Counterparty, is an open source distributed protocol that was launched on January 29th, 2014.
The Counterparty platform has its own native cryptocurrency, with symbol XCP, that is cryptographically locked to the Bitcoin blockchain. A proof-of-burn mechanism (this is a type of Coin Burn) was used to transfer value from Bitcoin to XCP. At the time of launch, the proof-of-burn method was unique, and Bitcoin was burned on the Bitcoin Blockchain to justify the value transfer. It was deemed that this technique contributed to fairness amongst users when compared more traditional ICOs and Bitcoin forks. Counterparty was originally backed by executives from Overstock.com
New assets can be created on the Counterparty protocol, which is similar in concept to the Ethereum blockchain except that smart contracts on the Counterparty protocol are actually built on top of the Bitcoin blockchain.
The official website for Counterparty is https://counterparty.io and there is a free wallet, known as CounterWallet, which is also found on the Counterparty site. At the time of writing on February 16th, 2020, XCP is trading at $2.05 with only the Zaif exchange listed on coinmarketcap.com as a traded market.
Of note, Counterparty has a unique approach to multisignature addresses, and their site reads that the protocol“supports various multisignature schemes, such as 1-of-3, 2-of-3, 3-of-5, and more.”
The Bitcoin address for the Counterparty proof-of-burn is: 1CounterpartyXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXUWLpVr
It has now been 6 years since the launch of XCP and the proof-of-burn Bitcoin address is holding 2130.872 BTC, which at today’s Bitcoin price of $10,248 equates to $21,837,176 USD.
In retrospect the Counterparty platform failed to gain much traction as most projects either died off or moved to the Ethereum blockchain. Our hats go off to the founders of Counterparty for making it one of the most unique Coin Burn examples.