Komodo (KMD) – What You Really Need to Know

Written by Adolph Obasogie - Reviewed by Coin Review Team

Published: Jun 19, 2018 | Last Updated: Mar 14, 2019

What is Komodo?

Komodo is a ZCash fork, so it leverages the same privacy features and the trusted setup.

But Komodo is much more than a currency. It is built as a cryptocurrency ecosystem with a focus on privacy and decentralized trades.

It is an end-to-end blockchain platform that can be used to launch your own blockchain or ICO. Customers can even launch a private ICO, called decentralized ICO (dICO) where the privacy of Investors is protected. These features are possible through a highly customizable and modular architecture. Komodo consists of five key components:

• Komodo core: The native cryptocurrency of the network (KMD)
• Assetchains: Tokenization and turnkey blockchain solutions
• Jumblr: Coin mixer based on zero-knowledge proofs
• BarterDEX: Decentralized exchange that is capable of performing atomic swaps and trading tokenized fiat-currencies
• Agama: Multi Wallet

---

Komodo uses a new consensus mechanism called delayed Proof-of-Work (dPoW), which is a hybrid consensus mechanism where a blockchain can harness the power and security of a second blockchain. This works through the use of “notary nodes” that add date from the first blockchain onto the second.

Komodo is attached to the Bitcoin blockchain because that is the safest and most robust. The 64 notary nodes are elected by KMD token-holders, and they add confirmed blocks from the Komodo blockchain via a BTC transaction onto Bitcoins PoW-blockchain. Additionally there so-called “normal nodes” who can validate blocks without attaching them to the Bitcoin blockchain, this lowers security but has the advantages that the Komodo network is capable of functioning when the BTC network is clogged or down (not gonna happen, but theoretically) and there is no need to pay BTC-transaction fees.

Round robin mining (blocks are mined in strict order) will ensure that there are no mining wars between notary nodes.

---

History

Komodo is part of a larger project called SuperNET, which is an asset without blockchain and plans on leveraging Komodo. An ICO was held from 15th October 2016 till 16. November 2016 where 1,983,781 USD was collected.

---

Can Komodo be mined?

Yes, KMD is issued through Proof-of-Work mining with an Equihash algorithm.

---

What differs Komodo from other Cryptocurrencies?

Komodo platform was the first cryptocurrency that performed atomic swaps with automatic order matching. Also, the first ecosystem that enables private ICO-participation through Jumblr and BarterDEX and the first cryptocurrency that is operating with the dPoW consensus mechanism.

---

How much is Komodo worth today?

---

What is the total and the circulating supply?

The maximum supply is 200,000,000 KMD. The circulating supply at the time of writing is 104,059,395 KMD.

---

Where can you buy KMD?

You can buy KMD on several cryptocurrency exchanges, most notably Binance and Upbit.

---

Can KMD be sold for cash?

You can sell KMD for cash on several cryptocurrency exchanges that have fiat-pairings, most notably Upbit.

---

Future Development

Komodo plans to integrate an atomic DEX with new GUI and a crowdfunding platform in this quarter, in the next quarter BarterDEX GUI v2.0 is planned. In Q4 they aim to establish a MobileDEX and advanced smart contract functionality. Technical development, as well as Marketing activities, are going forward with a good pace. Komodo is one of the most active projects on GitHub and one with the most commits.

---

Verdict and Rating

7/10
One to watch. Komodo has huge ambitions, and they are on a good way to bring their vision to reality. The consensus mechanism dPoW is very well thought out and secures the platform on the highest level.

Development is very active, and Komodo made groundbreaking progress for the crypto-world more than once. They were among the first that successfully performed atomic swaps and they paved the way for many other projects. Very interesting to see what the future holds for Komodo. The only critical point I see is the use of the “trusted setup” from ZCash. This brings the same problems to Komodo that ZCash would have if the trusted setup is broken, namely hidden inflation.

---