{{mfd|help=off}} {{AFC submission|d|nn|u=Tea and Biology|ns=118|decliner=Joe Decker|declinets=20171220030028|ts=20171216184542}} <!-- Do not remove this line! --> {{AFC comment|1=In particular, none of the sources here are sources that have the sort of editorial process required by our [[WP:RS]] policy.

Consider asking for assistance at the Teahouse (there should be a note on your talk page) for a better explanation of what we are looking for in terms of sources. [[User:Joe Decker|joe decker]][[User talk:Joe Decker|^{<small><i>talk</i></small>}]] 03:00, 20 December 2017 (UTC)}} {{New unreviewed article | source = ArticleWizard | date = October 2017 }} {{Infobox currency | image_1 = Raiblocks_logo.png | image_width_1 = 240 | image_title_1 = Official RaiBlocks logo | iso_number = | subunit_name_1 = mXRB | plural = RaiBlocks, Rai | symbol = XRB | subunit_ratio_1 = 0.001 | subunit_ratio_3 = {{val|e=-24}} | subunit_name_3 = raw | date_of_introduction = Nov 21 2015 | using_countries = International | issuing_authority_title = Administration | issuing_authority = [[decentralized system|Decentralized]] | inflation_rate = None. Fixed supply of 133,248,290 XRB }}'''RaiBlocks''' (XRB, pronounced "ray blocks") is a decentralised [[peer-to-peer]] [[cryptocurrency]] featuring instant and feeless transactions utilising a [[lattice]]-structured [[blockchain]]. Officially announced in the whitepaper<ref>{{cite web|author=Colin LeMahieu|title=RaiBlocks: A Feeless Distributed Cryptocurrency Network|url=https://raiblocks.net/media/RaiBlocks_Whitepaper.pdf|accessdate=December 4, 2017}}</ref> on Nov 21 2015 by its creator Colin LeMahieu,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://bitcoinist.com/exclusive-interview-raiblocks-team/|title=Exclusive Interview With The RaiBlocks Team - Bitcoinist.com|last=Bitcoinist|website=bitcoinist.com|access-date=2017-10-08}}</ref> RaiBlocks are built to be microtransaction-friendly, with the overall goal of scalability while maintaining simplicity for end-users. Unlike [[Bitcoin]] and the original blockchain technology, no traditional [[Proof-of-work system|Proof-of-Work]] system is required, allowing for feeless, instantaneous transactions, with the number of transactions the system can handle being simultaneously unlimited and easily scalable.<ref>{{cite web|title=Raiblocks FAQ|url=https://raiblocks.net/page/faq.php|website=raiblocks.net|accessdate=16 December 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=RaiBlocks Review – Instant, Free Transactions|url=https://coinreviews.io/raiblocks-review/|website=coinreviews.io|accessdate=16 December 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=RaiBlocks is What Bitcoin Should Have Been From the Start|url=https://medium.com/@DecentRally/raiblocks-is-what-bitcoin-should-have-been-from-the-start-1d91c4c61d2d|website=www.medium.com|accessdate=16 December 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=How RaiBlocks Provides Unlimited Transaction Throughput|url=https://steemit.com/raiblocks/@raiblocks/how-raiblocks-provides-unlimited-transaction-throughput|website=steemit.com|accessdate=Dec 16 2017}}</ref> RaiBlocks has steadily gained market capitalization since being introduced, exceeding $3 billion USD by the start of 2018 and placing it within the top 20 largest cryptocurrencies in circulation.<ref>{{cite web|title=Raiblocks (XRB) price, charts, market cap, and other metrics - CoinMarketCap|url=https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/raiblocks/|website=coinmarketcap.com|accessdate=01 January 2018}}</ref> == History == RaiBlocks was first developed by Colin LeMahieu in early 2014, with the whitepaper published on Nov 21 2015.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://ftreporter.com/cryptocurrency-review-introduction-of-raiblocks-xrb/|title=Cryptocurrency Review: Introduction Of RaiBlocks (XRB)|last=ftreporter|work=FT Reporter|access-date=2017-10-08|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Colin LeMahieu|title=RaiBlocks: A Feeless Distributed Cryptocurrency Network|url=https://raiblocks.net/media/RaiBlocks_Whitepaper.pdf|accessdate=December 4, 2017}}</ref> RaiBlocks were named after [[Rai stones|Rai Stones]]. RaiBlocks is non-mineable and has reached its maximum supply of 133,248,290 XRB. Raiblocks were originally distributed via a captcha-faucet distribution system that ended in October 2017, rather than traditional computational mining.