Holochain (HOT) is a cryptocurrency made by Arthur Brock and Eric Harris-Braun in 2017. It is a decentralized hosting platform and open source framework for the building of fully-distributed peer-to-peer applications. It’s purpose is to serve mainstream internet users and provide scalable crypto-accounting infrastructure for the hosting and managing of fully-functional decentralized applications.

Unlike most cryptocurrencies, Holochain does not utilize blockchain or DAG (directed acyclic graph) technologies. Instead, Holochain utilizes DHTs (Distributed Hash Tables) in it’s open source framework for building dapps. Each node in the Holochain network maintains its own history rather than the entire state of the network like in Bitcoin. Therefore, Holochain apps maintain their own network with their own set of rules and function independently. However, by using DHTs, a portion of each nodes data is stored in a shared public space so if a node goes offline, it’s data isn’t lost. This unique framework enables a high level of scalability for dapps hosted on Holochain.

Holochain dapps enable users to own and control their data while interacting with one another by mutual-consent to a shared set of rules, which cannot be unilaterally changed by any authority. Dapps on the Holochain platform can be developed with the JavaScript or Lisp programming languages, with support for front-end systems using CSS, HTML, and JavaScript. Some ideal uses for Holochain include social networks, supply chains, peer-to-peer platform co-ops, rating systems & reputational currencies, and collective intelligence/collaboration dapps. 

The Holochain token (HOT) has a total supply of 177,000,000,000 tokens with 133,214,575,156 circulating supply. 75% of all tokens were sold in the ICO at a rate of 1 HOT = 0.0000002267 ETH. The ICO ended April 28, 2018 with the project raising $20,400,000 USD (30,250 ETH).