Crypto Academy /Season 3 - week 6 / Homework Submission post for Professor @pelon53 - Blockchain EOS by @salma78

Hello everyone, I welcome you all once again to this week's steemit crypto Academy courses. I am here to write and submit my homework task posts assigned by professor @pelon53. It's been a privilege to join his class once again another week. I have read and understood the lecture about Blockchain EOS and I would like to submit my response to the assignment below.

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The Delegated Proof of Stake, DPoS algorithm

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Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) refers to the type of verification and consensus algorithm that was created in the year 2014 by Daniel Larimer with the aim of solving scalability problems, speed, and streamlining of digital transactions within the blockchain networks. Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS) as it stands now competes with other proof of stakes and proof of work. The DPoS consensus algorithm is currently placed in a state of it being highly efficient as compared to the earlier Proof of Stake consensus algorithm mechanism.

Delegated Proof of Stake does not require the use of a large number of computational hardware in its operation but instead, it requires just fewer resources to operate. DPoS is also user-friendly and more sustainable as compared to the other Proof of Stake.

How Proof of Stake Works

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The Proof of Stake (DPoS) protocol operates in a manner whereby the holders of a token vote to elect a delegate or a witness because they themselves can't vote on the validity of the blocks so these people elected as delegates or witnesses would be those in charge of validating blocks on the blockchain on their behalf. Generally, 21 to 100 delegates are elected in a Delegated Proof of System where these delegates are shuffled with time for them to deliver their blocks verified.
The voting power of the coin holders is based on cyberwealth, meaning that the holders of more coins would have a greater influence on the network than those with fewer coins. Each and every delegate brings out his/her personal proposal when in need of the votes and rewards earned by delegates shared accordingly with their respective voters or electors.

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_{Steemit witness voting}

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_{Steemit Block Explorer}

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Delegates that continuously provide invalid transactions or blocks in the network can be voted out by the stakers and a new and better delegate is voted in to replace him/her.
The DPoS allows miners to come together and create blocks unlike in the case of Proof of Work(PoW) where miners compete to mine or make blocks and this makes it runs faster as compared to the other consensus algorithm.

Examples of blockchain networks that use the Delegated Proof of Stake consensus algorithm include; Steemit, Hive, EOS, BitShares, Cardano, OracleChain, etc.

Advantages of DPoS

• Scalability and Speed: DPoS provides faster transaction processing as compared to PoS and PoW.
• Energy efficient: The energy consumption in DPoS is less as compared to that of PoW.
• Real-time voting security: There is high security in DPoS and this helps voters to detect and vote out any malicious delegate.
• Less use of Hardware or less costly: DPoS doe not use highly computational tools like that of PoW which is very costly.
• Better distribution of rewards: Rewards earned by delegates are shared with their respective electors and this makes the system fair and everyone involved benefits.

Disadvantages of DPoS

• The rich get richer: This is a situation whereby the strength of your vote determines the influence you have on the network and as such people with more tokens would have upper hands on those with fewer tokens.
• Apathy can Kill: This is the situation whereby when the number of people involved in voting is not encouraging then the system also becomes less functional.
• High chance of organizing "51 percent" attack and this is because of the fewer people in control of the network.
• Delegated Proof of Stake consensus algorithm's protocol is not fully decentralized but rather partially centralized.

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What are Ricardian contracts on the EOS Blockchain?

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The Ricardian contract was introduced in the year 1955 by a popular programmer called Ian Grigg. A Ricardian Contract is now a legal contract that is currently accepted in the blockchain. The basic explanation of the Ricardian contract is stated below and I quote directly from the web by citing the source;

“It is a form of digital documents that act as an agreement between two parties on the terms and conditions for an interaction between the agreed parties.”source

The Ricardian contracts employ the use of cryptography in signing and verifying transactions and this makes it unique from other contracts. It is always available in a readable form for humans even when it is in the digital document form. Its contract is a unique and legal agreement that both computers and humans can read. This means that the Ricardian contracts serve two main purposes and they include, firstly, the contract serves legally as an easily readable contract between two or more parties involved in the contract. And secondly, it serves as a readable contract to machines, meaning that blockchain platforms can easily sign, hash and save contracts onto their blockchain network.

How does the Ricardian Contract Work?

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As explained earlier, the Ricardian contract is a legal contract that is human-readable between two or more parties. It can be used in the court of law of the legal contract between the two parties. In this case, the lawyers create or design the original legal contract and presented it to the two parties where they both read, understand, and agree before signing the document.

After both parties agree and sign the contract, then the contract is now digitalized and hashed so it can be executed by software onto the blockchain platform. For instance, considering a contract about buying and selling a plot of land between two people, a clause in the contract can be about confirming whether the plot of land is actually owned by the seller by contacting the authority. The information gotten can be added to the Ricardian contract and this leads to the creation of a new contract.

