The term Ruby Coin, commonly associated with the token symbol RUBY, typically refers to one of two distinct projects in the cryptocurrency and Web3 space. The first project, often marketed as Ruby Coin or Ruby Currency, was founded by Samir Keshari and launched in late 2020. This initiative was presented as a decentralized cryptocurrency built to facilitate global finance and e-commerce. Initially launched as an ERC-20 token on the Ethereum network, the project later claimed to transition to its own Layer 1 blockchain infrastructure. It emphasized community-driven growth through a unique referral and holding program, often referred to as a parking or staking wallet. Its ecosystem included a mobile application designed for both Android and iOS, intended to allow users to store and spend the currency in online and physical stores. Developers also stated that the network would support smart contracts, non-fungible tokens, and digital identity solutions. However, as of late 2024 and early 2025, this specific Ruby Coin project has been the subject of major legal action. Authorities in India arrested the founder following investigations into allegations of investment fraud. Reports indicate that the project may have lacked the technical infrastructure it claimed to possess, with investigators describing it as a deceptive scheme that used misleading marketing to attract investors. Separately, there is a Web3 infrastructure project known as Ruby Protocol, which also uses the ticker symbol RUBY. This project is fundamentally different, focusing on building an intent-centric account and access layer. It utilizes advanced cryptographic techniques such as functional encryption and zero-knowledge proofs to provide privacy and security for decentralized applications. Ruby Protocol is designed to offer services like account abstraction and cross-chain asset bridging, primarily operating within the Polkadot ecosystem. It aims to simplify the user experience in Web3 by allowing for features such as social recovery and email-based logins for crypto wallets. Additionally, an older, legacy project named Rubycoin exists, which was launched in 2014 as a fork of the Litecoin blockchain. This earlier version focused on privacy through its own encryption standards and used a hybrid consensus mechanism, though it is less commonly the subject of current Web3 discussions. Users should be careful to distinguish between these projects given the similarity in their names and token symbols.
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