

Manage LSK Tokens
Send, request, and receive LSK tokens to get involved in the Lisk ecosystem.

Vote for Delegates
The interface is more than just a wallet. With LSK tokens, users can vote for delegates to maintain the Lisk Network.

Monitor the Network
Lisk Wallet comes with a built-in block explorer so that users can explore the network, monitor wallets, and see who to vote for.

10. What is Lisk SDK?

Lisk SDK

The Lisk Sidechain Development Kit (SDK) is an easy-to-understand and reliable software development kit for building decentralized blockchain applications compatible with the Lisk protocol.

The Lisk SDK is considered to be one of Lisk’s key advantages over other blockchain platforms as it provides all the tools needed for streamlined development of innovative blockchain applications.

Overall, the Lisk SDK makes Lisk an ideal platform for the development of blockchain applications by the mainstream.

Lisk SDK Features

Open Source
The Lisk SDK is open source, meaning anyone can use it to build on the Lisk blockchain protocol for free.

Modular Architecture
The architecture of Lisk’s SDK has been designed to meet the requirements of many blockchain use cases. The robust all-in-one toolkit allows users to build blockchain applications in minutes and enables customization to meet its requirements.

Rooted in JavaScript
There is no need to learn complex programming languages with Lisk as the SDK is rooted in the popular, accessible, and flexible JavaScript programming language.

Developer Experience Focused
Lisk’s SDK simplifies the complexities of blockchain development as much as possible and makes it easy to understand, even for beginners.

Lisk SDK Components

Lisk SDK Components

Lisk’s SDK architecture can be broken down into three components:

Framework
The Lisk Framework is responsible for establishing and maintaining the interactions between different modules of a Lisk blockchain application. It provides consistent and intuitive interfaces between each module and component.

Elements
Lisk Elements is a collection of JavaScript libraries that provide Lisk blockchain application functionalities. Each element can be installed separately to provide a distinct region of Lisk-related functionality.

Commander
Lisk Commander is a powerful command-line interface designed to be an easy and convenient tool for developers who are looking for an efficient way of coding.

11. What is the Lisk Foundation?

The Lisk Foundation is a non-profit organization that works on blockchain development, marketing, community management, business development, and other operations to strengthen the Lisk blockchain platform.

It was founded in 2016 by Lisk founders Max and Oliver who set up the foundation in Zug, Switzerland. The Lisk Foundation operates in accordance with Swiss regulations that apply to foundations of this kind.

Upon establishment, the foundation received monetary contributions between February 21 and March 22, 2016, and has since actively managed an array of crypto assets to fund their efforts.

Since the Lisk Foundation was established, it has benefited the Lisk ecosystem tremendously in areas such – easy and fast incorporation, friendly regulatory environment, and a handy ecosystem of other foundations and services.

12. Did Lisk Have an ICO?

Yes, Lisk had an initial coin offering (ICO) that took place between February 21 and March 22, 2016.

During the ICO, the Lisk project issued and distributed 100,000,000 LSK tokens and raised 14,000 BTC in the crowd sale.

The entire total supply of 100 million LSK tokens was distributed during the ICO period. The distribution is as follows:

ICO participants: 85%
Core team: 7.8%
Campaigns and bounties: 4%
Advisors, partners, and third parties: 2%
Early supporters: 1%
First-day ICO participants: 0.2%

As you can see from the distribution metrics above, Lisk’s LSK cryptocurrency was fairly distributed to retail ICO participants. Another fun fact, the Lisk ICO was the second most successful cryptocurrency crowdfund at the time.