What exactly is BEAM Coin? Delve into Mimblewimble's family with Grin and Beam.

The Mimblewimble blockchain has recently made waves with its first two full-scale rollouts. Grin and BEAM . We already have an overview of Grin and Mimblewimble It’s wise to take a closer look at BEAM to see what sets it apart from the Mimblewimble-based Grin.

Recently, both Grin and BEAM have emerged as open-source protocols, officially launching their networks just weeks apart — BEAM first made its debut in early January. The Mimblewimble protocol has been talked about since Tom Elvis Jedusor first introduced it in 2016, owing much of its buzz to how it cleverly boosts both privacy and efficiency through unique transaction models.

Despite some similarities, BEAM distinctively sets itself apart from Grin through numerous facets like its economic model, mining processes, community involvement, and how it governs the project overall.

Brief Overview of Mimblewimble

Mimblewimble can be viewed as a streamlined version of Bitcoin's system, engineered to revamp transaction forming, enhancing privacy and efficiency network-wide. Through increased privacy comes fungibility, meaning every currency unit is indistinguishable in worth from another.

Mimblewimble applies Confidential Transactions (CTs) and Pedersen Commitments so that recipients can create a 'blinding factor,' acting as a transaction signing key. Much like other privacy-centered transaction techniques, CTs tend to be clunkier than the standard cryptographic Bitcoin dealings due to the required proofs.

However, Mimblewimble circumvents the usual CTs' complexity by eliminating their script reliance, marrying it with blinding factors and dummy outputs. The protocol thus reaches CTs' security and privacy levels minus performance drawbacks.

Moreover, Mimblewimble adopts a CoinJoin-inspired transaction aggregation method, cutting down on vast past transaction storage within the blockchain. In Mimblewimble, block transactions resemble a jumbled array of inputs and outputs instead of a sequenced list. This allows nodes to sync quickly, relying only on specific inputs' legitimacy, leveraging Mimblewimble's native 'cut-through' capability.

This compact blockchain history bears block headers, the system state, and the output signatures of dummy outputs.

The ultimate objective is a blockchain setup yielding superior privacy and scalability, all thanks to its innovative transaction construction method. As the blockchain expands slowly, full nodes become more feasible, positively affecting network decentralization over time.

What is BEAM?

BEAM took to the stage in early January as the inaugural full Mimblewimble release, soon joined by Grin. protocol Written in C++, BEAM broadens Mimblewimble's original framework while bringing new features into play. Users can access its GUI wallet across MacOS, Windows, and Linux.

Development on BEAM trailed behind Grin, starting in March 2018. It embraces a more business-like approach, akin to ZCash, contrasting with Grin's community-driven model fueled by donations and a group of core developers tied to Mimblewimble since its conception. BEAM aims to offer a private, user-friendly value storage solution with a startup essence.

BEAM incorporates several features, either current or upcoming, that enhance the foundational Mimblewimble blueprint. These offerings include transaction signing through the Schnorr protocol, opt-in auditability, Bright Boson (dealing with atomic swaps alongside Bitcoin), offline transactions, and hardware wallet integration through Bright Boson.

BEAM puts a spotlight on engaging businesses and bifurcating its evolution into two segments: BEAM Core and BEAM Compliance. BEAM Core underscores the technological innovation of the network's architecture, while BEAM Compliance zeroes in on compliance and auditability on-demand. BEAM Compliance targets enterprises who need to retain audit trails for regulatory or audit purposes while optionally preserving privacy.

While BEAM and Grin share Mimblewimble roots, it's crucial to explore their differences in various aspects beyond the technological.

Grin vs Beam: A Transparent Comparison

One significant divergence between BEAM and Grin is in how they originated and their approaches to community and governance. BEAM's governance and development adopt a corporate-style structure similar to that of ZCash. In contrast, Grin mirrors Monero's open-source community model, driven by independent contributors and funded donations.

To categorize the main distinctions between Grin and BEAM, we can note several factors:

• Monetary Policy
• Governance/Community
• Mining
• Technical Nuances/Direction

Monetary Policy

BEAM's economic policy veers towards providing a private asset storage more so than 'P2P digital cash.' Its supply caps at approximately 263 million BEAM tokens with a Bitcoin-like deflationary release schedule as block rewards halve progressively, ceasing over 133 years. In its first year, rewards stand at 80 BEAM coins per block, then halve about every four years.

Crucially, BEAM's rewards get issued per block to the BEAM entities, dispensing monthly to the BEAM Foundation, investors, developers, and advisors. This scheme mirrors ZCash’s Founder’s Reward and funds the ongoing company-centric evolution of the cryptocurrency. The treasury receives 20 coins per block in the first year, reducing to 10 coins per block over the next four years. Treasury In contrast, Grin aims for anonymity as its hallmark as a currency, with an uncapped supply.

Grin aspires to maintain a somewhat steady pricing dynamic. Its focus shifts from a value reservoir to a fungible, private currency for conducting transactions. A fresh Grin token emerges every second, corresponding to 60 per each one-minute block. The inflation rate decreases as the years go on, eventually nearing zero but never quite reaching it. linear inflation supply schedule Grin's monetary system is captivating and presents an unconventional angle within the greater cryptocurrency realm. Unlike BEAM, Grin lacks a treasury, founder's reward, or associated enterprise, functioning instead via donations and open-source participation.

The BEAM's governance leans more towards a startup model, engaging full-time developers and contributors in a conventional corporate fashion. The BEAM Foundation presently manages the project—a Swiss-based non-profit poised to steer the network's growth. BEAM continuously strives for business usability by allowing opt-in auditability features, permitting companies to establish transaction trails for auditors or regulators if required. Part of its comprehensive BEAM Compliance endeavor, the compliance kit aims to integrate third-party services, aligning with country-specific regulations. BEAM also pursued VC funding and actively scouting for development partners, intending to set up the BEAM Sovereign Money Foundation this particular year.

