Marketed as the new era's "electronic cash," Nano stands out as a streamlined digital currency engineered to enable safe, near-instantaneous transactions at no cost, overcoming several key challenges associated with traditional financial systems and numerous digital currencies.
The initiative took root in 2014, originally named RaiBlocks, and its currency, initially known as XRB, was introduced in the subsequent year via a public faucet. This system permitted individuals to earn small quantities of XRB by solving captcha puzzles. This opportunity was open to anyone with a computer or smartphone, with the quantity of XRB awarded per captcha fluctuating over time.
In January 2018, RaiBlocks underwent a transformation to Nano, a name reflecting the project's commitment to swift and straightforward user experiences.
Nano operates on a decentralized peer-to-peer framework, utilizing an innovative block-lattice structure that streamlines the process of value exchange between users, bypassing the need for central authorities.
Diverging from the norm, Nano doesn't rely on the extensive proof-of-work mechanism used by many mining networks to reach consensus. Instead, it employs Open Representative Voting (ORV), a system where account holders nominate representatives who then validate transaction blocks reliably.
Thanks to ORV, Nano is remarkably energy-efficient, establishing itself as an eco-conscious choice compared to
cryptocurrencies dependent on proof-of-work (POW).
In a strategic move in November 2021, to align Nano with real-world applications and adhere to the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO) benchmarks, Nano embraced a fresh ticker and symbol: XNO and Ӿ, respectively.
