What is Firo?
FIRO is a cryptocurrency that is built with the privacy of its users in mind. Formerly known as Zcoin (rebranded in October 2020), Firo is the originator of one of the widely used privacy protocols known as the Zerocoin protocol. However, after finding some flaws, Zcoin replaced the Zerocoin protocol with another protocol called Sigma, which also eventually got replaced by the Lelantus protocol. Take a look at the Firo price chart featured above if you care to see the current FIRO price.
Unlike other crypto assets that reveal certain information about you, each FIRO token has no transaction history after it has been burnt and redeemed. This is achieved through the Lelantus protocol, which allows users to burn their tokens. When they do that, the tokens stop existing and can then be redeemed for brand-new tokens that have no transaction history at all. This process makes it very difficult to trace FIRO tokens, which results in almost total privacy. All you have to do to redeem your tokens is show proof that you have previously burned them. In the future, Firo plans to have a new protocol called the Lelantus Spark which will remove the need for token redeeming.
Overall, privacy and anonymity are main priorities of Firo. In order to achieve them, Firo utilizes specialized zero-knowledge proof technology, which provides users with a way to prove that a specific piece of data is true without having to reveal it. However, the technology used by Firo retains high anonymity sets without requiring a trusted setup or challenging mathematical or cryptographic assumptions. Firo's version of zero-knowledge proofs is called "one-out-of-many proofs." Additionally, in order to prevent third parties from assigning IP addresses to transactions, Firo utilizes Dandelion++.
Lastly, it's important to note that FIRO is a mineable cryptocurrency that is mined through FiroPoW, which is a modified version of ProgPoW. It makes use of every component of a GPU and incorporates a random sequence that alters every block to further increase resistance to ASIC and FPGA. However, Firo uses a hybrid PoW and LLMQ Chainlocks system to combine quick block and transaction finality with fair supply distribution and protection against 51% attacks.
The Story of Firo
Firo was founded as Zcoin in 2016 by Poramin Insom. He has a master's degree in Information Security. Insom laid the foundation for Zcoin’s technology by coding the first implementation of the Zerocoin protocol in the world. Interestingly, he wrote a paper on the proposed implementation of the Zerocoin protocol while he was a student.
However, shortly after Zcoin's inception, Reuben Yap joined the project as a co-founder. Reuben is a vocal supporter of privacy who founded one of South East Asia’s earliest Virtual Private Network services. He did this to help protect people in his country from censorship.
Besides, note that the Firo blockchain was used in the Thai Democratic Party Elections, making it the first blockchain-based large-scale election in the world.
Use Cases of FIRO Tokens
As mentioned before, the key use case of FIRO tokens is making completely private and anonymous transactions. Overall, the token is compatible with various crypto projects and it can have various use cases. For instance, FIRO coins can be used as a direct payment option on Locktrip.com and Travala.com to pay for bookings of flights and hotels when going on trips. However, this is just one of many examples.
Interested in purchasing Firo crypto assets? Don't forget to check the Firo price chart. It features both – the current and the previous FIRO price.
Firo Tokenomics
The maximum supply of FIRO coins is 21.4 million. While FIRO can be mined, the rate at which it is being mined is constantly being reduced. This is done in order to increase the scarcity of FIRO, which could eventually result in an increase in the FIRO price.
Besides, FIRO’s team sets aside a percentage of its block rewards to go to the development fun. This fund is used to reward the FIRO community (developers, coders, researchers, and community managers), as well as to cover integration costs and the cost of running the FIRO infrastructure.