DigiByte is a fork of bitcoin and was released on January 10, 2014. A fork of bitcoin means that DigiByte used the same programming as bitcoin to get started but changed the programming to make it better. DigiByte is currently 39th in terms of market capitalization.
How DigiByte is different from bitcoin
Among the many changes from bitcoin are a 15 second block time (compared to 10 minutes for bitcoin), five different mining algorithms, low transaction fee or no fee at all, fast transaction time, and high transaction volume (560 transactions per second). Like bitcoin which has an upper limit to the number of bitcoin mined, DigiByte is also limited to 21 billion coins that will be mined over 21 years. DigiBytes are not subdividable – the smallest unit is 1 DigiByte.
Mining DigiByte
DigiByte is mineable so mining is a popular way of using your computer to generate DigiByte. DigiByte supports five different mining algorithms: Scrypt, SHA256, Qubit, Skein, and Groestl. The first two, Scrypt and SHA256, require ASIC mining hardware but the remaining three algorithms are GPU (graphics card) friendly so you can mine using a regular PC with an AMD or NVidia graphics card installed in it. To start mining you need to signup for a mining pool and create a worker. Once you have done that, install CCMiner for computers with an NVidia card or Claymore Miner for computers with an AMD video card. From there, you start mining and the plus is that you can continue to use your PC for other things because mining does not slow down the computer that much.
Buying DigiByte
Another way to get DigiByte is to buy it at an exchange. The following exchanges trade on DigiByte; some accept fiat whereas others accept only other cryptocurrencies:
- Bittrex
- Cryptopia
- HitBTC
- Litebit
- Livecoin
- Poloniex
- Shapeshift
- Wirex
- Yobit
DigiByte Wallet
Once you have DigiByte you need to store it in a wallet. While exchanges allow you to store your DigiByte in your account, it is recommended that you get your own wallet that you control. There are several official wallets for DigiByte available: Windows, Mac, Linux, and a Chrome extension. There’s also a third-party wallet available for Android called Coinomi. All of the wallets are available through DigiByte’s website at https://www.digibyte.co/digibyte-downloads
Conclusion
This article described DigiByte, how it’s different from bitcoin, how to mine DigiByte and how to buy DigiByte at an exchange.