I was asked by a few people to do an article on a recently released altcoin called ShadeCoin. Sometimes you wonder how many more synonyms for “hidden” or “anonymous” we can use to name a coin, but that’s besides the point. Let’s take a look at what this cryptocurrency brings to the table.

ShadeCoin is a good old-fashioned Scrypt cryptocurrency, which makes it a bit rare in that regard these days. Considering this coin launched a little over a week ago, so there is still a lot of development to be done. The launch did go smooth though, and there are some nice features included in the wallet.

Even though most of the current altcoins offer most of the services you can find in the ShadeCoin client, they still prove to be useful. An in-wallet block explorer and network statistics is never wasted, although they may very well be two of the less frequently used features.

IRC chatting capabilities are always a good way to remain in touch with the community and like-minded people. And to be honest, having to download an IRC client is so much hassle, and it’s way easier to access through your ShadeCoin wallet anyway.

SHADE also has a built-in market platform, which does not mean you can buy and sell goods in exchange for ShadeCoin unfortunately. It is a nice overview of all available market data for this altcoin though, so that’s not too bad!

Encrypted messaging has quickly become an important aspect in the world of cryptocurrency and altcoins. ShadeCoin allows users to send messages to one another inside the client, which is a nice feature to have.

As I mentioned before, there is still a lot of development to be done, and the ShadeCoin team have posted a timeline on their website. The current projects listed so far are nearing completion, so let’s take a look at what the future has in store!

The first feature to be released over the next week or so, will be ShadeOnline. This is an online wallet for ShadeCoin, which will be compatible with mobile devices. The main characteristics are : lightweight, efficient, and ease-of-use. You can preview a beta version of ShadeOnline here.

Even though ShadeOnline will be compatible with mobile devices, the developers will also be releasing wallets for iOS and Android. Mobile staking will be enabled as soon as ShadeCoin starts its Proof-of-Stake phase, and all the functionalities from the desktop client will be available.

At the end of September, we can expect ShadeMarket, which will be the online marketplace for ShadeCoin. With a multi-signature escrow system built in, as well as an identity/reputation system, and private messaging, I’m really looking forward to this.

As we have seen many coins do over the past few weeks, ShadeCoin contacted CryptoAsian to get a Proof-of-Developer rating. With a result o 4 out of 5 stars, things are looking relatively good for the community.

You can find the complete ShadeCoin developer timeline here.

The time has come to take a closer look at ShadeCoin’s technical specifications :

Algorithm: Scrypt

Block Target: 60 Seconds

Block Reward: 64 SHADE

PoW Phase: Block 1 – 30,000 (~ 3 Weeks)

Max PoW SHADE: ~2,000,000

PoS Interest: 4%

Min Stake Age: 12 Hours

Max Stake Age: None

Pre-mine: 1% (20,000 SHADE) Development, Bounties, Marketing

As far as exchanges go, you can trade ShadeCoin at BitTrex and Cryptsy.

To find out more about ShadeCoin, feel free to use the following sources :

Website : http://shadecoin.com/

BitcoinTalk : https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=768941.0

Twitter : http://twitter.com/ShadeCoin