Usually, the answers to most questions can be found in the various online material like this website, the Obyte Developer Site and the Obyte Wiki. Even though most answers can be found on those sites, users often find it faster to simply ask their questions to the communities on Discord or Telegram. Below, we have compiled a list of the most frequently asked questions and the answers.
No, Obyte is a novel platform with its own DAG-based structure, consensus mechanism and eco system.
The native currency of Obyte platform is Bytes (traded as GBYTE on exchanges). Bridged versions of GBYTE are available as ERC-20 tokens on Ethereum, BNB Smart Chain, Polygon, and Kava chain. They are bridged using the decentralized Counterstake brridge.
See the list of exchanges on the main page. Bytes are usually traded as GBYTE, 1 GBYTE = 1,000,000,000 Bytes.
No, they just post transactions to the DAG regularly to make it possible for all full nodes to establish perfect order of transactions. They can't stop anybody from transacting.
No, no transaction can ever be changed, censored or in other ways manipulated. Once a transaction is made, it enters the ledger without any involvement of Order Providers.
No, they just post transactions to the DAG regularly to make it possible for all full nodes to establish perfect order of transactions, they can't stop anybody from transacting.
The official Obyte wallet is available for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android and iOS. For mobile versions, download them from App Store or Play Store - always make sure to check that the publisher is "Matrix Platform LLC" or "Obyte Foundation" (formerly called "Byteball Foundation").
The best way is to start on the official website which you are already doing. Here, you will find links to various other sources about specific topics.
There is no faucet to get free Bytes but you can test your knowledge of Obyte using Obyte Quiz telegram bot and get a small reward in Bytes. There are other distribution methods as well.
First, make sure you have the latest version of the wallet. If it prompts you to replace order providers/witnesses on startup, you should replace any old addresses as you might not be able to transact from light wallets if your list of Order Providers differs too much from the hub that your wallet is connected to. If you still experience problems, head over to the Obyte Discord and provide details of the problem in the #helpdesk channel.
Yes, every transaction must pay a small fee to send transactions to the DAG. The amount of Bytes in transaction fee is determined by the size of your transaction. For example, if your transaction's data consumes 800 bytes of disk space, the fee to submit that transaction to the DAG will be 800 Bytes of the currency. This allows for low, predictable fees.
A typical payment transaction takes about 800 bytes, which is about $0.00001 at the current rate.
On Obyte, the more traffic there is, the faster it is possible for full nodes to establish perfect order of transactions on the ledger. In times of low traffic, it can be up to 30 minutes before a transaction becomes stable and in times of heavy traffic, it can be as little as a minute or two.
No, Obyte has deterministic finality. This means that once a transaction is stable, no event can occur that would render the transaction unstable again. This is particularly important for DeFi solutions.
For things that are not self-explanatory, there are plenty of articles, examples and even videos explaining how to use the wallet. Simply search for them using your favorite search engine or check out Obyte Tutorials.
There are two backup options that you can find in the wallet's settings (under burger menu): backup of wallet seed and full backup. Backup of wallet seed allows to recover only single-sig wallets while a full backup recovers everything including Blackbytes, multi-sig wallets, smart contracts, private identity profiles, and chat history and contacts.
No, all Bytes were issued in the Genesis Unit. The total supply of Bytes was created in it and no more can ever be created.
Blackbytes a privacy currency on Obyte. Blackbytes cannot be traded on centralized exchanges and can only be sent directly from one user to another. In the wallet's Bot Store, you can find chat bots that provides simple order books allowing users to find others to trade with. Keep in mind, that by using the chat bot, a small part of the privacy of course is lost as the bot operator will be able to see which addresses are used to send blackbytes. Read more about Blackbytes.
Not directly. Some distribution methods offer ways to earn Bytes for example by donating your device's excess CPU power to humanitarian projects through World Community Grid.
Obyte was founded and developed by Anton Churyumov. He still actively develops the project together with other developers that have joined over the years.
Mainnet was launched on December 25th 2016.
There are some, but the number isn't big. The best way would be to ask the shop you want to buy from, if they do or would consider accepting Bytes as payment.
Obyte is the platform that hosts all this.
Byte is the native currency of the platform, it is used to pay for fees. It is also the most popular and the most widely distributed asset on the platform (there are many others, see Tokens).
GBYTE is the currency unit of Bytes that is traded on exchanges, 1 GBYTE is 1 billion Bytes. While Byte is the smallest indivisible currency unit, GBYTE is more convenient for expressing the most common amounts, and amounts in GBYTE are fractional numbers with up to 9 decimal places. Byte to GBYTE is what cent is to dollar, or satoshi to Bitcoin. GBYTE is sometimes abbreviated as GB. Some apps use MBYTE (or MB) which is 1 million Bytes. We use other SI prefixes as well: KBYTE (KB) for 1000 bytes, TB for terabyte (1 trillion Bytes).
1 million GBYTE or 1015 Bytes. Out of these, about 85% have already been distributed.
Obyte Foundation is a non-profit legal entity registered in Liechtenstein. The Foundation is tasked with distributing the undistributed Bytes in ways that help adoption of the platform. One of such ways is through grants. If projects apply for funding, the Obyte Foundation's Grant Committee will vote on whether or not to provide funding. In order to receive funding, the project must be open source, benefit the Obyte ecosystem and generally be in line with the rather strict rules for what the Obyte Foundation can use undistributed funds for.
Absolutely! There are several ways in which you can help Obyte grow and become even better. You can help by providing translation of the wallet, by actively answering questions from other users on the social media platforms and community servers. You can keep an eye out for projects that might benefit from using the features provided by Obyte and generally be an active community member.
Some tasks we are seeking help with are listed in a google doc Ask not what Obyte can do for you, ask what you can do for Obyte, the doc is updated as tasks are progressing or new ones appear.
See careers. Even if your desired position is not listed, feel free to reach out — when the right person shows up, there will always be room for more brilliant minds.
We are working on this.