After the Contract is fully prepared, the contract is digitally signed and agreed upon by referring to the Contract's hash. The Ricardian contract also employs the use of hidden signatures in securing the contract process within the blockchain platform. This is done by signing the contracts with a private key where the agreement's hash is used as an attachment to the hidden signature of that Contract.

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Examples of Blockchain Platforms that Supports or Uses the Ricardian Contract

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The EOSIO

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EOSIO software started without the use or implementation of the Ricardian contract and this made it difficult for users on their platform to read and understand what they used to be signing in the smart contract. After EOSIO got to know the concept of the Ricardian contracts and started to implement that, their users now began to read and understand what actually they were signing in a contract.

The Block.One

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The Block.One claimed to support the Ricardian contracts a time ago and as we speak now they are currently implementing the concept of this Ricardian contract on their platform. It was announced that the Ricardian contracts would be utilized in the EOS blockchain in the year 2018 where its main purpose would be converting codes into a readable language within the blockchain platform.

Exploring the EOSREX interface

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I would like to explore the EOSREX platform by providing screenshots,

• First of all, I visited the website eosauthority where we can see the homepage interface in the screenshot below.

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_{EOSREX homepage}

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Features of the EOSREX

• The Market Price and Rank of EOS
  EOS price at the time of writing this article = $4.140 USD and is
  Ranked at #33

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_{Market Price Value of EOS}

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• Dashboard

The Dashboard feature displays the price chart of EOS, the security level of your account, the total EOS one has in his/her account, Recent activities including transfers, Rex account balance, and Airdrops account too.

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_{Price Chart, and account Security Section}

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_{Airdrops, REX, and Recent Activity Section}

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• Wallet
  The wallet feature enables users to add their EOS account to this section. A user can do so by clicking on Add account when he/she already has an account or can search for an account on any network and add it to the wallet.

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_{Wallet Tab}

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• REX feature

The REX feature enables users to benefits with just two clicks and at the time of doing this homework 55,486,696.5062 EOS were currently on REX. There are sub-features in REX which includes; REX Calculator, REX Statistics, Borrow CPU/Net(DApps), and Lend to REX

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_{Lend to REX sub-feature}

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_{REX Calculator}

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_{REX Statistics}

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• Power Up
  This feature allows users to Power Up their EOS account from 0.0001 EOS to a higher amount. It also entails sub-features including; PowerUP Calculator, and Power UP Statistics.

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_{Get Power}

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_{PowerUp Calculator}

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_{PowerUp Statistics}

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• Manage Keys

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This feature enables users to manage their active key and owner key by allowing permission to them. It also permits users to regenerate their keys. It has sub-features which include Advanced, and Link Auth.

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_{Manage Keys Menu}

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• Vote
  This feature displays the available accounts one can vote for as a producer. It also displays the number of producers that one has voted for with his account. It has other sub-features including Proxies, Referendum/Polls, and Multisigs.

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_{Vote Menu}

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• Create Account Feature

This feature allows users to create an EOS account on the platform. It also has other sub-features including **Recover account-Lost Key, Recover account-Unregistered, which allows users to recover their account when they

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_{Create Account (Simple)}

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_{Create Account - Unregistered}

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• Bid Name

This feature displays the last Bid price of EOS and the name of the person who Bidded for the current highest price and also the time left. Also, this feature includes sub-feature such as Sold Names, and EOS sub-accounts statistics - from short name auctions.

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_{Bid name Menu}

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_{Sold name}

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_{EOS su accounts statistics - from short name auction}

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• Alerts
  This feature displays real-time alerts on Telegram, Emails, incoming and outgoing EOS transfers, staking, unstaking actions, Change to account keys, Airdrops alerts, REX notifications, etc.

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_{Alerts Menu}

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• Trade Your Tokens
  This feature enables users to trade their available tokens including NEWDEX, YOLO, and DEFIS

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_{Trade your Tokens Menu}

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• Tools

This feature displays all the available tools on the EOS platform. There are 29 tools currently available on the EOS platform and they can be seen from the screenshot below.

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_{Tools Menu}

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• Events

This feature displays all available events on the EOS platform including both online and offline events. There are 18 online Events of EOS Nation, 18 online Events of EOS Authority, and 15 online Events of Novusphere. Again, there are 11 Offline Events of EOS Nation, 6 offline events of Block.one, and 3 offline events of EOSphere.

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_{Events Menu}

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Downloading Sqrl wallet and exploring its features

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• First of all, visit the Sqrl website Sqrlwallet.io

• From the Sqrl homepage interface, click on Windows to start the download.

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_{Click on Windows from the Sqrl Homepage}

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• I waited for the download to complete and immediately it finished I open the application to start the installation process.

• Select Only for me and then click on Next to continue.

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_{Select only for me and clcik on Next}

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• Click on Install to start the installation.

