Intro to Idena
This is the fourth episode of a five part series on the best free to claim cryptocurrency projects on the market right now. The projects we will be researching and answering all the questions to finally decide on which of these projects have the brightest future in episode five are, Pi Network, Bee.com, GoodDollar and Idena. This episode is an initial intro and micro deep-dive into what Idena is, some stats and general information and then my thoughts or concerns on the token at hand. I will be providing some opinions that may not be suitable to fanboy or fangirl ears. I think it is important to discuss topics of concern that would be important for a general user to know and understand. So, let’s get into Idena and see what they are offering.
What is the problem that Idena is trying to solve?
Idena aims to reduce the level of centralization and increase the level of privacy for their users by innovating on how to identify a unique person from another, without specific identifying information that is obtained by sites like Facebook and Google. Web3 needs a way to identify unique users while at the same time keeping that information away from centralized power centers.
The Idena team of developers and engineers have designed “a blockchain...driven by Proof-of-Person consensus with every node linked to a crypto identity, one person with equal voting power. It suggests a novel way to formalize people on the Internet: Idena proves the humanness and uniqueness of its participants without collecting personally identifiable information by running a Turing test at the same time globally.”
In the whitepaper, the authors draw upon what people like and appreciate about Bitcoin. How it made advances in security and privacy, and Idena appear to be taking that and evolving it for 2021 and beyond.
Anonymous and Sybil-resistant identity is a missing part for Web 3.0 (Internet applications, blockchains, dapps, and self-sovereign identity space).
The design requirements of this decentralized anonymous identity to a large extent follow the properties introduced by Bitcoin:
- Global and verifiable online
- Permissionless and inclusive
- Decentralized, without reliance on trusted third parties
- Sybil-resitant
- Anonymous and privacy-preserving
- Censorship-resistant and plausibly deniable
Existing state-of-the-art identity mechanisms fail to achieve this:
- OpenID identity solutions such as those of Facebook and Google, based on a social information, rely on a centralized service, are not available in many countries, can be purchased on the market, and are easily spoofed.
- Government ID relies on trusted know-your-customer (KYC) verifiers, requires the sharing of personally identifying information (PII) with a centralized service, is not inclusive, and leads to an Orwellian world.
- Biometrics relies on specific sensors and algorithms, can be faked, and cannot have plausible deniability.
- Video identification can be faked with AI algorithms which can produce a high quality deepfakes unidentifiable as deepfakes.
- Self-sovereign identities (SSI) rely on trusted verifiers based on Social ID and Government ID attestation.
- Web of Trust (WoT) approaches do not allow to build the consensus about the registry of valid identities across all nodes.
Idena Manifesto
“Ten years ago, Bitcoin paved the way for reliable censorship-resistant digital cash, truly distributed infrastructure, and innovative leaderless governance. It was followed by Ethereum, which has proven the concept of global general-purpose computing and formed a vibrant ecosystem of decentralized application developers.
While blockchain technology is still in its infancy, it has already experienced its own concentration of power
Over time, the validation of public blockchains got pooled in the hands of a few miners, making it easy to form cartels and distort governance. There are 13 controlling pools in Bitcoin, 20 distinct miners in Ethereum, and 21 block producers in EOS. Fifty percent of Ethers are owned by 400 addresses. The Proof-of-Stake mechanism will only make the distribution more extreme - the rich become richer. Such is the nature of money.” Idena Manifesto
How is Idena going to solve this problem?
As far as I am concerned Idena is more of a technology than a cryptocurrency, but it utilizes a token in very unique ways. Let's get into how Idena is actually used, and how this actually helps against the centralization efforts of the few, powerful, users in a specific ecosystem.
Unique crypto identity: Github with partner Gitcoin has recently implemented Idena’s verification process to enable users to have a bonus 25% Trust rating when applying for contracts anonymously. Basically, Gitcoin sees Idena as a viable way to eliminate bots and fake users from the bidding process and therefore is giving users who have already been verified with Idena a bonus when trying to win jobs or contracts on the site. The actual token itself is not in use in this situation.
One person, one vote. This is going to be a huge factor especially if we look at the state of the Ethereum Main Net and being stuck behind proposals that would keep the vast majority of wealth in the hands of a few mining nodes or validators. One person, one vote can actually be prescribed by Idena thanks to the unique crypto identity each user is given once verified.
Universal basic income: Blockchain mining must be democratic: The blockchain node should be light enough to run on an average computer or laptop. In Idena all participants are empowered to maintain the network. Participation in Idena is rewarded in a form of a UBI. You could also compare it with GoodDollar because they are using the token as a UBI program for miners. Miners only have to be verified and download the node software in order to mine Idena. There's no crazy tech requirement, which lowers the barrier to entry while also giving the system a more decentralized network.
