A Brief History

A journey that started with CryptoNote based block chain, continues with bitcoin based PoW/PoS hybrid chain, integrating with Binance and Ethereum ecosystems to expand its DeFi offerings.

The Past
On May 30, 2014, the very first version of the current DigitalNote was launched and it was called duckNote (the term “duck” was chosen because duck is a symbol of freedom and privacy protection). It appeared on the crypto circle with a bang. It was termed as the most “mysterious cryptocurrency” of that time — because it was based on CryptoNote anonymous technology, like Monero, and was a fork of ByteCoin. It was run by a very strong technology community.
The specifications of the first version of DigitalNote that was launched on May 30, 2014
DuckNote chain brought smart economy with original supply curve, fair decentralization, brilliantly scaled network specs, user-friendly cross-platform GUI wallet, and lots of other network improvements.
It was after four months of its launch, in September 2014, DuckNote was rebranded as DarkNote. With the new branding, XDN added new unique features, like encrypted messaging, encrypted transaction comments, GUI wallet transfers aggregation, and many network improvements.
DarkNote provided instant worldwide privacy protected transactions and untraceable encrypted messaging transfers with extremely low processing fees in a decentralized peer-to-peer network. Mathematics secured the XDN network (hybrid PoS/PoW) and empowered individuals to control their own finances and information. DarkNote provided the freedom to transact in total privacy.
DarkNote was further improved and changed its name to DigitalNote. DigitalNote offered merged-mining compatible with Monero and was powered by the CryptoNight7 algorithm. However, mining and exchange were not the only ways of gaining DigitalNote coins. DigitalNote offered a staking option which was performed by locking some amount of funds for a determined period of time. It provided the network with stability and encouraged users to make long-term investments in the project. DigitalNote wallet was available as both console and graphic wallet solution for the users of the cryptocurrency.
In Jan 2017, the lead developer of DigitalNote — known as dNote — disappeared leaving the community behind for good. It wasn’t the first time he disappeared (he had done so in the past) but this time never to return. It was very similar to how Satoshi had left Bitcoin project to make sure it truly stayed a community project. Before he left, he had big plans for DigitalNote — he had said that many institutional investors, banks, insurance companies, pensions, hedge funds, endowments and mutual funds were about to invest in XDN and said that by March 2017 this was to occur. He had referred to his plans as ICCO (Initial Crowdfunded Coin Offering). His disappearance caused the ICCO initiative to fail and many of the long-time XDN fans left after being very disappointed.
The Turn Around 
In early 2018, a mix of new and old team members — who appreciated the value of the project by heart — promised to revive the project and make XDN great again. It was the time when XDN hit an all-time high of 646 SATs.
The journey was going to be hard — rebuilding the community and keeping the coin alive were the two main objectives. The first part of 2018 was spent fixing the protocol that wasn’t in very good shape. A fork was done in mid-2018 to update the Proof-of-Work algorithm to become consistent with Monero’s algorithm so that users could again dual-mine Monero and DigitalNote together. The fortune did not favor the coin, as it was 51% attacked and timestamp attacked then and again at multiple points throughout the year 2018. The team patched the Proof-of-Work algorithm and was ready to begin feature upgrades, but most of the community members left this project with one of the highest market capital at the time ($600 million at the peak).
The team finally acquired talent and leadership in the second half of 2018 and formed a plan for success. At this point XDN broke the shackles of its stubborn and unreliable CryptoNote technology of the past, ushering in a new, fairer world with a total code rebase to include features from Bitcoin and DASH that would secure the long term future of XDN.
DigitalNote XDN’s brand new Proof-Of-Work/Proof-Of-Stake (PoW/PoS) hybrid blockchain was created to improve security and blockchain stability both unifying and expanding possibilities in doing so while bolstering security and protection from a 51% attack. Delegates were incentivized to run Masternodes that helped process and further validate network transactions. The collateral required to operate a masternode was set at 2,000,000 XDN. Not only DigitalNote became a more autonomous system, but it is also became more efficient and effective. The unique selection of block creators allowed transactions to be validated in a matter of seconds.
The new code base also introduced a small XDN project fund to help with development and project costs. This contribution became a byproduct of every block that was mined where 50 XDN was added to the fund. It allowed the team to pay for listings, marketing, and anything else that might arise in the future to keep the coin afloat.
The big challenge in moving from CryptoNote based chain to Bitcoin core chain was to allow the community to swap the old XDN coins for the new XDN coins. This was not a simple process as the old codebase was flaky and we had no way of telling which addresses were active or even had a balance. Users were given a 6-month window to manually swap their coins. The exchanges like Bittrex were easy to swap while our community had to wait 7 more months as HitBTC swapped their coins to the new blockchain. 
