What is Casper (CSPR)?
Casper is a proof-of-stake (PoS) Layer-1 blockchain. It bills itself as a decentralized, developer-friendly, and enterprise-focussed network.
What does the CSPR token do?
CSPR is the network’s native token. It’s used to reward validators for securing the network, to pay gas fees, and as a medium of exchange between network participants.
Brief Background
The project was founded in 2018 by Medha Parlikar and Mrinal Manohar. The Casper mainnet and the Casper Association (non-profit organization dedicated to managing the network’s evolution and decentralization) both launched in March 2021.
What makes Casper (CSPR) different?
Casper aims to differentiate itself from other Layer-1 solutions by positioning itself as an exceptionally developer-friendly and easily upgradeable network.
Casper’s marketing materials frequently highlight the fact that whilst there are 28 million developers worldwide, only 300,000 are crypto-native. The project seeks to attract these non crypto-native developers by supporting a ‘WebAssembly’ code environment as opposed to using proprietary coding language.
WebAssembly, also known as Wasm, first appeared in 2017 and is the result of an unprecedented collaboration between W3C, Google, Apple, Mozilla, and Microsoft. As a result, it has built-in support in all major browsers for all platforms—no plugins required.
The network claims to be easily upgradeable because Casper enables on-chain smart contracts to be directly upgraded, circumventing traditional drawbacks such as the need for complex ecosystem communication and migration processes.
Where Casper (CSPR) sees itself going - in their own words
The Casper team has identified four macro-trends ‘driving Casper development and adoption’.
They refer to these as:
- Tokenization
- Ownership Rights
- Financial Standards
- Creator Economy
Casper’s real life use-cases
Casper brands itself as the ‘future-proof blockchain for real-world adoption’.
Keep reading to see a few examples of their tech’s real-world applications.
- Wonder what Casper’s new CEP-78 NFT Standard could look like? Check out the CasperPunks NFT collection created to celebrate Casper’s third birthday here!
Casper’s new NFT Standard, CEP-78 allows creators to update their NFTs - which means they’re able to update smart contracts easily, without having to pay high gas fees. This allows creators to adopt a more flexible approach to their business models and applications.
- NFTs and IP rights? An unexpected match made in heaven. Casper partnered with IPwe to issue patent rights as NFTs, allowing them to be verified, sold, and stored via a public blockchain. Intellectual property has traditionally been notoriously difficult to track and manage - using blockchain infrastructure here makes for a more transparent, simple, and cost-effective process. Read more about the partnership here.
- For those of you who are fans of the finer things in life, Casper’s got you covered.
- Casper partnered with Metacask to modernize the high-end whisky investment market. Casper Labs leveraged its blockchain infrastructure to issue NFTs representing real whisky casks, which could then be traded on their NFT marketplace. In addition to providing a transparent and secure experience for investors, this allowed Metacask to reach a new generation of clients, as well as opening them up to new geographies. Check out their page for more information.
- Casper also partnered with the cybersecurity company WISeKey to support Wise.art, billed as ‘the world’s first truly secure platform for valuable art and luxury collectibles’. Casper Network infrastructure was selected to support Wise.art’s auctioning of digital twins or artworks and luxury collectibles. Read WISeKey’s original press announcement about the partnership here.
About the founders
Medhar Parlikar serves as Casper Labs’ Chief Technology Officer. Prior to co-founding Casper, she produced SaaS (‘Software as a Service’) software for companies including Adobe, Omniture and valara. She has advocated for more female representation in the blockchain and technology industries through her work with Strongurl. Parlikar holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Information Systems and Programming from Coleman College.
Mrinal Manohar is CEO and Co-Founder of Casper Labs. He earned his Master of Science degree in Computer Science from Carnegie Mellon University in 2007. Manohar started his career at Oracle and Microsoft, before briefly working as a project manager for the Federal Bureau of Investigation on topics related to cybersecurity. He then joined Bain & Company as an Associate, moving to Bain Capital in 2010 where he specialized in the TMT vertical of their North American Private Equity unit. From 2012 to 2017, Mrinal was Principal at Sagard Holdings.
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