Governance / Community

Rooted in a drive for a straightforward Mimblewimble implementation, Grin mixes in some experimental design perks. Entirely community-operated, it depends on donor generosity and voluntary developmental efforts. The Grin GitHub page lists multiple resources still being refined.

Throughout its evolution, Grin and Mimblewimble often nod to the Harry Potter saga, with key developers opting for pseudonyms derived from the series.

Grin draws more from cypherpunk Both Grin and BEAM utilize optimized Equihash PoW mining algorithms. contributing as well as a list of community projects BEAM plans an early decentralization by initially resisting ASICs for the first 12–18 months, favoring GPU mining. The development team intends to hard fork the protocol periodically to tweak the mining algorithm over forthcoming years, eventually welcoming ASIC mining. This aims to allow GPU miners to gain an upper hand over ASICs.

Beam Mining

Grin employs a dual mining structure combining Equihash and Cuckoo Cycle that accommodates GPU mining at first, preparing for future ASIC mining. As a memory-centric algorithm, Cuckoo will emerge as the principal mining method once the network's decentralization truly matures. Cuckoo Cycle and Equihash, respectively.

BEAM highlights several of Grin's experimental strategies as distinctive aspects separating the two. Despite both being rooted in Mimblewimble, Grin and BEAM steer towards subtly unique technical pursuits while remaining open to cooperation.

Discreet technical differences between these channels reveal:

Read: Our Guide to Mining Beam Coin

Technical Nuances / Direction

BEAM is coded in C++, whereas Grin utilizes Rust.

Grin follows a minimalist Mimblewimble implementation.

• Grin is ongoing with only a CLI wallet offering; BEAM delivers both GUI and CLI wallets.
• Privacy is innate and unavoidable in Grin. BEAM allows auditability if wished.
• Grin leans towards trial-like technical forays, unlike BEAM.
• BEAM facilitates non-interactive, secure BBS offline transactions. Grin opts for plain text communication such as email.
• BEAM Core drives the project's technical side, pushing out various developments consistently.
• Diving into the World of BEAM: A Deep Dive into Mimblewimble Innovations and a Closer Look at Grin

When comparing BEAM Coin with Grin, there are pivotal differences spanning monetary policy, mining technology, community involvement, and the overall system governance. pipeline over the coming years including:

• There's been quite a buzz around the Mimblewimble blockchain protocol ever since its first complete versions made their debut.
• It makes sense to look into BEAM and see exactly how it sets itself apart from its fellow Mimblewimble-based contender, Grin. BTCPay Server .
• Both Grin and BEAM, rooted in open-source protocols, unleashed their mainnets recently. BEAM took the spotlight as it launched in early January. The Mimblewimble protocol, with its origins in a proposal by Tom Elvis Jedusor back in 2016, is compelling due to its unique approach to transaction privacy and efficiency.
• Despite their similarities, BEAM sets itself apart from Grin through distinct aspects like financial strategies, mining practices, community structure, and governance.
• Understanding the Distinctions Between Grin and Beam

Of note, BEAM experienced a critical vulnerability Mimblewimble presents itself as a leaner variation of Bitcoin’s protocol, optimistically transforming how transactions are structured to enhance both privacy and efficiency across the network. One of the perks of increased privacy is fungibility, meaning every unit holds equal value without distinctions.

Leveraging a mix of Confidential Transactions and Pedersen Commitments, Mimblewimble allows transaction receivers to craft a 'blinding factor', effectively serving as a signing key. Despite their robust privacy, CTs carry more heft than typical Bitcoin transactions due to the verification proofs involved.

• GrinSwap — Atomic swap functionality
• Confidential Assets
• Schnorr Signatures
• Possible ZKP integration
• BLS Signatures
• Scripting However, Mimblewimble ingeniously addresses this bulkiness by eliminating scripting behaviors and cleverly using blinding factors and 'dummy outputs' to match CTs' security and privacy without the usual sluggishness.
• Hidden nodes/Onion routing
• Blockchain Pruning
• Dandelion Protocol optimization

Adding a stroke of genius, Mimblewimble employs a CoinJoin-like transaction aggregation method minimizing the need for historical transaction data storage. Within a block, transactions appear as random input-output mixes, letting nodes sync swiftly by authenticating specific inputs rather than the entire blockchain, made efficient by Mimblewimble’s 'cut-through' feature. community forum and Github repo .

The blockchain’s compact history is neatly packed with block headers, system states, and 'dummy outputs' signatures. Dandelion++ All in all, Mimblewimble's unique take on transaction construction leads to a protocol that boasts notable privacy improvements and scalability, supporting full nodes efficiently and bolstering the network's decentralized future.

Debuting in early January, BEAM was the first complete Mimblewimble project to become operational, soon followed by Grin. The software for

BEAM emerged from code written in C++, building upon Mimblewimble’s original ethos with added features. Users can now enjoy a graphical wallet interface available for MacOS, Windows, and Linux platforms. excellent analysis With its journey kicking off in March 2018, later than Grin, BEAM adopted a more organized corporate philosophy, echoing approaches seen in ZCash, while Grin remained rooted in community-funded and developer-driven structures since Mimblewimble’s inception.

Conclusion

BEAM encompasses various features, both operational and in development, to extend Mimblewimble's foundation, like the Schnorr protocol for transaction signing, auditability options, Bright Boson (support project for atomic swaps with Bitcoin), offline transactions, and hardware wallet connectivity.