
Released in March 2014, CryptoEscudo (Symbol: CESC) is a distributed open-source digital currency forked from Litecoin. The purpose of the coin is to become a national crypto coin of Portugal, borrowing the name of the old Portuguese currency before the country’s adoption of the euro. CryptoEscudo is different from Litecoin in that its difficulty adjustment mechanism is built on Kimoto’s Gravity Well where mining difficulty is adjusted after every single completed block of transactions. The digital currency’s total coin supply is capped at 1 billion units of which 45% were pre-mined. One half of the pre-mined coins is used for an airdrop to the citizens of Portugal, while the other half is safeguarded for a future repayment of Portugal’s national debt.