RaiBlocks (XRB) Review: A Blockchain Killer?

RaiBlocks is one of the newest and most exciting cryptocurrency projects to hit the scene in 2018.

There are so-called "Ethereum killers" and so-called "Coinbase killers." But what about a blockchain killer?

That's what some investors are hailing RaiBlocks as, seeing as how it relies upon a block-lattice system rather than the blockchain. Now, it's more likely that RaiBlocks will coincide with other blockchains as coins proliferate instead of killing them off, but still, it's worth noting how much of a game changer XRB may be poised to be.

So let's dig a little deeper and give you a better idea for what's beneath the XRB hype.

The promise of XRB? Affordable scalability

The unofficial motto of the XRB project is to "do one thing, and do it well," and this is the approach that the project's developers are taking toward the problems of scalability and fees.

The climactic struggle in the 2017 cryptoverse was the peaking of congestion on crypto's two heavyweights, Bitcoin and Ethereum. Such congestion show the acute limitations of the networks, as fees rocketed to handle the demand.

The problems surely won't be permanent for Bitcoin and Ethereum, but users did feel the pain last year, and most are looking for answers.

That's where Raiblocks comes in: it brings massive throughput capabilities, allowing thousands of transactions per second while simultaneously making fees non-existent. And this dynamic has people excited accordingly.

Block-lattice, not blockchain

Instead of there being a singular blockchain for XRB, every user has their own blockchain called an account-chain. This means only you are in control of your own blockchain. And it's this "account" that communicates with other accounts to comprise the block-lattice.

Also different from blockchain-based cryptos is the fact that RaiBlocks needs both the receiver and the sender to input transaction data in order to facilitate a transaction. If a receiver fails to sign the block in question, then the funds never arrive from the sender. This dynamic also mitigates the need for XRB miners entirely.

Different, to be sure, but it's a minor learning curve those of us in the space won't have any problems with.

Community responding well

New up and coming projects are being hailed, rightly or wrongly, as the "next XRB," because RaiBlocks' surge into the top 20 projects by market capitalization in 2017 was almost unlike anything the space has seen before.

From just a few cents to $30 USD at its previous peak, the RaiBlocks price has testified to the hopeful excitement the cryptocurrency ecosystem has over a potentially effective scaling solution.

Popular hardware wallet firm Ledger evenjust waived the onboarding fees for XRB support because RaiBlocks became so popular so fast.

The grassroots dynamic behind the project could keep helping XRB power higher and higher into the top 20 coins by market cap.

We can't give investment advice here at Coin Bureau, but RaiBlocks seems objectively promising to us. Do your own research, of course. But with that said, take some time to research XRB next if you haven't yet. It could be an interesting mid- or long-term play.