FAQ

The eMark is a digital, decentralized currency unit. Because of the cryptographic encryption technology used in transactions, it is also referred to as a cryptocurrency. The eMark is neither issued, managed, controlled nor regulated by a central bank, nor by a government. Its distribution takes place exclusively in a so-called peer-to-peer network of computers with equal rights.

The eMark is called "Deutsche elektronische Mark" (abbreviation DEM) in full. It is a non-commercial and volunteer-driven open source software project that was launched in 2013 and has been continuously improved and developed since then. The development team is from Germany. The eMark is therefore "Made in Germany".

Nothing but the similarity of the name. As well as the developers' endeavor to achieve the same stability, intrinsic value and acceptance as a means of payment for the eMark as characterized the D-Mark for decades until its replacement by the euro in 2002.

The eMark is built on the operating principle of blockchain technology, similar to Bitcoin. Each eMark transaction is checked and confirmed several times by the eMark network and thus finally verified.

Currently, the Deutsche eMark can be traded against Bitcoin on the trading sites c-patex.com, freiexchange.com, bololex.com and btcpop.co.

In the future, it is planned to enable trading on a euro exchange as well.

In addition, there is also the possibility to earn DEM.

The maximum amount of eMark generated by mining is limited to a maximum of 210 million DEM by the non-manipulable algorithm of the underlying software. Beyond that, eMarks can only be generated by staking.

Currently (January 2020), approximately 67 million of the maximum quantity of 210 million DEM have been generated. The amount of DEM currently in circulation can be viewed at any time on the Homepage in the lower area of the page (footer).

Although the term interest has become established in linguistic usage, the term "Proof of Stake" (PoS) is used to refer to the interest paid on cryptocurrencies. Staking in this context is not a meritless increase of money, but a reward for the users of the eMark network and their support to maintain this network.

"Proof of Work" blockchains are secured by consuming a scarce and expensive resource: Electricity.

PoS replaces this expensive security mechanism with the use of another scarce resource: time.

Through the mechanism of time-based regulation, any computer with an Internet connection, can contribute to securing the eMark blockchain.

DEM owners (stakeholders) make a significant impact on the network, producing new blocks and thus securing the blockchain.

Stakeholders thus also determine the future of eMark by voting on the protocol.

All that is required is to own eMark and install the desired version of the eMark client. An algorithm in the protocol then controls the creation of one's own blocks on the blockchain. Each self-generated block brings the stakeholder a vote and a reward/interest in the form of new DEM.

A blockchain whose protocol and rules are determined directly by the users.

Thus, the Deutsche elektronische Mark is decentralized and democratic, every person worldwide can participate in securing it.

Each user, ONLY by using a core wallet (the eMark-qt), supports the entire eMark network by (since the software runs in the background) forwarding blocks and confirming transactions. A so-called "light wallet" (e.g. Android or iOS), which has not downloaded the complete blockchain and also cannot perform the complex calculations to confirm transactions, does not provide such support. Thus, only users who use the eMark-qt wallet can generate PoS blocks - i.e. "interest".

Every single transfer represents, metaphorically speaking, a "coin" for the eMark network. Thus, there can be coins with the value of 0.0001 DEM, 10,000 DEM or even 236.9453 DEM. Over time, several coins of different ages accumulate on an eMark address, depending on how long ago the last transaction took place. For example, if you pay 23 DEM to someone with such a 108 DEM coin, the "change" is again a coin of 85 DEM (108 DEM minus 23 DEM). With each transfer the coin age is set to 0. Thus, as in the example, the 23 days old 108 DEM coin, after paying 23 DEM has become a 85 DEM coin, which is now 0 days old. These coins are also called "coin blocks".

To do this, the following requirements must be met:

1. The eMark-qt wallet must be synchronized and unlocked.
2. Coin blocks must be present whose coin age is older than 30 days.

When these conditions are met, the coin blocks in question are "clocked" (interest is paid). This is done automatically. The larger the coin blocks and the older they are, the greater their "weight", i.e. larger and old coin blocks are clocked faster, with very small blocks it can also take several weeks until they are clocked and you get your "interest" credited.

When a coin block has been clocked, the coin age is reset and you can clock again after 30 days, provided that this coin block has not been moved in the blockchain in the meantime.

Tip: In the eMark-qt wallet there is a setting "Coin Control", if this is activated, you can use this function under 'Send'.

This allows you to view the coin blocks and their age.

You receive 3.8% per year on your wallet balance. With an interest year of 365 calendar days, this corresponds to a monthly interest rate of approx. 0.32%.

The interest is added to the clocked coin block. If, for example, a coin block with 100 DEM is clocked exactly after 365 days, one receives a coin block in the amount of 103.8 DEM and a coin age of 0 days. You can dispose of this 103.8 DEM after 100 confirmations by the blockchain (approx. 2h).