Freedom of speech: There are many interesting ways that Idena could use their unique identities to ensure that freedom of speech is upheld in various communities. For example, a writer could produce something, signed with their Idena Sig to verify authorship, but also keep the anonymity that Idena has created within their systems.
Idena is also focused on decentralizing the web, with various Web3 integrations and has considered the scalability and future of the project as well.
How does Idena reward it’s users?
Idena users have a pretty straightforward process for collecting iDNA tokens.
- Download the Idena Node/Miner Application.
- Get Verified in a verification ceremony, currently, the next ceremony is April 17, 2021. Once verified, you earn a bonus for your accuracy, this past ceremony the rewards were between, $1.70-$72.10, paid in iDNA tokens.
- Each Epoch, miners get rewarded, this epoch the payout is $14.50 for 18 days of mining.
On average, a verified miner, who has a node operating with close to 100% uptime should expect to make about $1/day. 20% of all earnings are placed into a locked staked account that accumulates iDNA as time goes on for the user. These funds are available later once other steps are completed.
Idena/iDNA Key Facts and Figures
- 6975 current active nodes/miners.
- Tradable token bridged to the BSC chain.
- The only token in this series fully listed on Coin Market Cap with Data.
- $6.5 Million Market Cap.
- $30k+ Daily Trading Volume on 4 exchanges.
Is there value in collecting Idena/iDNA?
As you can see from the previous few slides, I generally think that Idena is a solid project that just needs more eyes on it and users using the services for it to really take off. Once you are verified you can start mining, be a node etc. There’s no crazy KYC, privacy is of the utmost importance and the value really seems to be there. $20/month is nothing to scoff at, and when it is easily tradable for BTC. That is impressive. The biggest downside is literally also the biggest upside of the project. Verification flips. Lets talk more about that.
A few concerns….
- Verification Flips: The Turing machine that all verified or wanna-be-verified users must pass in order to become a verified user on the network. They work, but just not very consistently. I have up until now missed out on 3 verification ceremonies for various reasons. Flips not loading, Node not connecting properly, etc. These are so cool, when they work, that I think it’s just a matter of time before the bugs are worked out and this is one of the best verification methods on the internet. But, it’s going to take time, and I understand that.
- iDNA as an investment: Currently the iDNA token is tradable on several exchanges, but I feel like the longevity of the token might be somewhat in doubt if the vast majority of the market only sells for a more exchangeable token such as BTC. It’s not a problem that cannot be solved, and I feel like the update with the hard fork recently has opened up the possibility for more reasons for users to actually hold onto their tokens instead of just immediately swapping for Bitcoin.
- Scalability: The 6,975 nodes/miners also equals the number of verified Idena Users. This is quite small, but they have been seeing about 7-8% growth per epoch, 18 days, so maybe this concern will be abated simply by time. The technology floor seems to be there for massive scalability but people won't often take 3 or 4 attempts at joining a project like this. Therefore the flips need to be perfected ASAP if they want any real scalability as far as node/miner users.
Conclusion
Idena is definitely a project to try to get involved in if you have a computer that can run a node 24/7. It really is about as close to “free money” and a UBI program that we have seen on the Blockchain so far. It has fewer total users than GoodDollar, but has by the numbers, produced more wealth for its users. There is a very important distinction between the two though. One is run by a non-profit (GoodDollar), the other is run by an “anonymous team of engineers and developers” (Idena). I don't think their privacy is as much of a red-flag as say Bee.com or even Pi Network considering the purpose of the project is to provide privacy to its users. That is the primary goal of the project it seems, the UBI seems to be a really nice addition to the program as a whole. Basically, the devs on Idena, had no reason to do it this way other than to try to fulfill their stated goals. So yes, Idena in my mind does have some key aspects that make UBI proposals so interesting. The governance system and voting system are one of the fairest in the space and I hope that the iDNA token goes to the moon and the success that they continue to have is felt in other ways in the crypto space as well.
Idena is a privacy project that has tokenized itself by providing the iDNA token to its members. This is should be a prototype for cryptocurrencies created in the future.
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Good$ News Podcast is a daily Breaking News and Financial podcast related to the cryptocurrency GoodDollar based on the Fuse Blockchain. These episodes are designed to be a bite-sized analysis of GoodDollar’s daily financial statistics and any other GoodDollar related News or Rumors.
Disclaimer: I am not employed by the GoodDollar Organization or eToro, GoodDollar’s executor. This is not meant to be financial advice. I am not a licenced financial advisor nor am I an expert. I am still learning about Crypto and in some situations, I may be incorrect, and if I am, I’m sure I will hear about it in the comments section. This show is meant to be informational and entertainment, NOT FINANCIAL ADVICE.