<ref>{{cite web|title=Raiblocks FAQ|url=https://raiblocks.net/page/faq.php|website=raiblocks.net|accessdate=16 December 2017}}</ref> == Design == === Block Lattice === [[File:Block-lattice.png|thumb|Visualization of the block-lattice. Every transfer of funds requires a send block (S) and a receive block (R), each signed by their account-chain's owner (A,B,C)]] Unlike conventional blockchains used in many other cryptocurrencies, RaiBlocks uses a block-lattice structure.<ref>{{Citation|last=clemahieu|title=raiblocks: RaiBlocks is a cryptocurrency|date=2017-10-06|url=https://github.com/clemahieu/raiblocks|accessdate=2017-10-09}}</ref> Each individual account has its own [[blockchain]] (account-chain), equivalent to the account's transaction/balance history where each block contains a single transaction. Each account-chain can only be updated by the account's owner; this allows each account-chain to be updated immediately and asynchronously to the rest of the block-lattice, resulting in quick transactions. Since blocks can only be added by each account-chain's owner, transferring funds from one account to another requires two transactions: a send transaction deducting the amount from the sender's balance and a receive transaction adding the amount to the receiving account's balance. The receiver does not have to be online at the time of the transaction to receive the funds; funds can be signed into their account chain at their own leisure without any reduction in security. As each account controls its own transactions, no traditional [[Proof-of-work system|Proof-of-Work]] mining is required. === Transactions === There are four types of transactions: open, send, receive, and change. Transferring funds from one account to another requires two transactions: a ''send'' deducting the amount from the sender's balance and a ''receive'' adding the amount to the receiving account's balance. Transferring amounts as separate transactions in the sender's and receiver's accounts serves a few important purposes: :# Sequencing incoming transfers that are inherently asynchronous. :# Keeping transactions small to fit in UDP packets. :# Facilitating ledger pruning by minimizing the data footprint. :# Isolating settled transactions from unsettled ones. More than one account transferring to the same destination account is an asynchronous operation; network latency and the sending accounts not necessarily being in communication with each other means there is no universally agreeable way to know which transaction happened first. Since addition is associative, the order the inputs are sequenced does not matter, and hence we simply need a global agreement. This is a key design component that converts a run-time agreement in to a design-time agreement. The receiving account has control over deciding which transfer arrived first and is expressed by the signed order of the incoming blocks. If an account wants to make a large transfer that was received as a set of many small transfers, we want to represent this in a way that fits within a UDP packet. When a receiving account sequences input transfers, it keeps a running total of its account balance so that at any time it has the ability to transfer any amount with a fixed size transaction. This differs from the input/output transaction model used by Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Some nodes are uninterested in expending resources to store an account's full transaction history; they are only interested in each account's current balance. When an account makes a transaction, it encodes its accumulated balance and these nodes only need to keep track of the latest block, which allows them to discard historical data while maintaining correctness. Even with a focus on design-time agreements, there is a delay window when validating transactions due to identifying and handling bad actors in the network. Since agreements in RaiBlocks are reached quickly, on the order of milliseconds to seconds, we can present the user with two familiar categories of incoming transactions: settled and unsettled. Settled transactions are transactions where an account has generated receive blocks. Unsettled transactions have not yet been incorporated in to the receiver's cumulative balance. This is a replacement for the more complex and unfamiliar confirmations metric in other cryptocurrencies.