The eMark is a SHA256D coin. This means that the algorithm for block generation is based on the SHA256D method.

The source code of the eMark is public and can be viewed & modified at any time at Github.com.

The bootstrap.dat serves as a blockchain 'template' and is checked again, i.e. your own blockchain is rebuilt.

A snapshot does not necessarily check the blocks, nor is your own blockchain rebuilt, but the blockchain provided is taken over 1 to 1.

With a snapshot, you can then start "directly", while the bootstrap.dat variant takes a little more time.

Simply move the bootstrap.dat to the default directory where the wallet.dat and peers.dat are located.

The snapshot will be unpacked in the same folder and overwritten if necessary (SAVE wallet.dat before!).

[file='12'][/file][file='19'][/file]

Proof of Stake (PoS) ist ein Prozess zur Erzeugung von neuen eMark mit bereits vorhanden DEM.

Dieser kann frühstens nach 30 Tagen "eingelöst" werden. Die Vergütungshöhe liegt bei 3.8% im Jahr (365 Tage), auf 30 Tage runter gerrechnet ~0,32%.

Je höher der eMark Betrag ist, desto eher kann dieser Eingelöst werden, der Faktor Zeit, sowie das Gesamtgewicht im Netzwerk spielt dabei aber auch eine Rolle.

Umso mehr PoS "Reife" (30 Tage oder älter) Blöcke man hat, desto wahrscheinlicher ist einen zu generieren. Man benötigt 81 Bestätigungen bis die eMark bestätigt sind, also wieder zum versenden bereit sind. Wesentliche Vorteile von PoS sind Sicherheit, reduziertes Zentralisierungsrisiko und Energieeffizienz.

By peers (or nodes) we mean the other eMarkd & -qt applications, i.e. their IP address. When the application is started, several fixed IP addresses are queried, as well as DNS seeder. The application asks independently for new connections and shares the own connection also accordingly (download & upload).

A list of available addresses can be found at nodes.emark.ninja or chainz.cryptoid.info.

Via the console with the command getpeerinfo the currently connected eMark nodes are displayed.

Via the console with the command addnode IP.Adresse.123 add a node can be added manually.

The transaction fee is currently 0.001 DEM for an average eMark transaction, regardless of the destination, and is limited to a maximum of 0.01 DEM. It thus costs only a fraction of the fees charged by conventional financial institutions for comparable transactions.

In principle, this is to be borne by the sender. The sender's account balance is automatically debited with the corresponding transaction fee when a transaction takes place.

eMark payments are made via the eMark network and are usually sent and confirmed worldwide within just a few seconds.

Every transaction is stored forever in the blockchain. Via the Blockexplorer oder chainz.cryptoid.info, every detail of a transaction can be viewed and traced.

Once a transaction has been sent, whether already confirmed by the eMark network or not yet, it cannot be reversed. It is therefore always important to ensure that all the necessary data is entered correctly for a transaction.

The transaction fees flow to the eMark network. The network passes them on to the miners as payment for processing the transaction.

Mining means "digging". As an example, you can use the comparison analogous to "digging for gold".

One looks for the gold piece in an area, so to speak. The only difference is that instead of the gold, the "coin" is the object found and the area is the time required to solve a calculation problem.

Mining therefore describes the solving of a complex mathematical problem by means of fixed algorithms in a time window for cryptocurrencies. If you have solved this mathematical calculation, you get coins (in the case of the eMark 50 DEM) credited to your account (wallet) as a reward.

Since you are usually competing with other miners, it is advantageous to find the solution quickly. Only the first to find the solution will be rewarded. After that, the search for the next block starts all over again.

There are two possibilities to operate eMark-mining. Either you equip yourself with the necessary program and the special computers designed for this purpose (this is called Asic hardware) and operate eMark mining on your own or you join a mining pool and use its technical infrastructure.

Nevertheless, you have to own or at least rent the hardware for mining.

Pool fees of different amounts are usually payable for the pool. A selection of the most common mining pools can be found here.

If you do not own any mining hardware, it is possible to rent mining hardware. Renters of mining hardware can be found here or here.

Currently, various manufacturers offer both programs and special computers for mining a cryptocurrency. If one decides to join a mining pool and to do eMark mining there, usually no further investments in a program are necessary. All that is required is to sign up or register with the mining pool in question.

In pool mining, the computing power of all users (miners) there is pooled and the block is searched for together. When the block is found, the reward is again divided fairly among the users. The one with the greatest computing power gets the largest share, because here the payout is based on the performance principle.

