UPDATE 4: Want to earn a chance to win 5000 ETN tokens? Just use the following referral code in your Electroneum Android app (tap on “Earn free coins” from the Electroneum app):
FA3DC4

You’ll get a chance to win the weekly prize of 5000 ETN tokens offered officially by the Electroneum team.

UPDATE 3: As of December 13th, 2017, the online wallets are available again and there’s a new Electroneum Android app available for download. You can join the ETN community here for more details: Electroneum Google+ Community.

The new Android app is available below, and the mobile miner is online. You can check your balance, see stats about the evolution of Electroneum on exchanges and mine for ETN:
[pb-app-box pname=’com.electroneum.mobile’ name=’Electroneum Mobile App’ theme=’light’ lang=’en’]

UPDATE 2: There is no Android miner yet for Electroneum, but you can mine for it using your desktop. Here’s how you can mine Electroneum:

  1. Download to your computer (Windows x64) this tool: xmr-stak-cpu
  2. After you downloaded it, unzip and edit the file called config.txt or run the xmr-stak-cpu.exe if you don’t see a config.txt (it will guide you through)
  3. In it locate the sections where it says “pool_address” and “wallet_address”
  4. Add a pool you want to mine through in the pool_address. I use etn.easyhash.io:3630
  5. Add your Electroneum wallet address in wallet_address. For instance this is what I use: etnk3yeEQ8HbP7yLKbvozqALobS798qt9WgUgh2BMGp51dE1vaZe5Xa5eWYo14ktCe7kR5MPNJcYYH8cBkj1Xsuv8reZMUqTqx

    I generated a wallet for ETN using the offline paper wallet from electroneum.com

  6. Run xmr-stak-cpu.exe . On the first run, it will detect some settings and show that in that window with the mention to copy that section and paste it into the config.txt. In my case these are the options I had to copy into the config.txt file:

    “cpu_threads_conf” :[ { “low_power_mode” : false, “no_prefetch” : true, “affine_to_cpu” : 0 }, { “low_power_mode” : false, “no_prefetch” : true, “affine_to_cpu” : 1 }, { “low_power_mode” : false, “no_prefetch” : true, “affine_to_cpu” : 2 },],

  7. Once I added these options in the config, I re-started xmr-stak-cpu.exe and voila, it started mining. You can check your hashrate by pressing h in that window.
  8. Lastly, if you are a total noob and don’t want to use a downloadable tool, see easyhash.io for a web miner. However in my tests their web miner for Electroneum is 50% less performant than the downloadable one. Happy Electroneum Mining!
  9. If you have troubles configuring your miner or want to discuss this furthermore, join this Google+ community: Electroneum G+ Community. If you want to send a small token of appreciation, you can send ETN to this address: etnk3yeEQ8HbP7yLKbvozqALobS798qt9WgUgh2BMGp51dE1vaZe5Xa5eWYo14ktCe7kR5MPNJcYYH8cBkj1Xsuv8reZMUqTqx

UPDATE: Nearly hours after publishing this the Electroneum team posted a public announcement that they will be closing the initial coin offering sooner because they reached $37 million already and don’t want to go beyond the $40 million cap. Good news for Electroneum, and here’s to a disruptive launch on November 1st.

What’s the fuss about Electroneum

There are currently 1183 cryptocoins in circulation, with close to $170 billion market cap. Obviously the 10 most popular coins accrue most of that market cap, but still, there’s a plethora of coins out there. The amazing rise of Bitcoin opened the flood gates for cryptocoins and some say this is the future of banking. I say this market is too immature for now, given how 1 Bitcoin was a few cents 7 years ago and it’s now well over $5,000.

How can you trust cryptocurrencies as a solid banking solution when the price is so volatile. However, cryptocurrencies make for a great investment opportunity. Keeping money in the bank now has a very low return yearly (single digit at most), however investing in cryptocoins has the potential of a much higher ROI, with the associated risk of course. It’s the case with the newest crypto currency to join the others, Electroneum. This is currently in ICO (initial coin offering) where users buy pre-mined coins, with the official launch to follow in November.

