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Chapter 2: Introducing Ravencoin – A Purpose-Built Blockchain
The Messenger of Truth
In the fictional world of Westeros, ravens are trusted messengers carrying statements of truth. Ravencoin, named with this symbolism in mind, is a blockchain designed to carry immutable statements of truth—statements about ownership, assets, and their transfer.
This idea is foundational to Ravencoin. As Bruce Fenton and Tron Black wrote in their whitepaper, “Ravencoin is a peer-to-peer electronic system for the creation and transfer of assets.” The similarity to Bitcoin’s description as “peer-to-peer electronic cash” is deliberate.
Ravencoin was launched on January 3, 2018 — the ninth anniversary of Bitcoin’s creation. It is a fork of the Bitcoin codebase, developed specifically to overcome Bitcoin’s limitations in facilitating asset ownership and transfer. But make no mistake: Ravencoin was never intended to replace Bitcoin. Instead, it was designed as a peer to Bitcoin, extending its revolutionary principles to a new domain.
Bitcoin Maximalism and Ravencoin’s Purpose
There’s no denying the devotion of Bitcoin maximalists — those who believe Bitcoin is the only blockchain needed. Their argument is compelling: Bitcoin’s decentralized, censorship-resistant, and secure design makes it the ultimate store of value and possibly the ideal global currency. Saifedean Ammous, in The Bitcoin Standard, provides a powerful case for why Bitcoin should stand alone in this space.
But while Bitcoin’s architecture is perfect for decentralizing money, it’s not optimized for other applications — particularly the tokenization of real-world assets. Here’s why:
- Asset Awareness: Bitcoin nodes are unaware of embedded assets, making such transactions vulnerable to accidental destruction by non-aware nodes.
- Transaction Costs: Asset transactions must piggyback on Bitcoin transactions, consuming block space and increasing fees.
- Technical Risks: Missteps in asset protocols layered on Bitcoin can lead to lost or inaccessible assets.
This is not a criticism of Bitcoin; it’s an acknowledgment of its brilliance as a digital store of value. Bitcoin’s singular focus on decentralizing money limits its ability to efficiently manage assets. Enter Ravencoin.
A Blockchain Built for Assets
The Ravencoin whitepaper begins with a tribute to Bitcoin: “Thank you to the Bitcoin founder and developers. The Ravencoin project was launched based on the hard work and continuous effort of over 430 Bitcoin developers who made over 14,000 commits by the date of the Ravencoin code fork.”
Ravencoin’s founders, staunch believers in Bitcoin’s principles, saw the need for a blockchain that could do for assets what Bitcoin did for money. As they wrote, “In an age where people can move significant amounts of wealth instantly using Bitcoin, global consumers will likely demand the same efficiency for their securities and similar asset holdings.”
In a digital world there is a need for the ability to store and transfer Value and Bitcoin solves that. Well, the need for the ability to store and transfer Assets is coming. And Ravencoin solves that.
Bitcoin was never designed with assets in mind. Yes, there are projects created that attempted to layer asset management protocols on top of Bitcoin but they encountered fundamental limitations discussed above.
In short, Bitcoin’s architecture is rigid, and its primary focus is on being the most secure store of value – not on facilitating dynamic asset transfers.
To all the Bitcoin maxi’s out there, this is not a knock at Bitcoin. This is an ode to Bitcoin. I personally save all of my value in Bitcoin and Gold. The fact that Bitcoin was built so perfectly for the storage of value however is what limits its ability to effectively handle asset storage and transfer.
Bitcoin proved that decentralized money works. However, the need for tokenizing Real-World Assets (RWAs) – stocks, real estate, art, and intellectual property – is coming. And Bitcoin’s architecture wasn’t optimized for this purpose. Ravencoin extends this proof to the decentralized creation and transfer of assets.
The limitations noted above are because asset storage and transfer were not the purpose of Bitcoin. And you cannot have such limitations and risks when storing and transferring assets that may be worth millions.
Why Not Ethereum, Solana or Smart Contracts?
Smart contract platforms like Ethereum gained popularity for their ability to create and manage assets, as seen during the NFT boom of 2021 and the memecoin surge of 2024. However, these platforms come with significant drawbacks:
- Complexity and Risk: Smart contracts require flawless programming. A single error can lead to catastrophic losses.
- Scalability Issues: High traffic results in expensive and slow transactions.
- Fraud Vulnerabilities: Tokens rely on contract IDs, not unique names, creating confusion and exposing users to phishing scams.
Smart contracts require precise programming. A minor mistake can result in catastrophic loss. These blockchains don’t inherently recognize the assets created by smart contracts which creates vulnerabilities. And there are scalability concerns which can make the blockchains prohibitively expensive and slow during peak usage.
Smart contract blockchains rely on contract ID’s which are confusing. You can have multiple tokens with the same name and the only way to identify if you are transacting with the true token is through the complex contract ID. This creates even further exposure to phishing scams and fraud.
Ravencoin addresses these shortcomings by integrating asset awareness natively at the protocol level. This means the blockchain inherently understands asset transactions without relying on external smart contracts.
Ravencoin was created as a purpose-built blockchain to solve all the problems of Bitcoin and smart contract blockchains around asset tokenization. Its singular focus on asset tokenization makes it faster, more secure, and easier to use for this specific function.
Ravencoin’s Fair Launch
Decentralization starts with fairness, and Ravencoin embodies this principle:
- No Pre-Mine: No coins were mined or reserved before the public launch.
- No ICO: There was no initial coin offering or privileged access to tokens.
- No Founder Allocation: Every RVN token has been fairly mined from the beginning.
This approach ensures a truly decentralized network, where no single entity wields outsized control.
Building on Bitcoin’s Strengths
While Ravencoin inherited Bitcoin’s robust security and architecture, it introduced key enhancements to optimize asset tokenization:
- Faster Block Times: One-minute blocks enable quicker transactions.
- Native Asset Awareness: The blockchain recognizes and protects asset transactions, preventing accidental destruction.
- Deflationary Features: Asset creation burns RVN tokens, reducing supply and increasing scarcity.
- Custom Proof-of-Work: A unique PoW algorithm discourages ASIC dominance, promoting decentralized mining.
These deliberate design choices allow Ravencoin to maintain Bitcoin’s strengths while overcoming its limitations for asset-focused use cases.
A Decentralized Future
True decentralization requires more than technology; it requires fair token distribution and widespread mining participation. Ravencoin’s commitment to open-source principles and its fair launch foster a community-driven ecosystem free from centralized control.
Ravencoin wasn’t designed to compete with Bitcoin — it was designed to complement it. Where Bitcoin is the ultimate store of value, Ravencoin is the ultimate platform for managing and transferring assets in a digital economy.
In the next chapter, we’ll explore Ravencoin’s technical innovations and features that make it the premier blockchain for asset tokenization.
The future of ownership begins here.
*Not financial advice. Educational purposes only.