Since miners (PoW & PoS) constantly generate new blocks, some newly generated blocks can be transmitted to the network almost simultaneously. The transmission of information between the individual nodes (peers) takes some time. For this reason, there is a possibility that one group of nodes decides to validate one block while another group validates the other. Eventually, this would result in one of the blocks being orphaned. The formation of orphan blocks is completely natural and in most cases occurs by chance. However, they can also arise when malicious actors attempt to create an alternate valid blockchain.

Daily recognized Orphan blocks can be viewed at chainz.cryptoid.info (since March 12, 2020).

There is theoretically a possibility to manipulate the blockchain if the hashpower exceeds at least 51% of all computers in the network. This would be possible, for example, if the largest mining pools were to join forces with their mining farms.

Since eMarks exist only in digital form, they require a specific type of wallet.

Technically, a wallet is a storage medium for transaction keys (also known as "addresses"). Such a digital key is generated for each transaction (received or sent) and is inextricably linked to the quantity of units (e.g., eMark) acquired or sold by this transaction. A wallet does not store eMark directly, for example, but only the associated transaction keys, which are used to calculate the total amount of eMark held. In the case of eMark, there is also the special feature that if a certain type of wallet (core wallet) is used, interest is even paid on the balance of eMark stored in it under certain conditions.

In practice, mainly 5 different types of wallets are currently used, depending on personal preference:

On the official eMark website, core wallets (eMark-qt) are currently offered for the eMark for the most common operating systems for downloading to your own PC or MAC.

An online wallet for the eMark is offered e.g. on the site emark.space (no official eMark site). Registration is required for this.

Wallet in the form of an app to download and use on smartphone/tablet. Currently (January 2020), an Android wallet for the eMark is under development. An eMark wallet for IOS is to follow thereafter.

Here paper wallets for the eMark can be created for self-printing. The respective transaction key is printed on this and physically stored together with another private key that unlocks the transaction key.

Special storage medium, usually in the form of a USB stick or chip, on which the transaction keys are also stored physically/offline (cold storage) and can be protected against unauthorized access by additional passwords. According to the prevailing opinion of experts, this is currently the most secure form of storage, since no connection to the Internet is required for the storage itself. Unfortunately, no manufacturer currently offers an eMark-compatible hardware wallet (yet).

1. Download eMark Core Wallet (only from the official eMark website!)
2. (optional) download bootstrap and unzip it
3. (optional) move snapshot files to the folder with the "wallet.dat" file
4. Start the eMark wallet

The eMark wallet will then automatically synchronize with the eMark network.

This usually takes several hours.

However, the bootstrap files do not have to be downloaded. However, they significantly shorten the synchronization with the eMark network, which can take several days without bootstrap.

Once installed and synchronized, the eMark wallet subsequently updates itself automatically with the eMark network every time it is started.

The eMark network cannot be manipulated because all transactions are stored in the blockchain and thus simultaneously on thousands of different computers worldwide. All newly added transactions are also first checked several times by the eMark network, confirmed and only then integrated into the blockchain.

eMark cannot be stolen from the network by attacks on the eMark system. However, attacks on the user himself can lead to the loss of his own eMark. Once an attacker gets hold of a private key to an eMark address, he also has access to the eMark credit associated with it.

An attacker can gain this access, for example, through malware or viruses that can spy on or copy the "wallet.dat" file. Likewise, by accessing the computer itself (e.g. via WLAN), by "hacking" online storage devices such as Dropbox or iCloud (if private keys are stored there), or even by using fake wallets (fakes) that are modeled on the original.

Each user is therefore responsible for protecting his or her private keys, e.g. by encrypting the "Wallet.dat" file with a secure password that protects it from unauthorized access.

Yes, you can also lose your eMark permanently. For example, if you lose access to your private keys and thus also to the eMark directly. This could be due to a hard drive crash, other data loss, fire, water or theft. If you store your eMark in paper wallets, you will also no longer have access to your eMark if such a paper wallet is irretrievably lost or irreparably destroyed.

The greatest danger when using a wallet installed on one's own computer is the loss of the password with which the file "wallet.dat" was encrypted. The file is then still available, but NOBODY in the world can ever decrypt this file again without the valid password.

The Blockchain is the ledger to track transactions.

The Protocol contains all the rules of eMark, stake height, how many transactions fit in a block (block size), etc.

This Protocol is always queried and compared by all nodes, miners and users connected to the network when connecting to other eMark applications.

A Hardfork can occur when basic things in the source code (protocol) are changed.

Example: The Stake % value should be increased to 4.2% per year, all users must agree to this change, i.e. update their wallet (eMarkd/-qt) to this version. If the majority of users update, it will continue with the new version.

If there is a Hardfork, a time is set in the new application protocol (usually a certain block) where then older versions are no longer accepted to connect. Receiving the eMark would still work with the old version, but sending or generating it would no longer work.