Introduction

MonaCoin is a  decentralised, open-source cryptocurrency launched in December 2013, in Japan after a fork from its parent Litecoin. The coin also known as the cat meme cryptocurrency is the first Japanese cryptocurrency and is widely accepted by the local community alongside with Bitcoin. The developers of the coin have added more capacity in terms of speed and supply of the coin compared to its parent coin and peers.

The coin is traded with a symbol MONA.

How MonaCoin Works

Japanese has a penchant for local innovation and MonaCoin being the first local cryptocurrency, it has gathered a loyal user base and has an active user community. Apart from trading, the coin is the preferred mode of payments in many online/offline shops in Japan.

Monacoin is designed to resist centralization and applies Lyra2RE(v2) algorithm inside to prevent the development of custom mining hardware and multipool mining, ensuring verification of transaction is done through a widely distributed network of nodes and also comes with an advantage of ASIC resistance.

Monacoin is Segwit activated and has implemented Lightning Network, which means a faster transaction, instant payments and cross-blockchain transactions. The total supply of the coin is kept at 105,120,000 with a block time of 1.5 minutes and miners are rewarded with 25 MONA. Each block adds up to 50 coins and the difficulty retargets after every block using Dark Gravity Wave V3 technology. 

In addition, the developers have also created other platforms like "Monappy", which lets users earn MonaCoin by streaming twitch on Monappy and also allows users to buy and sell products and services. On the website, it has developed "askmona" which lets the user get hands on any kind of information on the currency in a forum style and also allows the user to send coins to others via the site. "Monadash" provides statistics and insights of the currency since it has been established on the market.

Key Features

• Decentralized Mining: The Lyra2RE(v2) algorithm prevents centralised mining operations and ensures transactions are verified through a distributed network.
• SegWit Activated: The hard fork activated from 977760 Block, will increase the transaction capability. It will enhance the block size limit and make the possibility of future improvements.
• Scalability: Developers have implemented Lightning Network which allows instant blockchain transaction and cross-blockchain transactions.

Founder and History

Monacoin was founded in 2013, by Mr Watanabe. The currency became popular after it was first shown in WBS TV Network Tokyo. Since then the currency has gained wide adoption among masses in the country and in April 2014, a land buy deal was executed using this currency.

Exchanges

• Bittrex
• Livecoin
• Crypto bridge
• Bleutrade
• ZAIF
• BitFlyer
• UpBit
• EXX

Wallet

Coinomi, Electrum Mona, KeepKey

A user can store the coins in the Windows 32- and 64-bit, Linux 32- and 64-bit, Mac OSX 64-bit, Source Code and Android Universal Bitcoin Wallets.

How to Buy

• The first step involves purchase of bitcoin and if you already own it, then go to next step directly
• Open an account on of the exchanges that supports MonaCoin. 
• Then transfer bitcoins to your account ( you can also purchase bitcoin from the above-mentioned exchange)
• Convert Bitcoin(BTC) to MonaCoin (MONA)
• And, then transfer your coins to a safer off-exchange wallet to store securely

BitFlyer allows users to buy MonaCoin using the fiat currency (JPY).

Conclusion

MonaCoin (MONA) is the first Japanese cryptocurrency that was forked from Litecoin in December 2013. and is widely used across the country in online and offline transactions. Less blocktime of the currency ensures faster transaction across the network and cross-blockchain transactions.

Key Links

Website: https://monacoin.org/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/monacoin2ch

Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/monacoin/