Primecoin Reaches 13 primes Milestone

September 16th, 2013

For immediate release

On September 10th, only two months after Primecoin started its operation, it achieved yet another important milestone with a record-shattering 13-primes.

The record prime chain is found at block 159217, with a 94-digit Cunningham chain of 2nd kind as its proof-of-work. The new world record has already been confirmed by Jens Kruse Andersen, the maintainer of world's simultaneous primes record book. Primecoin now holds 4 out of the 21 existing world records in simultaneous primes, namely the 10-primes, 11-primes, 12-primes and 13-primes records, while the old-time favorite distributed computing network GIMPS (Great Internet Mersenne Primes Search) holds the 1-prime record with its 17-million digit Mersenne prime discovered in January of this year.

Primecoin network launched on July 7th, with an unique proof-of-work system designed around searching for prime number chains, known as the Cunningham chains and bi-twin chains. It introduces the first proof-of-work system for cryptocurrency with scientific computing value. Number theorists have been searching for prime number chains and formations for many years before Primecoin. Dr. Dirk Augustin, an expert on Cunningham chains and notable record holder of 5 out of the 21 world records, from 5-primes through 9-primes, enthusiastically congratulated Primecoin's breakthrough after its launch. 'I am very glad to see that the Primecoin project increased the interest in searching for prime chains, something I am doing now for over 10 years,' says Dr. Augustin.

The new 13-primes record came early as a bit of surprise, according to Sunny King, the architect and lead developer of Primecoin project. Originally it's estimated that it could arrive around the end of the year. However the network got a bit lucky. The new record almost doubles the length of previous record, a prime tuplet found by Roger Thompson earlier this year.

Interestingly, someone has yet to claim to be the discoverer of the world record. As a cryptocurrency network similar to Bitcoin, Primecoin also offers strong protection of privacy. The 'miners', users that searches for the prime proof-of-work for the network, are often incentivized by the currency value alone. Primecoin is currently mined by CPUs of many thousands of personal computers around the world, in contrast to Bitcoin, which saw a swift shift from GPU mining into ASIC mining this year.

As a cryptocurrency network, Primecoin natually provides incentive to the development of prime searching software and continued improvements to prime searching techniques. Although a 14-primes record would seem out of reach to Primecoin network for many years at current pace, with further advancement of its mining software, it could once again arrive earlier than expected.