I'd like to address some questions on masternodes from some of other social media outlets that has come up this week.....That has been a hot topic for well over a year and something we have considered and NEVER ruled out. It is still seriously being considered by the Guncoin Team. But as many of you know, not something we can just roll in to the current coin.
Keep in mind that our path that we set out on a year ago was to bring GUN totally current with technology using the Bitcoin Core model with a few extra bells and whistles along the way. To date, we have successfully met that goal (ahead of schedule) and like other coins following the Bitcoin Core, we are on the Lightning Network path and have a VERY VERY capable coin.
Our goal has always been and really still is, to provide a totally safe, secure, stable and fast way to handle firearms tranactions for merchants who choose to use GUN in place of a typical merchant account. At this point, we are right there - that is what GUN is today! While there are not a lot of dealers/sellers using GUN yet, there are some using it regularly with much success. We are thrilled to death where GUN is today and what it offers the every day gun dealer for transaction purposes.
NOW, the other side of the coin (no pun intended) is those who choose to INVEST in GUN and have been doing so very loyally for may years. While they have always come second to our primary goal stated above, they have and will not be ignored and we have full plans to address their needs as well - it is just not possible for the GUN Team to do EVERYTHING at once and loose focus on what we are trying to get done - So that is where masternodes could possibly come into the picture in looking out for long-time GUN investors and miners.
Simply put, we are still a small coin with huge potential, but the reality is that we cannot do everything at once. Anything we do, takes time and money - nothing is free. While there are may great ideas (like masternodes, privated networks, smart contracts, etc.), they cannot all be done at once, cost money and in many cases, cannot be done within the same coin with current programming technology. That may disappoint some or many of you, but that is the reality of it. GUN is currently a Proof of Work (PoW) coin and has been since day one. Masternode coins for the most part are Proof of Stake (PoS) - those two architectures for the most part are not really compatible with each other in the same coin or token.
The GUNCOIN team has never been one to chase technology and be on the bleeding edge of things. That goes against our principle of providing a solid and stable coin like we described above. If you remember, we waited several years for technology to advance to a point and the altcoin acceptance was at a point for us to implement what we have done over the past 8-9 months. For those who stayed with us - you know it was worth the wait.
So for those that follow Altcoins, you are aware that there are several hybrid coins out there that fall into the PoW/PoS hybrid category that offer advantages of both PoS and PoW. While those are VERY attractive to us and we keep close watch on them, we are not 100% sure that is the correct path for the current GUN that we have now.They are very new in mumber, appear to be functioning well and provide a coin usable for day-to-day transactions AND something worthwhile for coin investors. As this technology and coding matures, it is a very real possibility for GUN in the near future. Of course a much more simpler and quicker option is just to create a GUN PoS coin with masternodes and airdrop the coins in to current GUN owners in pools and exchanges.
At this time, we have no preference over either path and both are on the table for the GUN team to evalate and figure a way to pay for if and when we go down one of those paths. Both paths offer advantages and disadvantages as you can imagine. Right now, we have a solid, stable and easy to maintain coin - why mess with it? On the other hand, not sure we want to deal with managing 2 different coins - no matter how they are linked together. So nothing is decided and we are still evaluating the possibilitieis and accessing what can and cannot be done now. As always, we are open to your opinions and ideas that is purpose of this post.
For those who have followed GUN for many years and accumulated coins, you are aware that we do not stand still - we keep moving and try and choose our path wisely. We are not a pump and dump team, otherwise, we would have been gone long ago. We are here for the long term, still have most of GUN coin that we have mined over the years and looking forward to a bright future for GUN. As always, we appreciate you patience and support.
I understand the concept of time and cost of money, but for the past month, has been news in the crypto world of constant, deliberate 51% attacks and double spending...
https://news.bitcoin.com/you-can-now-51-attack-a-coin-for-as-little-as-500/I must say, GUN coin indeed has a HUGE potential in the the future but will experience a huge set back should double spending occur...
Maybe it's happening now and nobody in the community has a clue as the coin is relatively cheap.
Bitcoin itself could have been a victim of 51% attack, while in it's early small marketcap stage, but very few were educated on the concept of how crytocurrency and blockchain technology works... By the time the Bitcoin adoption spread, those who tried to educated themselves on how to maliciously hack, 51% attack, reverse blocks, and double spend, Bitcoin, Ether, and even Litecoin prices has already risen to the point where it would be expensive and unfeasible to perform such dishonesty. In the Bitcoin early stages, it was more common to fork and create new altcoin for profits instead...
But now since these POW altcoins are becoming more pricey enough to the point where miners can just immediately take their earnings on a weekly, even daily basis and sell their coins on the exchanges, cryptocrooks have also figured out a way to profit from the cheap hashrate cost of performing a 51% attack... I could be wrong, but I've notice that there were NO news on a 51% attack or double spending on POS coins as even as expensive as ETH is to perform such malice, that network is even changing to POS in the near future.
POS forces individuals to purchase coins and risk losing their possessions should any dishonesty occurs... For a POS 51% attack to occur I believe one must own 51% of the coins in current existence, which is truly, relatively expensive. POW sort of does the same thing with electricity but essentially there is no explicit up front risk as your money is automatically at STAKE, in addition, should they try anything, electricity would make the hash rate costly, but to notice your coins are directly lost and taken away from you is a big ouch and nobody ever wants to experience that... . It would also be more of an incentive for miners to participate and more nodes would be added to network with a cheaper electric bill. Again Gun coin will face alot of shady obstacles during it's adoption, which would be costly, should it remain as a POW mining coin while it's cheap in price and vulnerable.