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_{Click on Install}

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• Click on Finish to run the application.

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_{Click on Finish}

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• Click on connect to server to proceed

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_{Click on Connect to Server}

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• Click on Create New Account to set a new wallet.

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_{Click on Create New Account}

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• Unfortunately, there was an error when creating the account using the sqrl platform so I have to follow professor @pelon53 instructions given in order to create an account through the use of the telos platform telos.net

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In doing that the following procedures were followed;

• First of all, I visited the telos website telos.net and from the homepage, I clicked on Start now.

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_{Click on Start Now}

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• Click on Create New Account

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_{Click on Create New Account}

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• Enter your details including your account name, and then copy and save your public and private key safely. After that thick the small box and then also click on I'm not a robot to confirm you are a Human. Click on Continue to create an account after filling in all required details.

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_{Fill in all details and click on Continue}

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• The account is successfully created. Now we go back to the Sqrl wallet application and Click on Import Existing Account.

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_{Click on Import Existing Account}

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• Enter your Public Key of the telos account created and then click on Lookup Account.

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_{Click on Lookup Account}

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• Choose your account and then click on Select Account to continue.

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_{Click on Select Account}

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• Enter the Private Key into the space provided and then click on Compare Keys

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_{Click on Compare Keys}

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• Enter a local wallet password and then click on Save Account to finish setting up your wallet.

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_{Click on Save Account}

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• Re-enter the local wallet Password and then click on Save Local Wallet then accept terms and conditions of Sqrl.

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_{Click on Save Local Wallet}

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• My account is successfully connected to the Sqrl wallet now.

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_{Wallet Successfully Created}

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Exploring Sqrl Wallet

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• The Wallet Tab

This tab or feature displays the account balance summary including the current price of EOS, EOS Value, Total EOS, and Balance of my account. It also displays the History, Data, and staked EOS.

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_{Wallet Tab}

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• The Governance Tab

This feature or tab displays all Block producers of the EOSIO network and their percentage of votes. It also provides access for users to cast their votes to their preferred witnesses and the total number of witnesses one can vote for is 30 just as in the case of steemit.

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_{Governance Tab}

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• The REX Tab

This tab displays the REX account summary including, EOS Lent, EOS Earnings, EOS Deposits, EOS 30-day Price, REX/EOS Value, and EOS/REX APR.

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_{REX Tab}

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• Tools Tab
  This feature or tab displays tools such as wallet tools, utility tools, Local Data States, and Advanced Tools that help users to make changes or edits to their account.

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_{Tools Tab}

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How to Get CPU, RAM, and Network

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CPU

• First of all, click on the Wallet tab and select the Send.Receive.Stake from the Options

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_{Clcik on Send.Receive.Stake}

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• After that click on Manage Staked

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_{Clcik on Manage Staked}

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• Enter the amount of CPU to stake in TLOS and then click on Update Staked Balances.
  I don't have sufficient balance to accomplish this transaction as indicated.

_{Clcik on Update Staked Balances after entering amount of CPU to Stake}

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RAM

• First of all, click on the Wallet tab and select the Send.Receive.Stake from the Options

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_{Clcik on Send.Receive.Stake}

• Click on Buy RAM
  It should be noted that the minimum amount required is 3 bytes per transaction.

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_{Click on Buy RAM}

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_{by RAM amount}

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_{by TLOS amount}

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The REX Token

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According to eosauthority the current price of REX/EOS is valued at 0.00010108012890376432 EOS.
Also, according to coinmarketcap.com the current price of EOS is valued at $4.12

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_{Price Value of EOS}

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_{Price Value of REX}

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The REX tokens are rewarded to users that use the EOSREX platform. REX token was initiated in the year 2018 by Dan Larimer. The REX token and the EOS are in the ratio of 1: 1 relationship. The REX token differs from the EOS token such that the REX token cannot be transferred from one user to another but the EOS can be transferred to different users. The REX token has a special feature whereby any user that wishes to acquire it must vote a proxy first before acquiring the token.

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Conclusion

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In conclusion, I would like to briefly summarize what we have discussed so far in this homework. First of all, we looked at the concept of Delegated Proof of Stake (DPoS), where we explained how it works and its advantages and disadvantages as well. We also looked at the concept of the Ricardian contracts and how the Ricardian contracts work or operate. Furthermore, we visited the EOSREX platform and explored its features and their functions by taking them one at a time. Again, we downloaded the Sqrl wallet application, installed it, and then created an account from the telos platform where we then imported the account into the Sqrl wallet. We also explored the Sqrl wallet and then explained how to obtain CPU and RAM on the Sqrl wallet platform. Finally, we looked at the use of the REX token and the current price from the EOSREX website.

I would like to say thank you to professor @pelon53 for such a wonderful lecture taught this week and I look forward to participating in your subsequent homework tasks.
Thank You.