Has anyone attempted to rewrite the bitcoin software and protocol?

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As anyone who has looked at the bitcoin protocol in depth can tell, it is really a huge mess of different encodings, hashing styles, and endian conversions. Although it would be a fairly cosmetic change, are there any projects out there to attempt to rewrite bitcoin and it's protocols to be more consistent and easier to maintain for the developers? (yes, I know it would have to be it's own coin or whatever)

Earlz

Posted 2014-03-19T21:17:36.103

Reputation: 980

1I have voted to reopen this question because it's specifically asking about a different coin protocol, incompatible with Bitcoin.Greg Hewgill 2014-03-20T00:53:13.300

Mh, I might have misread that. It seemed to ask for a rewrite of Bitcoin, more readable and cosmetic changes only, i.e. an alternative Implementation. I read the last sentence as an assumption that it might be another Coin. Perhaps @Earlz could clarify?Murch 2014-03-20T07:52:59.267

1@Murch no I meant not just a new implementation, but a new protocol as well. Notice the *and it's protocols in the question. It would be something with only the ideas of bitcoin, but where the protocols and technical details would be completely incompatibleEarlz 2014-03-20T13:51:03.677

Reopened, @GregHewgill thank you for noticing.Murch 2014-03-20T14:18:11.167

Isn't this the very definition of an altcoin?Nate Eldredge 2014-03-21T03:53:21.563

@NateEldredge no it's not. Every altcoin I know of is basically just a fork of bitcoin with some changes to the parameters. They all use the same general protocol and suchEarlz 2014-03-21T03:54:45.013

Answers

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I believe that is what the NXT project is attempting to do.

It is a from scratch implementation of the ideas introduced by Bitcoin et al. They use Proof-of-Stake and claim to provide "built-in support for robust features such as a decentralized peer-to-peer exchange, voting system, messaging/chat, decentralized DNS, and options for instant transactions".

Murch

Posted 2014-03-19T21:17:36.103

Reputation: 41 609