Topic: MasterCoin: New Protocol Layer Starting From “The Exodus Address” - page 136. (Read 448462 times)

I just got off the phone with my friends over at bitangels, and they are in agreement (and I agree) that hiring me would not be the most efficient use of project funds.

Instead, we're going to hire a gung-ho entrepreneur to take over this project and build a team to implement it.

My wife will be delighted

Also, we have decided to launch the non-profit "MasterCoin Foundation" to be in charge of project funds. I was planning on doing this eventually, but we've decided to do it right away.

I will still be involved in numerous ways, mostly guiding the people working on the technical side of the project.

I think all investors should be pleased with the direction this is taking.

If you have coding skills and think you would like one of these jobs, start polishing up your resume now. These will be startup-style jobs, with enough money to pay your bills and a heavy emphasis on future equity. We are aiming to have enough funds to run for at least two years.

It has been pointed out many times that the escrow fund concept cannot protect itself against being traded out of existence.

1) Great question. Currency amounts are stored in a 64-bit unsigned integer divided by 100,000,000 for the 8-digit decimal precision which would give us a maximum of 184 billion units or so in a user currency, with each unit divisible to eight decimal places.
...

3) You can make a pegged currency for anything that has a value published as a data stream (for instance, the price of an ounce of gold). Shares of a company would be something different, called smart property. I plan to add smart property transactions to the next revision of the spec.
...

Of course! Bitcoin, the currency on steroids, can easily swell a $276k fund to $564k.
I predict that JR will be full-time on Mastercoin before long.

Well, since your number is in USD, you may be there once the coins appreciate a little.  Give it a month or two

The number: $564,600

Didn't you buy them by sending bitcoins to the exodus address, which are going to pay you?

Does this figure include how many Mastercoins you will own once the buy-in is complete, and don't those become compensation too?

The current plan is for me to NOT quit my job and NOT take any payment at all, while keeping my day job. David and Sam are on the oversight board, and are asking what it would take to get me to quit my job, so I told them.

I realize the details of what it would take are scandalously generous, which is why I haven't been planning on quitting my job!

Also, the outline above is not to pay myself the salary and benefits that I want, but rather what I currently have.

Anyway this is all theoretical. I do expect to see a noticeable investment, but I don't expect that the investment will close that gap, unless something miraculous happens.

So you are planning on using the entirety of the money sent to the Exodus address to pay yourself a nice salary plus all the benefits you want?
What happened to the whole idea of an overseeing board to parcel the money out?
And given that most of the bitcoins sent to the Exodus address were yours to start with, you are actually asking them to kick in far more than 50%.

The number is $564,600 (the project is currently at 2439 BTC x $118@coinbase = $287,802, leaving us short of that mark by $276,798  = 2346 BTC). Nearly doubling the project fund does seem like a pretty big stretch in just the next couple days, even if we get some big investments from bitangels. However there are a couple ways we might still get there, which I'll get to later.
[...]
    To avoid risk of a bitcoin crash, we would plan to take large chunks of salary in advance (exact amounts to be determined, with amounts largely driven by resulting tax liabilities)
    Total yearly cost: + + = $177k
    Three-year cost = 177*3 = $531k

In addition, I promised her the following items would be paid for out of project funds

    Desk rental at a co-working space, estimated at $350/month ($4200/year)
    Daily transportation costs (Cozi funds my Orca card at about $8 per round trip = $2000/year)
    All travel expenses, including bringing family along if desired, estimated at $5000/year for attending two conferences
    Yearly estimate = 4.2 + 2 + 5 = $11.2k
    3-year estimate = 11.2*3 = $33.6k

Total for 3 years: 531 + 33.6 = $564.6k

From: J.R. Willett
Date: Wed, Aug 28, 2013 at 4:20 PM
Subject: MasterCoin - What will it take for J.R. to quit his job?
To: Sam Yilmaz, David Johnston
Cc: Jen Willett


Hey guys,

The number is $564,600 (the project is currently at 2439 BTC x $118@coinbase = $287,802, leaving us short of that mark by $276,798  = 2346 BTC). Nearly doubling the project fund does seem like a pretty big stretch in just the next couple days, even if we get some big investments from bitangels. However there are a couple ways we might still get there, which I'll get to later.

