DigiByte is an open-source cryptocurrency running on the DigiByte Blockchain, a decentralised international blockchain created in 2013. The DigiByte coin was developed in 2013 and released in January 2014. Although based on Bitcoin, adjustments in the code allow for improved functionality, including 15-second block time and improved security. As of December 2017 DigiByte has a total market cap of over US $135 million. It is the longest public blockchain in existence.
DigiByte’s faster block time means transactions get processed and confirmed much faster on its network. DigiByte’s block time is 15 seconds, placing it around 40x faster than Bitcoin. Of course, faster block times come with scalability issues as each node on the network must maintain the entire history of the blockchain in order to confirm new transactions. DigiByte’s blockchain is already the longest in the world.
To counter these challenges, DigiByte was the first cryptocurrency to implement segregated witness (SegWit). SegWit separates transaction confirmations from the transaction information in the block. This makes the ledger more compact. In addition, SegWit allows for innovations like cross-chain transactions and single confirmation transactions. These options are potential avenues for development on DigiByte’s blockchain.
Fast block times and small transaction size allow a throughput of around 280 transactions per second. That’s fast compared with Bitcoin’s current eight transactions per second. However, it pales in comparison to payment processors like Visa, who can handle 2,000 transactions per second. DigiByte plans to reach the 2,000 transactions per second mark set by Visa and possibly surpass it. So far, however, those plans are still vague, without a clear roadmap.