At the end of the swap, 3,000,000,000 XDN were burnt, leaving a total circulatory supply of just over 5,300,000,000 XDN.
The new core team consists of technology leaders, business leaders, marketing professionals, and technology developers, who have worked at many top companies. Together they have about 100 years of experience in Finance & Technology. The new team has brought a high degree of focus and renewed enthusiasm about making XDN one of the top blockchains in the industry. 
Since the new development team took over, they have totally revamped the DigitalNote XDN blockchain. DigitalNote is probably the only project to have ever successfully migrated from a CryptoNote-based codebase/chain to a Bitcoin-based codebase/chain. Moving to the new chain was a very rigorous and involved process - the team worked very closely with the users and community members, making sure the process to move on the new chain was widely communicated. Our community members helped users 24x7 to migrate to the new chain. That level of commitment from our team to the users was very foundational to the trust we've established with them.
The Current 
The new DigitalNote blockchain has kept up with the growing needs of the crypto ecosystem. The project has further added a large number of capabilities to make it the most unique project to serve such a wide array of offerings:
The Fast & Furious Cryptocurrency
There aren't many examples when it comes down to a cryptocurrency whose transactions are instant and don't cost anything. XDN transactions are super fast, and each transaction costs only 0.02 XDN (which is $ 0.00004 at the time of writing this).
Advanced Block Difficulty Retarget System 
This technology ensures a very tight window around the target block time and shrugs off "51% attacks" without any complaint, no matter how big the scale of the attack is. 
Staking
DeFi is emerging as one of the core offerings in the digital assets space. DigitalNote has been a DeFi project much before the term became popular. Every block has 300 XDN staking reward — out of which 150 XDN is rewarded for wallet staking, 100 XDN for masternode staking, and 50 XDN goes to the project fund.
Staking from QT Wallet
Users are able to stake XDN right from their own QT wallet, and without any lock-ins. This is a great way to earn more XDN while helping secure the DigitalNote network.
Staking with Masternodes
Users can run a masternode for as little as 2,000,000 XDN. They not only earn 3-7% APR, but they also help make the overall network stronger by participating in the masternode network. Getting a masternode running takes only a few clicks and takes less than 5 minutes - thanks to our amazing partner AllNodes.com. You can set up a masternode with them here.
Peer-to-Peer Secure Messaging 
DigitalNote supports Secure Messaging right from the wallets. The messages are fully secure, they aren't stored on the network, thus making this capability ideal for securely exchanging messages between the two parties who wouldn't want their messages to be stored anywhere else but securely on their own local devices.
Deepening DeFi Offerings
Ethereum Ecosystem Interoperability
DigitalNote successfully launched a new ERC-20 token called 2XDN to help leverage a range of features available across the chains. A total of 70 M tokens were distributed as a reward for XDN staking to the existing holders. A total of 70 M XDN was burned to ensure the total supply of tokens did not increase.
2XDN ERC-20 token allows DigitalNote to interoperate with Ethereum Ecosystem
Here is a video that explains DigitalNote’s DeFi plans.
Binance Smart Chain / PancakeSwap integration
DigitalNote built the capability to convert XDN to wXDN (wrapped XDN on the Binance Smart Chain), and vice-versa, to open up a universe of opportunities in the Binance/PancakeSwap ecosystem.
XDN is well connected with the Binance/PancakeSwap ecosystem
The Future
Payments
The DigitalNote team is exploring partnerships that will allow to putting XDN & 2XDN at the forefront of crypto-payment networks and providers. A lot of good work is in progress on this front.
Mobile Wallets
The team is working on adding iOs & android mobile wallets. QT wallet and web wallet are very matured right now, and the mobile wallets will complement them well in making the project more accessible.
Secure Messaging App
Being able to communicate securely has recently emerged one of the biggest areas of concern for the world. Thankfully, DigitalNote has a working system to meet this need (secure messaging is functional today on QT wallet and Web wallet). The project is working on building a mobile user experience to make it easier for users to use it while enriching the features.
NFTs
With our ERC-20 token 2XDN operating in Ethereum ecosystem, the team is very excited about the potential in the NFT (Non-Fungible Tokens) space and strategizing on how the project can help this line of opportunity that's presented to artists, game enthusiasts, collectors, and many others.
Emerging Key Players
DigitalNote is continuing to keep an eye on emerging key players in the crypto world. Just like the project established interoperability with Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain, the project is constantly analyzing interoperability opportunities with players like Polkadot, Elrond, Solana etc.