Ravencoin Ravencoin Core integration/staging tree

https://ravencoin.org

Ravencoinisanexperimentaldigitalcurrencythatenablesinstantpaymentstoanyone,anywhereintheworld.TheRavencoinplatformalsoletsanyonecreateassets(tokens)ontheRavencoinnetwork.AssetscanbeusedforNFTs,STOs,GiftCards,andfractionalownershipofanythingofvalue.Ravencoinusespeer-to-peertechnologytooperatewithnocentralauthority:managingtransactionsandissuingmoneyarecarriedoutcollectivelybythenetwork.

RavenCoreisreleasedunderthetermsoftheMITlicense.SeeCOPYINGformoreinformationorseehttps://opensource.org/licenses/MIT.

Themasterbranchisregularlybuiltandtested,butisnotguaranteedtobecompletelystable.Tagsarecreatedregularlytoindicatenewofficial,stablereleaseversionsofRavenCore.

Activedevelopmentisdoneinthedevelopbranch.

ThecontributionworkflowisdescribedinCONTRIBUTING.md.

DeveloperIRCisinactivepleasejoinusondiscordin#development.https://discord.gg/fndp4NBGct

Testingandcodereviewisthebottleneckfordevelopment;wegetmorepullrequeststhanwecanreviewandtestonshortnotice.Pleasebepatientandhelpoutbytestingotherpeople'spullrequests,andrememberthisisasecurity-criticalprojectwhereanymistakemightcostpeoplelotsofmoney.

Testnetisupandrunningandavailabletouseduringdevelopment.

Developersarestronglyencouragedtowriteunittestsfornewcode,andtosubmitnewunittestsforoldcode.Unittestscanbecompiledandrun(assumingtheyweren'tdisabledinconfigure)with:makecheck.Furtherdetailsonrunningandextendingunittestscanbefoundin/src/test/README.md.

Therearealsoregressionandintegrationtests,writteninPython,thatarerunautomaticallyonthebuildserver.Thesetestscanberun(ifthetestdependenciesareinstalled)with:test/functional/test_runner.py

Changesshouldbetestedbysomebodyotherthanthedeveloperwhowrotethecode.Thisisespeciallyimportantforlargeorhigh-riskchanges.Itisusefultoaddatestplantothepullrequestdescriptioniftestingthechangesisnotstraightforward.

Adigitalpeertopeernetworkforthefacilitationofassettransfer.

InthefictionalworldofWesteros,ravensareusedasmessengerswhocarrystatementsoftruth.Ravencoinisausecasespecificblockchaindesignedtocarrystatementsoftruthaboutwhoownswhatassets.

ThankyoutotheBitcoindevelopers.

TheRavencoinprojectislaunchedbasedonthehardworkandcontinuouseffortofover400Bitcoindeveloperswhomadeover14,000commitsoverthelifetodateoftheBitcoinproject.Weareeternallygratefultoyouforyoureffortsanddiligenceinmakingasecurenetworkandfortheirsupportoffreeandopensourcesoftwaredevelopment.TheRavencoinexperimentismadeonthefoundationyoubuilt.

Ravencoinaimstoimplementablockchainwhichisoptimizedspecificallyfortheusecaseoftransferringassetssuchassecuritiesfromoneholdertoanother.BasedontheextensivedevelopmentandtestingofBitcoin,RavencoinisbuiltonaforkoftheBitcoincode.Keychangesincludeafasterblockrewardtimeandachangeinthenumber,butnotweigheddistributionschedule,ofcoins.Ravencoinisfreeandopensourceandwillbeissuedandminedtransparentlywithnopre-mine,developerallocationoranyothersimilarsetaside.Ravencoinisintendedtoprioritizeusercontrol,privacyandcensorshipresistanceandbejurisdictionagnosticwhileallowingsimpleoptionaladditionalfeaturesforusersbasedonneed.

Ablockchainisaledgershowingthevalueofsomethingandallowingittobetransferredtosomeoneelse.Ofallthepossibleusesforblockchains,thereportingofwhoownswhatisoneofthecoreusesofthetechnology.ThisiswhythefirstandmostsuccessfulusecaseforblockchaintechnologytodatehasbeenBitcoin.

ThesuccessoftheEthereumERC20tokenshowsthedemandfortokenizedassetsthatuseanotherblockchain.Tokensoffermanyadvantagestotraditionalsharesorotherparticipationmechanismssuchasfastertransfer,possiblyincreasedusercontrolandcensorshipresistanceandreductionoreliminationoftheneedfortrustedthirdparties.

BitcoinalsohasthecapabilityofservingastherailsfortokensbyusingprojectssuchasOmnilayer,RSKorCounterparty.However,neitherBitcoinnorEthereumwasspecificallydesignedforfacilitatingownershipofotherassets.

Ravencoinisdesignedtobeausecasespecificblockchaindesignedtoefficientlyhandleonespecificfunction:thetransferofassetsfromonepartytoanother.

Bitcoinisandalwaysshouldbefocusedonitsgoalsofbeingabetterformofmoney.Bitcoindeveloperswillunlikelyprioritizeimprovementsorfeatureswhicharespecificallybeneficialtothefacilitationoftokentransfers.OnegoaloftheRavencoinprojectistoseeifausecasespecificblockchainanddevelopmenteffortcancreatecodewhichcaneitherimproveexistingstructureslikeBitcoinorprovideadvantagesforspecificusecases.

Inthenewglobaleconomy,bordersandjurisdictionswillbelessrelevantasmoreassetsaretradableandtradeacrossbordersisincreasinglyfrictionless.InanagewherepeoplecanmovesignificantamountsofwealthinstantlyusingBitcoin,globalconsumerswilllikelydemandthesameefficiencyfortheirsecuritiesandsimilarassetholdings.

Forsuchaglobalsystemtoworkitwillneedtobeindependentofregulatoryjurisdictions.Thisisnotduetoideologicalbeliefbutpracticality:iftherailsforblockchainassettransferarenotcensorshipresistanceandjurisdictionagnostic,anygivenjurisdictionmaybeinconflictwithanother.Inlegacysystems,wealthwasgenerallyconfinedinthejurisdictionoftheholderandthereforeeasytocontrolbasedonthepoliciesofthatjurisdiction.Becauseoftheglobalnatureofblockchaintechnologyanyprotocollevelabilitytocontrolwealthwouldpotentiallyplacejurisdictionsinconflictandwillnotbeabletooperatefairly.