Burstcoin History, from the genesis block to today

• 2014-08-17: Version 1.0.2 adjusted difficulty ^[9]
• 2014-08-27: Version 1.0.3 changed protocol for V2 pools ^[10]
• 2014-09-17: Version 1.1.0 back end updated to NXT 1.2.8 to enable new NXT features (encrypted messaging, DGS) ^[11]
• 2014-09-27: Version 1.1.3 added escrow transactions ^[12]
• 2014-11-04: Version 1.1.5 update to Nxt 1.3 (added subscriptions, updated escrow) ^[13]
• 2014-12-22: Version 1.2.0 added Automated Transactions (ATs) ^[14]
• 2015-02-06: Version 1.2.2 refined ATs  (smart contracts) ^[15]
• 2015-04-20: Version 1.2.3 further refined ATs and the asset exchange ^[16]

• 2015 - Initiated the first Atomic Swap, together with Qora, pioneering the basic concept of a decentralized exchange:   https://www.ccn.com/qora-burst-now-able-make-cross-chain-transactions

After the original developer of Burstcoin disappeared a community quickly formed under the name Burst Team in August of 2015. Development of the wallet software continued in a fork at Github ^[17].  A website and a forum were created at burst-team.us.

Because of differences within Burst Team, several members started Burstnation ^[18] by the end of 2016 (Citation Needed). The differences continued until leading Burstnation members announced their retirement from the Burst community in the aftermath of the Dymaxion release (see below).

On July 22nd of 2017, an attacker spammed the Burstcoin network with messages, causing wallets to crash and splitting the network into multiple forks ^[19]. The network remained unstable for several days.  As a result, the Poloniex exchange froze the coin and disabled deposits and withdrawals (Citation Needed). By August 10th the network was stable again and Poloniex reactivated Burstcoin deposits and withdrawals.

In the aftermath of the spam attack, a group formed to continue development called the Proof-of-Capacity Consortium (PoCC).  The original announcement of the group was posted on August 11th of 2017, the third anniversary of the Burst blockchain^[20].   Initial activities of the group included improving the wallet software and providing a reliable block explorer.  This period of time, until development reverted to community development on January 3rd, 2019, was a period of rapid development and it was during this time that Burstcoin evolved into its advanced state.  Following the resignation of The Proof of Capacity Consortium from active development of Burstcoin as an official development group, many of the members have continued to be actively involved in the community and provided valuable advice and consultation as the community organized to address future development effectively.

December 22nd, 2017:   Coin of the day: BURST — First truly Green coin and most overlooked coin. Uses 400 times less power than Bitcoin. Super secure and private. Includes smart contracts, encrypted messaging, decentralized wallet, libertine blockchain. Most undervalued coin.

— John McAfee (@officialmcafee) December 22, 2017

On December, 27th 2017, the PoC Consortium released a white paper titled “The Burst Dymaxion”.  This white paper describes a proposed layer to the Burst blockchain capable of sustaining the total global load of non-cash transactions.

• 2018:  Slot based transaction fees:  Burstcoin replaced the minimum fee of 1 Burstcoin per transaction with a dynamic fee schedule starting with .007357 during periods of low network activity.  The previous fee of 1 Burstcoin had been set as a disincentive for spam attacks on the network.  With the new schedule, transactions can be initiated for the lowest fee during periods of high network activity, they are however delayed until a slot for the transaction becomes available.
• 2018: Poc1 to Poc2 transition:  To address a theoretical vulnerability referred to as a grinding attack, Burstcoin preemptively updated the format of the plot files used while reducing the read speed by 50%.

Shortly after the January 3rd, 2019, the Burst Alliance was formed.  It is an umbrella group functioning as the official developer and point for contact.  The constituent groups are The Burst Applications Team and The Burst Marketing Fund, two groups that formed to focus on two separate aspects of Burstcoin.  The formation of the Burst Marketing Fund marked the beginning of a new period for Burstcoin.  Burstcoin has always had skilled programmers.  However, marketing was always downplayed in favor of the organic growth that well-developed technology would draw.  It was also felt that marketing would bring growth that could exceed the ability of the relatively small community to support.  After the cryptocurrency bear market of 2018, Burstcoin emerged with the Burst Marketing Fund committed to bringing the coin to a broader public audience.  The Burst Applications Team is exceeding expectations, producing cross-platform versions of the Burstcoin software, a great step forward in making Burstcoin software highly accessible and user-friendly.