New things:
- The focus now is on NGCCC (ngcccbase, in particular),more info here. Developers are welcome to join the development!
- WebcoinX is a web client, demo running on testnet is available here
we're looking for developers to complete WebcoinX- the theory of colored coins
- ArmoryX is outdated, but some useful info is available below
I'm working on colored bitcoins proof-of-concept.
What are colored bitcoins?Here's a brief description by Meni Rosenfeld (quote from upcoming paper on this subject):
By the original design bitcoins are fungible, acting as a neutral medium of exchange. However, by carefully tracking the origin of a given bitcoin, it is possible to “color” a set of coins to distinguish it from the rest. These coins can then have special properties supported by either an issuing agent or a Schelling point, and have value independent of the face value of the underlying bitcoins. Such colored bitcoins can be used for alternative currencies, commodity certificates, smart property, and other financial instruments such as stocks and bonds.
Why do we need them?Again, Meni Rosenfeld:
Because colored bitcoins make use of the existing Bitcoin infrastructure and can be stored and transferred without the need for a third party, and even be exchanged for one another in an atomic transaction, they can open the way for the decentralized exchange of things that are not possible by traditional methods.
So, decentralized exchanges (as an alternative to things like GLBSE and MtGox), private currencies, stuff like that. Very interesting, in my opinion. We do not really need them, but it's cool.
Whose idea is this? Where can I read more?I don't know who invented this originally, but I've found about them via this thread:
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/investigating-the-need-for-mastercoin-colored-bitcoins-101197 (Alt cryptocurrencies forum), particularly this description:
http://yoniassia.com/bitcoin-2-x-or-currency-2-x-initial-specs/Apparently it's somewhat related to smart property and Mike Hearn's distributed bond market (
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/distributed-bond-markets-and-pay-to-policy-outputs-92421), although it's not the same thing.
Jeff Garzik is working on smartcoin (
https://github.com/jgarzik/smartcoin) which is kinda 'distributed bond market', but it is colored coin compatible.
There were also many threads on decentralized exchanges, e.g.
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/rfc-distributed-bitcoin-stock-exchange-dbse-54033 ,
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/on-a-decentralized-bitcoin-based-stock-market-52494 ,
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/idea-arbitrary-bonds-fiat-gold-options-shares-votes-via-cryptocurrency-66868 .
Here's a description of one which I aim to implement:
http://bitcoin.stackexchange.com/questions/2039/is-a-distributed-version-of-glbse-possible-how-would-you-design-it/2042#2042ArmoryX is outdated!We had a working implementation, but Armory requires too much resources to run, so we completely abandoned it.
Instead we're working on the next gen colored coin client:
https://github.com/bitcoinx/colored-coin-tools/wiki/The-next-gen-colored-coin-clientAnd a web client:
http://bitcoinx.github.io/webcoinx/Where's code?Note: this code is only of historic significance
https://github.com/killerstorm/BitcoinArmory branch color
Specification (which is work-in-progress) and some research tools are available here:
https://github.com/killerstorm/colored-coin-tools(Old Bitcoin-Qt proof-of-concept which is largely irrelevant now: https://github.com/killerstorm/bitcoin/tree/cbtc branch cbtc.)
DiscussionIncomplete specification:
https://github.com/killerstorm/colored-coin-tools/blob/master/colors.mdTech discussion thread:
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/colored-bitcoin-tech-discussion-106449Order-based coin coloring:
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/order-based-coin-coloring-114571Mailing list:
http://groups.google.com/group/bitcoinx