What are Æ coins?
The Æ coin is the native currency of the æternity blockchain. Æ coins are needed to pay for the transaction fees to run smart contracts. The most basic transaction is the spend transaction used to transfer Æ coins from sender to receiver. The receiver can either be an account, an oracle or a smart contract. In addition to coin transfers and smart contract calls, a sender can also attach an arbitrary binary payload, which can for example be used for proof of existence, registering a hash or file on the blockchain.
ættos
An ætto is the smallest unit of an æternity coin (Æ).
1 Æ = 1 ætto x 1018 = 1000000000000000000 ættos
As a result: 1 ætto = 0.000000000000000001 Æ
What is unique about the Æ coin?
Æ coin is unique compared to currently used fiat money in many ways:
- It is owned by you - your Æ coins exist solely in your wallet (if you use a non-custodial wallet - not an exchange).
- Transactions are peer-to-peer. There is no intermediary responsible for orchestrating transactions between you and the party you are transacting with.
- It is completely digital and secured by cryptography.
- The supply is limited. Unlike fiat currency, there is no central bank with printing power. You can explore how many Æ coins have existed or will exist at any given moment: AEKnow.org mining reward table
- Æ coins will be created until approximately the year 2134, when the last of the total 536,307,702.49932 have been created. As of October 2021 around 72% (390762502) of all Æ coins have been created.
- It is permissionless. There are no restrictions in acquiring Æ coins as opposed to traditional currencies that involve several processes to acquire. An internet connection and an Æ compatible wallet are the only requirements.
- It is highly divisible. Æ coins can be divided into great fractional proportions.
- It’s transparent. The total supply of Æ coins is visible on the Æternity explorer, and its demand and supply can be tracked very easily.
- It is traceable. If transacted on the public æternity mainnet the transactions can be traced back to the unique wallet addresses, improving regulation and prevention of malevolent activities as well as providing transparency useful for supply chains and other business applications.
Where can I get Æ?
Æ coins can be acquired from exchanges, swapped, earned or mined. Moreover, you can always join the æternity Forum to track the various bounties initiated for community members. The new æUnited contribution platform offers Æ coins as a reward for participating in activities like creating guides, initiating social media campaigns, assisting in programming applications or through in-house competitions.
Where should I keep Æ?
Multiple wallets for Æ coins exist. Recommended wallets include AirGap Wallet for safe cold storage, Superhero Wallet, Trust wallet and Arkane wallet.
