Idena

 

What is Idena?

Idena is a proof-of-person blockchain, where each node represents one person with equal voting power. Is this a tool for a perfect democracy? Sounds like they are trying to achieve that. Nowadays, we hear stories about rigged elections all around the globe. And who knows what is true and what is not with all the media manipulations and all those centralized systems being in control. Things that are controlled by one entity are easier to manipulate. The guys behind Idena are building a truly decentralized anonymous worldwide democratic community.

How does it work?

To achieve that ambitious plan, they have to meet some standards. So the question that first comes to mind is how they can make anonymous democracy? You need to prove that you are a real human being. Is it possible to do it anonymously? They have to have proof that behind each vote there is one and only one person. They do that by doing monthly ceremonies where each identity has to prove that he or she is not the bot. That is done by giving users flips to solve (that represents a kind of a Turing test). The flip consists of two series of four images that represent a story. One set has a meaningful order and the other has random order. The user obviously has to pick the one with the meaningful order. 

Flip sample

The ceremony consists of two sessions, the short one and the long one. The short session lasts two minutes and in that time a user has to solve six flips. That is the eliminator session which prevents people from doing multiple validations in parallel and by doing so, presenting themselves as two identities on the network. The long session lasts thirty minutes and during that time a user has to solve fifteen to twenty-five flips and review if the keywords shown match the story displayed in the flip. After the ceremony is over, the user's answers are checked and if he passed the test he remains a valid identity in the network. Also, each user that successfully completes validation will be rewarded with some Idena coins. 

Where do they get the flips? Are they generated? And if they are, then it might be possible to make an application that reverts the process and solves the flips on its own. That would be a really big problem. The good thing is that they are not programmatically generated. Each user has to create three flips for each ceremony. And guess what? If your flips are good (not reported or wrongly interpreted by the majority during the ceremony) you will get some more idena coins for it. Nice!

That is the summary of how Idena checks if you are a real human. 

Now, the main part of the puzzle is voting itself. Idena team has recently introduced a feature named Oracle voting. Using Oracle anyone can create a poll and ask the community for their opinion. Then, each user can cast their vote by picking one of the options. At the end of the deadline, the votes are counted and results are publicly displayed. And that's it, that is how Idena democracy works. 

How to start mining Idena?

If you want to earn some extra coins, you can run a dedicated mining node. The good thing is that Idena mining does not require big processing power, only a good internet connection, so even an old computer can do the job. Most of the people set up a node on VPS (Virtual Private Server) so that they don't have to keep their own computer running 24/7. VPS costs about $5 a month and running node brings about 6 iDNA per day. With the current price, maths looks like this: 6 iDNA * 30 days * $0.1 = $18. It pays off! Some providers even give you two months of the free trial period. It's not much, but it's free money, so why not? 

How much can I earn using Idena?

There is no ultimate answer to that question because it depends on many factors. What is the status of your identity (are you a newbie, verified, or a human), how many invites have you shared, did people that you invited pass validation, are you running a mining node, and of course what is the current price of iDNA? All those things affect your earnings. If you are running a mining node, with a current iDNA price ($0.1) your earnings will be in the range between $20 and $50 per month. 

Is Idena Scam?

The short answer is no. Idena is a real project with a real roadmap, a real community, and a real coin that can be traded on multiple exchanges (Hobit, ProBit, qTrade, and ViteX). Hopefully, iDNA will be available on some bigger exchanges in the near future.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

• Good idea with nice potential
• Doesn't require much dedication
• Can earn some real money
• Great community
• Good documentation

Cons:

• You can't afford to miss ceremonies, and sometimes you might not be able to attend
• You need an invite to join a network and invites are really in demand
• It's still a young project and new features are being delivered, so you can find some bugs

Useful links

Idena official website - here you can find links for downloading idena client, guides, FAQ, and a lot more things about the Idena project

Idena.site - this is a very useful site made by a community member named Rioda. If you can't find answers to your questions on the official website, this should be the next place to look. There you can find detailed guides on how to set up a mining node (both local or VPS) and he also has an invite waiting list, so you can reach out to him to get on the list and eventually get your invite and become a member. 

Idena Telegram Group - this is an official Idena community chat. You can ask for an invite there too.

Idena Official Twitter Account - they are making invite giveaways from time to time, so that is another way to get your hands on one