Intro to Rapids ($RPD)

Chances are you’ve been hearing about this new project called “Rapids”, but you may be wondering what it’s all about. I’m here to give you a quick run-down, and to share with you why I believe this to be a very promising new project in the #crypto space.

So, what is Rapids (RPD)? According to their Twitter bio(1):

Rapids is a cryptocurrency project facilitating the sharing of Rapids through WEb Browser and Social Media-enabled widgets.

The white paper goes into a little more details (2):

Rapids coin will enable the user to send money across all Social Media platforms and directly exchange cryptocurrency into fiat currency. Proprietary technology provided by Rapids development will support the user of cryptocurrency throughout all internet-enabled devices and platforms.

So, how does Rapids, work? I’m just going to quote the white paper here again – I can’t describe it any better myself…

A Rapids user sends an RPD payment across the blockchain. The receiver obtains the sent funds in their Rapids wallet quickly and safely. Since Rapid payments are enabled upon Social Networking platforms, both parties only need the account name or handle of the other party instead of the standard yet complicated sending and receiving addresses associated with cryptocurrency payments. Rapids user experience assures Rapid payments are readily adopted and easily manageable

Supremely focused on user experience, the Rapid’s team knows that ease of use is exactly what fosters mass adoption!

So, aside from the fantastic use case mentioned above, what are my favorite things about Rapids? Simple. Security, absolute transparency and integrity of the team, and unmatched community engagement.

From a technical perspective, there is a lot to love about RPD. Namely, consensus for transactions on the ledger depend on Proof of Stake (PoS), rather than Proof of Work (PoW) – effectively removing the threat of a 51% attach, like the one Etherium Classic (ETC) recently fell victim to.

Here’s a quick run-down on PoW versus PoS from Blockonomi (3).

To translate in layman’s terms, PoW is a way to achieve consensus among the distributed parties of the Bitcoin network. The viability of the nework is guaranteed, then, by the Bitcoin miners who lend large amounts of computing power (and electricity, in extension) to solve difficult cryptographic puzzles.

Proof-of-Stake is a much newer proposed methodology for achieving distributed consensus. The viability of network’s relying on PoS are not achieved by mining but rather by staking. Staking, simply put, is just when users hold their PoS-compatibile cryptocurrencies in a specialized staking wallet.

Staking achieves the same effect of mining (distributed consensus) without the need for expending exorbitant amounts of computing power and energy.

And if you “stake” your coins, you’ll be rewarded with crypto payouts on a rolling basis just as if you were a mining “winning” a block.

For those interested in staking with RPD, Rapids has partnered with the Linda project – by simply holding your coins in a wallet, Linda will automatically stake your coins for you! How much easier could it get?!

So what wallets & exchanges list RPD? I fully expect this list to grow exponentially (and rapidly), but current partnerships include p2pb2b.io, Crex24, Graviex, BiteBTC and SWFT. I personally only have xperience with Swft right now (I like that it’s a one-stop shop for cross-chain transactions, and the iOS app is pretty simple to use).

Onto the team – I just love the Rapids team! Their integrity is evident – they genuinely care about the community, are completely transparent, and are just as friendly as they can be. The have some ambitious goals, but check out their roadmap and you will see just how rapidly they’re meeting (and exceeding) them!

Oh – and if you haven’t heard yet – the newest member of the Rapids team is none other than Crypto WendyO! Very well known around CT, Wendy is the Queen of local Crypto meetups, very involved in blockchain related networking events and is a YouTube superstar in her own rights. Check out her most recent YouTube video announcing her partnership with Rapids (along with some other really cool stuff)!

I’ve got to give a shout-out to Jason Berlin, Executive Advisor for Rapids. He also happens to be a co-founder of Tour DeCrypto, raising cryptocurrency awareness and blockchain adoption for charity. Great guy!

The Rapids Community… I just love it! Drop in any of their social media platforms and you’ll discover why :)

Telegram: https://t.me/RapidsOfficial
Discord: http://www.discord.gg/3hhJmXB
BitcoinTalk: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5009962.0 …
Medium:https://medium.com/rapidsofficial

The Rapids team is heavily and actively engaged with their community supporters, often raining/tipping RPD in the Telegram and Discord channels (and I have reason to believe an RPD tip bot is coming soon to Twitter… ).

It’s not unusual even to see the founder of Rapids, Corey Strong, dropping into the TG channel to show some love to RPD supporters. He probably drops into other channels, too, I just happen to spend more time on Telegram than I do any other social apps.

My intent was to keep this post as short and sweet as possible, but I highly encourage you to explore the links throughout to learn more about Rapids and interact with the team (& community) on their social media channels!

Thanks for reading. See you around the blockchain ;)

Disclaimer: I am not a financial advisor. Always DYOR!!

References

1. https://twitter.com/RapidsRPD
2. https://www.rapidsnetwork.io/download/whitepaper/RapidsWPv1.3.pdf
3. https://blockonomi.com/proof-stake-cryptocurrencies/