Topic: [ANN][XCP] Counterparty - Pioneering Peer-to-Peer Finance - Official Thread - page 274. (Read 1276789 times)

I will be launching a sports feed site very early in June and we will offer complete coverage of the FIFA World Cup and either most or all of the NBA Finals depending on how many games the Semis go.

We're still waiting for functionality to be added to Counterwallet, but that should happen with plenty of time to spare.

(The post below this is not me)

For the first time it is now possible to perform Bitcoin-based betting in a decentralized fashion, meaning without the need of entrusting your funds in the hands of a third party – all wagers made using our application are held in escrow by a smart contract until the wager is settled.

Links:
Main page: countersports.com
Currently on testnet: test.countersports.com

Among the benefits:
Secrecy:
Users have complete anonymity when using our services.
 
Security:
Users' funds are kept safe at the protocol level – thanks to the use of Bitcoin 2.0 technologies, the users are not required to transfer their coins into the custody of any application, and there is no centralized party that holds and manages users funds (no Mt.gox etc').
 
Transparency:
Because the application works using the Bitcoin Blockchain, all of its actions are visible to anyone and can be retraced by anyone with great ease.
 
Reliability:
The Counterparty protocol, which is the Bitcoin 2.0 protocol in which CounterSports is implemented, is based on secured Bitcoin transactions, thus utilizes the Bitcoin network's highly secured and dependable features.
 
General Bitcoin benefits:
The use of Bitcoins holds numerous advantages over fiat currency (such as $, €, etc') - anonymity, independence, no inflation, cryptographic security, instant payments for any amount, and much more. Up until now, Bitcoin did not reach its full potential in existing large scale thriving industries, in which its special attributes gives it a distinctive edge and especially in the field of sport bets. The existence of a distributed and cryptographically secured system in which the operators of a betting application, or anyone else for that matter, have no ability to take / confiscate users funds, but can only decide which one of the participants is the winner of the pot is what distinguishes the CounterSports application from any and all other sport betting websites, whether Bitcoin-based or Fiat-based. Introducing the sport bets industry into the world of Bitcoin can elevate the Bitcoin economy to great new heights.
 
Better rates:
For any wager, there is a counter wager, commonly referred to as 'The House wager' or 'Lay'. In old fashioned betting websites and casinos the user plays against the house in the fixed unattractive rates determined by the 'House', and so the 'House' gains if and when the user looses. The CounterSports application synchronizes users' bets and allows users to choose their own rates and bet directly between users. There is no middleman, thus all arbitrage revenue is there for the users to profit.
* In order to kickstart the application, counter wagers will be made on behalf of the CounterSports application for bets that are- a. within the rates presented by the site as a non-organic rate (organic, meaning that a verified bet has been placed by a user); b. in lines where no rate-attractive, organic bets exist. This mechanism was set in place for a double purpose – both to allow users to know the real world rate for their wager and to ensure that the first attractive betters of every line will always have their offers matched for at least a portion of their wager.
 
Mobile friendly:
The CounterSports application was designed for both desktop computer, Smartphone and tablet users. More importantly, users that run android based devices can bet directly from their mobile phone using the well vetted, open source Electrum wallet (released November 5, 2011).
 
What wagers can I make?
How many times did you get to see a match and said to yourselves "I don't know who will win, but I know there will not be a tie"? In the CounterSports application you can choose to wager on the option that you think will happen and also for the opposite option, meaning everything but the specified result. For the aforementioned case, it is possible to place a bet that will award you with the pot in case of a draw (placing this kind of bet is called 'back', meaning that you are 'backing' the possibility of a draw),  or alternatively, you could place a bet that will award you with the pot in all cases except the draw, which means that it does not matter which team wins, as long as the result is not a draw, you will take the pot (placing this kind of bet is called 'lay', meaning that you are 'laying' an opposition to the possibility of a draw).
The CounterSports application currently receives matches from all the major soccer leagues, including the 2014 world cup in Brazil. At this time we analyze results from 30 different leagues from 20 countries.
During the summer, the main event will be the 2014 world cup in Brazil, and when soccer regular seasons will resume, matches from the top European soccer leagues will be available: Champions League, English premier league, Bundesliga (Germany), La Liga (Spain), Serie A (Italy) and much, much more.
Incorporating additional lines, sports and countries is already in play.
 
How to make a bet?
1.       Browse through the various lines available on the CounterSports application until you find one that you want your make your bet on.
2.       Insert the details of the bet that you want to make (your betting address, wager amount and your desired rate. All other details are preconfigured to match the bet type which you have selected, but those could also be changed from the bet making page).
3.       Paste the line of text corresponding to your wallet type (Each supported wallet type has its own line of text to be pasted in your local wallet) and hit send.
Done!
Your bet has now been placed and can be matched by other users from the Bitcoin network.
 