Here’s what sparked my interest in Electroneum (as a disclosure I did buy some):

  • To this date, the ICO raised over $32 million, well over any other initial coin offer I witnessed.
  • It’s backed by a team of specialists and it’s the first UK-based crypto coin
  • There will be 21 billion Electroneum coins in total. This is important as it makes it easier to pay with it. It’s one thing paying 119,99 ETN (Electroneum) for something, and another to write the price as 0.00000122 BTC (Bitcoin).
  • The current price is $0.01 for one Electroneum, and I really doubt it will stay the same when the coin joins the coin exchanges. I’m judging this based on the hype the coin received already in the press and also the many millions they gained so far (I’m sure that by November the $40 million goal will be achieved).
  • It’s the first serious mobile cryptocurrency. This means you install the Electroneum app on your device and you’ll have your wallet on the smartphone. Furthermore, you’ll be able to mine Electroneum using your smartphone. Given that there are 2-3 billion smartphones out there, imagine the reach it can have.
  • Given its mobile-first approach, it will be perfect to be used for in-app purchases in mobile apps & games, not to mention online betting & gambling.

As a perspective, the return of investment for 100 new coins launched in 2016 via ICO was well over 350%. This means that if you would’ve invested $10,000 to buy into those 100 ICOs you’d have at the end of the year $35,000. Same money kept in the bank would probably earn you enough to buy a couple of pizzas for New Years. Thus I highly recommend buying a couple Electroneum coins while the price is so low, just $50 invested now might be at least double after the launch. If you plan to buy some Electroneum coins, use this referral code to get 1% bonus coins: FA3DC4 (yes, I get a small bonus too for referring you)

The Electroneum Android App

Back to our business, there’s currently an Electroneum app for Android live on Google Play. The one for iOS is still in the works, and will soon follow after the launch. The Electroneum app right now acts as a mobile wallet, and sometime towards the end of November it will act as an Electroneum mining rig too. Yes, Electroneum will be mineable right from your smartphone. Don’t expect huge numbers, but you should get a few Electroneum coins by mining from your smartphone as well.

I did install the Electroneum app and made a short video on how it looks now as well as how the web app for Electroneum is:

After the official launch there will be gradually more features added, to the point where the Electroneum app will allow you to buy stuff by scanning QR codes or tapping a button, that while also mining for coins. Not sure how friendly the Electroneum Android miner will be with your smartphone’s battery, but it will consume some for sure. That’s why they are also preparing Windows/Mac and Linux desktop miners.

As far as the Android app goes, here are its main features:

  • Easy signup/login. When you first start the app you must either signup if you don’t have an account already or login. I was surprised to see that signing up does not require an email confirmation, so you should be quite careful not to enter the wrong one. But that makes the signup a very easy process. There’s also a way to sign-up using your Facebook account, however I don’t recommend that as if Facebook decides for some reason to terminate your account it will be very difficult to access the Electroneum app.

  • Mobile wallet. Right now the second tab in the app will show your Electroneum balance. You have a wallet stored on your smartphone and they are also working on an offline wallet to keep your Electroneum coins safer. Upon the official release you’ll also be able to send/receive coins from the Electroneum app.

  • Android miner. While this won’t be the most prolific way to gain Electroneum coins, the app you install will also be able to mine coins using your smartphone’s GPU. The powerful the smartphone, the more coins you’ll get, however there won’t be that many though. For more serious mining the desktop miner will work better. But it’s nice to know that mining Electroneum won’t be that technically difficult as it is mining other coins (i.e. Bitcoin, Ethereum).

The Prediction on Electroneum

That’s about it on the Electroneum app, not too many features now but take into consideration that the coin is not even officially live yet. I’m pretty confident though that the $40 million they raised/will raise in this crowdfunded initial coin offering will provide the funds needed to make Electroneum one of the big players. For me, I see Electroneum as a Dogecoin but with a more professional background and purpose. In terms of total number of coins available, both have billions to allow easier payments/tipping. Just hope that it won’t have the same fate as Dogecoin though, since that’s pretty constant to a few pennies for years now.

If you’ve invested in Electroneum and have more to add/thoughts about the coin feel free to share your comments (even referral codes). In the meantime, eagerly waiting for the public release of Electroneum to see how much will one coin be valued at then.