First, the breakdown. My wife loves my job at Cozi for a large number of reasons which I will enumerate, and she has agreed to my quitting my job there if I can prove I have funds to provide equivalent benefits for three years.
Here is what I promised her we would get if I quit:

• Three years of my current base salary ()
• Three years of fully paid health insurance for our family (Cozi is very unusual in that they pay 100% for employee AND dependents medical/dental/vision). The individual coverage plans I can find are significantly less generous than Cozi's plan, and cost in the neighborhood of /month for medical alone. Taking that into account, including our plans to have more children, dental, vision, and the expected further rises in health care costs, I set this number at /year (we had individual coverage on my wife when our second child was born - the most generous coverage we could find - and he still cost us out of pocket!). Note that money not used for health coverage and expenses could return to project funds.
• Direct replacement of costs formerly born by Cozi, such as their share of my Social Security contributions, estimated at /year
• To avoid risk of a bitcoin crash, we would plan to take large chunks of salary in advance (exact amounts to be determined, with amounts largely driven by resulting tax liabilities)
• Total yearly cost: + + = $177k
• Three-year cost = 177*3 = $531k

In addition, I promised her the following items would be paid for out of project funds

• Desk rental at a co-working space, estimated at $350/month ($4200/year)
• Daily transportation costs (Cozi funds my Orca card at about $8 per round trip = $2000/year)
• All travel expenses, including bringing family along if desired, estimated at $5000/year for attending two conferences
• Yearly estimate = 4.2 + 2 + 5 = $11.2k
• 3-year estimate = 11.2*3 = $33.6k

Total for 3 years: 531 + 33.6 = $564.6k

Also, I promised the following intangible benefits of Cozi would be fully matched:

• 5 weeks PTO (combined sick and vacation)
• 4 weeks paternity leave when a child is born (we do plan to have more kids)
• Modest hours (I am consistently home for dinner and rarely work late)
• Continuing my habit of being completely off the internet evenings, weekends, and vacations to focus on family and church

Lastly, in the event of a bitcoin crash or other unforeseen circumstances require me to abandon this project, I reserve the right to seek employment for up to six months while living off project funds before turning over remaining funds to the exodus address (or possibly to the oversight board, or possibly returning funds directly to MasterCoin holders). This is based on the three months it took me to find my position at Cozi in a healthy job market (being very selective and rejecting multiple offers).

Looking at the above, I am embarrassed to see spelled out how cushy my current job is, which is of course why she doesn't want me to leave Cozi . . .

I would appreciate it if you would keep the specifics of the financial breakdown confidential. I'll be publishing a sanitized version of this for general consumption soon.

While the target above may not be imminently achievable, we could conceivably get there if bitcoin prices take off in the coming months. Another possible way would be if MasterCoin prices take off, and I could then sell off some of my personal ones to get us the rest of the way there.

Sorry the number isn't lower. That's the best I could get.

Thanks,

-J.R.

On Wed, Aug 28, 2013 at 10:03 AM, David Johnston wrote:

    Ron,

    Thanks for the input. I talked with JR about this topic today and he is on the same page.

    Meaning there will be NO additional Mastercoins outside of what the spec calls for.

    The spec has the initial Mastercoins created based on the exodus address investments and at the same time a 10% pool of "Reward Mastercoins" for developers over the years contributing to improved features of the Mastercoin protocol.

    The bounties will be competitively awarded by what amounts to a "Mastercoin Foundation" of which JR has asked Sam and I to join the oversight board, in order to provide full transparency.

    I believe this is the right approach, when distributing a new coin, offer everyone an equal opportunity to invest at the beginning and reserve a portion to reward those with intellectual and development capital to invest in the project. In the absence of a "minable" solution I think this a logical and fair way to do the initial distribution of a coin.

    Full disclosure, after much due diligence I'm planning to invest in this project. I hope others here will be joining me.

    This project will offer several of the new capabilities I've been looking for in the Bitcoin eco-system, peer to peer exchange, prediction markets, creation of new currencies (stocks, bonds) and more.

    If you haven't read the specification it is worth a review.

    http://tinyurl.com/nqun98h

    Best Regards,

    David A. Johnston
    Executive Director of BitAngels.co