Exchange Ergo

Ergo is a programmable blockchain network supporting smart contracts and aiming to provide an easy, efficient, and secure way to implement practical and long-term sustainable financial contracts. Ergo has a dual meaning coming from its linguistic roots. In Latin, it means "therefore," while in Greek, it translates to "work." The project name choice cleverly reflects the cryptocurrency's design, which is meant to be ergonomically efficient.

Ergo identifies itself as a self-amending protocol, meaning it aspires to constantly gather fresh concepts and use them to improve its functionality in a decentralized manner. The network uses advanced technological features to design Decentralised Applications. 

Ergo was created as a robust network, ready for any challenges. The main idea behind it is to support open, flexible financial contracts. In 2016 the initial design and testnet development were started, culminating with the mainnet going live on July 1, 2019.

The founders of the Ergo network are Alexander Chepurnoy and Dmitry Meshkov. Chepurnoy is also known for co-founding smartcontract.com (now Chainlink). Dmitry Meshkov is a core developer for Ergo and previously worked as an RD researcher at Input Output Hong Kong (IOHK), where he contributed to a blockchain prototype framework.

The project's vision is based on the following key principles:

• Decentralization: Keeping the network secure by avoiding any parties that could harm it.
• Accessibility: The network should not be centralized, and anyone can participate in the consensus by running nodes and mining. 
• Financial Contracts: While Ergo can be used for multiple purposes, the primary goal is to make financial contracts more efficient and safer.
• Long-term Stability: The project plans to continue without major changes, like hard forks, upgrades, software, and hardware updates that are not foreseen and planned.
• Open Participation: Anyone can join and participate in the network without special preparations.

Ergo was created by a group of skilled developers and researchers with PhDs in areas like cryptography, compiler theory, and blockchain technology. The project team has a strong background in cryptocurrency and blockchain work, with prior experience in projects like Nxt, Scorex, and Waves

Ergo employs a special version of the proof-of-work consensus mechanism called Autolykos, developed in-house. The reason why the team chose PoW for the network is the fact that it is well-studied, secure, and easy to utilize. Autolykos relies on memory, doesn't need special hardware, and allows regular users to participate in securing the network and earning rewards.

Similar to Bitcoin, Ergo uses the extended-UTXO model to handle transactions. In this model, Unspent Transaction Outputs (UTXOs) can include not only simple data but also intricate scripts.

In the Ergo system, each coin is associated with a guard script, alongside custom data, offering protection beyond the typical m‐of‐n signature. What differentiates ERgo from the other projects is its ability to specify potential coin recipients, even if they involve complex conditions like another contract. This "chaining" approach allows for the creation of secure and efficient contracts of various complexities.

Ergo transactions operate across three scaling layers:

• L0: Utilizes Ergo Reference Nodes, bootstrapped with NiPoPoWs proofs and UTXO set snapshots.
• L1: Supports various scaling solutions, including Sharding, Hydra, and BitcoinNG-style macroblocks.
• L2 (off-chain): Compatible with Lightning Network, Rainbow Network, and more, depending on the needs of the application.
• The approach is to have transactions primarily in L1 or L2, bundling and settling them on the L0 layer via a single transaction. The flexibility of ErgoScript allows for diverse protocols, each addressing scalability issues in specific domains. Ergo serves as a common settlement layer for multiple L1/L2 protocols and applications.

The Ergo Foundation is a community-driven organization that focuses on the continuous development of the network, encouraging the widespread adoption of the Ergo platform and its native token, building and strengthening the ecosystem of the network, advocating for the use of blockchain to benefit society, and supporting decentralization and privacy. 

ERG serves as the native token of the Ergo network, and it plays a central role in the system. In particular, ERG tokens are needed to participate in the network to pay for storage, rent, and transaction fees. It creates strong and ongoing incentives for miners to contribute their computing power to secure the network. At the same time, users have a reason to acquire, use, and hold onto ERGs, especially if they find Ergo applications valuable. 

ERG has a fixed supply of 97,739,925 tokens, and the Ergo Foundation treasury gets 4.43% of the total to fund ecosystem growth. The project went through a so-called fair launch without secret deals, pre-mining, and initial coin offerings. As of October 19, 2023, the circulating supply of the ERG token is 59 million tokens. In 2026 the block reward for the miners is planned to be cut to 3ERG. 

The average fees on the Ergo platform 

miners impose a fee on users for any UTXO that remains idle for 4 years, referred to as a "storage rent fee." This approach ensures a consistent mining income, enhances network security, prevents excessive data accumulation ("state bloat"), and enables a relatively short emission schedule, with Ergo's emission completed within just 8 years.

Compared to most of the networks, for example, Ethereum, the Ergo blockchain doesn’t have gas fees. The project has also introduced Babel fees making it possible to pay for transactions in other tokens rather than ERG. 

The ERG token wallets 

The ERG token can be held in the following crypto wallets, including the official project wallet Ergo Wallet, and Nautilus, Satirgo, Minotaur, and SAFEW.