Spark Token is a new crypto token to be launched on Tezos, that will be deflated with every transaction that is made. The deflation rate is set to 2%. So for every 100 Spark tokens that are transacted, 2 Spark Tokens will be burned.
Several of these type of tokens have been launched before, but this is the first one on Tezos. The most well known deflationary token is BOMB, with a deflation rate of 1%. BOMB has performed extremely well in the first weeks of its launch on Ethereum, but has since then pretty much returned to its initial value. Most people seem to hold on to the token, instead of trading it, which means deflation pretty much stopped, since very little transactions are made. The total supply of Spark Tokens will begin at 1 million tokens.
In the beginning of August, Tokencrunch already reported on the creation of Spark. Tokencrunch noticed the involvement of a Paypal engineer, who later acknowledged to have mentored the project. He also emphasized that the project is not affiliated with Paypal and that the credits should go to the listed authors on the Spark whitepaper. It does, however, emphasize the involvement of good credentials.
Spark is build on Tezos smartcontracts, because the creators consider Michalson a mor accurate functional programming language than for example Ethereum's Solidity. Additionally, Tezos' formal verification makes it possible to run the smartcontract before deploying it. This drastically reduces risks like bugs in the contract.
Spark will have to distinguish itself from other deflationary tokens like BOMB and NUKE. Hopefully by being more creative in growing a user base than its predecessors. On-chain transactions will be key obviously, otherwise there will be no interaction with the smartcontract and no Spark tokens will be burned. So listings on centralized exchanges on which trades are made off-chain, will be not be enough to do what Spark is supposed to do: deflate. DEXes are the way to go. At this point, Tezos has the Hybrid DEX and HD wallet "Atomex". And soon two DEXes will launch on Tezos, creating a healthy base for trading assets on the Tezos blockchain: DEXter and QuipuSwap.
