Gridcoin (GRC) is an open source Cryptocurrency which securely rewards volunteer computing performed upon the BOINC Platform in a decentralised manner on top of Proof of Stake.
Gridcoin was launched on the 16th October 2013 by Rob Halförd. The Gridcoin that we know today, however, was initially minted on the 11th October 2014. Gridcoin Classic used a Proof of Work system instead of the Proof of Stake system that we currently use today to secure the blockchain, Proof of Work is quite wasteful as the resources that could have been used to help further science were instead being used to secure the blockchain.
Coins were burnt from Classic to Gridcoin at a rate of 1:10 where Classic enjoyed a 6 month conversion window, from October 2014 to April 2015.
BOINC (Berkeley Open Infrastructure for Network Computing) is a distributed computing platform, which was launched at beginning of 2002, where it was originally developed to support the SETI@home project.
BOINC rewards participants with credits for performed work, this is how Gridcoin recognises your contributions.
BOINC is an application available for multiple Operating Systems, such as: macOS, Windows, Linux, Android and FreeBSD.
Unfortunately due to Apple's policy BOINC will not be allowed in the App Store for iOS without a policy change.
Like any other cryptocurrency there are a number of exchanges where Gridcoin could be exchanged at. At the moment of writing this post the current exchanges are:
There are some faucets available for Gridcoin too:
Pools are also available if you are unable to solo mine.
Finally on top of that there is a marketplace for Gridcoin located at:
r/MarketGrid
Yes, of course there are numerous places to get help.
The main differences is that Curecoin & FoldingCoin rewards the Folding@home platform, while Gridcoin rewards the BOINC platform, and AFAIK both can't be used to reward users of the other platform.
FoldingCoin doesn't actually have it's own blockchain, it runs on the mainline Bitcoin blockchain, on the other hand Curecoin and Gridcoin both run on their own blockchains.
Curecoin, like Gridcoin, used to use a Proof of Work system to secure their blockchain, however it appears that similarly to Gridcoin they have switched to a Proof of Stake system.
The official wallet is available on a variety of platforms.
Wallet Downloads can be found here:
Gridcoin.us
Chocolatey Package (Windows)
Third Party Wallets are also available:
Please be warned that while these wallets may be more convenient, since you do not have access to the keys normally, you could lose your money.