Since the CounterSports application is based on the Bitcoin blockchain, and implemented using the Counterparty protocol, in order to use it, one must acquire some Bitcoins and as many XCP as one would like to place as wagers. All wagers, counter wagers and pots are denominated in the form of XCP, which is the native currency of the Counterparty protocol. It is possible to acquire XCP through a traditional exchange service, such as http://bter.com/trade/xcp_btc or https://www.poloniex.com/exchange/btc_xcp, and it could also be purchased using Counterparty's built-in decentralized exchange.
Placing bets, buy/sell orders on the decentralized exchange, and many other options are made easy through a free service called CounterWallet- a user friendly online wallet, built by the Counterparty protocol original developers. It is important to point out that we have great appreciation towards the Counterparty core developers but we are not them, we are independent developers.
However, in order to reach the great mass of Bitcoin holders, and to make it simple for users who have never used a digital currency, and as is clear from the above example, a bet could just as easily be made from a standard Bitcoin-qt or electrum wallet.
 
Screenshots:
https://i.imgur.com/50d0usp.png
Brazil 2014 World Cup General bets

https://i.imgur.com/A8qmcVq.png
Example match page

https://i.imgur.com/WKMVwt1.png
Example league page

https://i.imgur.com/nZhAkfO.png
Example market page

Some of our future plans:
1.       Incorporating additional sports.
2.       Incorporating global events.
3.       Expanding the betting possibilities for each single event.
4.       Binary options.
5.       CounterWallet seamless integration.
6.       Issuance of the CounterSports application on top of the Counterparty protocol.

Links:
Main page: countersports.com
Currently on testnet: test.countersports.com

Could u please approximate when will the betting functionality be added ? Can it be added before the World Cup?

I don't see major adoption of the DEx happening until the betting functionality is widely used.

Issuing distributions in XCP will not happen for quite a while because BTC is the preferred currency and I don't see that changing anytime soon, if ever.

Counterparty and XCP will see increased use and adoption due to the betting functionality and everything else will be a distant second.

(This is just my opinion)

XCP is also the easiest way to trade assets and avoid btcpay. Maybe less significant but it's also the cheaper way to distribute dividends.

The betting functionality in Counterparty is the only price driver behind XCP besides the very minimal 0.5 XCP, which is insignificant with regards to the price.

Hello,

I know this is not the main concern over all the great discussions you guys have here,

but Mastercoin is tanking at the same time as Bitshare and XCP are rising.

Insider information?

I mean, I won't complain, just wondering.

Hello,

I know this is not the main concern over all the great discussions you guys have here,

but Mastercoin is tanking at the same time as Bitshare and XCP are rising.

Insider information?

I mean, I won't complain, just wondering.

If cha has proved to be worth it. We can just fork it back to xcp. There can be countless casinos, gamblers not going to care if its cha or cha forks. However, there can be only one xcp.

Of course,xcp !

I don't really see a heavy wallet being used all that much - it requires both bitcoin-d/qt and counterpartyd, most people that want use 25gb worth of harddrive space and run a full node are capable of installing a command line client. A lightweight local-only desktop wallet would see a lot more use I would think.

Ask, xcp and cha, which is an advantage?

Yes, this what is plan. First step is to make a Chrome App, this will be the lightweight client. Because in fact lightweight wallet and web wallet are same thing (the only difference is the UI hosted on server or locally). After that for heavy wallet we have a bunch of work on Counterblockd to make it installable on every computer (the ideal is to have no more dependencies than counterpartyd).
The urgency for now I think it's to have an heavy wallet. For that I really need to find time to work on BoottleXCP. I need one or two days to update it. I hope this week-end if I finish "My bets" pages before. After that I need also 3 or 4 days to make BoottleXCP light with pyrpcwallet. But is less urgent because for light wallet there is CW.

I don't really see a heavy wallet being used all that much - it requires both bitcoin-d/qt and counterpartyd, most people that want use 25gb worth of harddrive space and run a full node are capable of installing a command line client. A lightweight local-only desktop wallet would see a lot more use I would think.

Yes, this what is plan. First step is to make a Chrome App, this will be the lightweight client. Because in fact lightweight wallet and web wallet are same thing (the only difference is the UI hosted on server or locally). After that for heavy wallet we have a bunch of work on Counterblockd to make it installable on every computer (the ideal is to have no more dependencies than counterpartyd).
The urgency for now I think it's to have an heavy wallet. For that I really need to find time to work on BoottleXCP. I need one or two days to update it. I hope this week-end if I finish "My bets" pages before. After that I need also 3 or 4 days to make BoottleXCP light with pyrpcwallet. But is less urgent because for light wallet there is CW.