Topic: Spin-offs: bootstrap an altcoin with a btc-blockchain-based initial distribution - page 26. (Read 53566 times)
April 09, 2014, 10:10:00 PM
This idea will spread quickly, and clearly others are realizing the fundamental importance of bitcoin's blockchain independently too. We've been discussing it in cypherdoc's thread since yesterday, and I've been working on it since reading Daniel's article. I think this changes everything about our perception of alt-coins (in a way that is good for bitcoin and good for innovation).
Interesting: Levine recently did a podcast about a similar concept:
http://letstalkbitcoin.com/e99-sidechain-innovation/#.U0X-TVdI964
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.6149663
The value is stored in bitcoin's blockchain: the decentralized highly-redundent and unforgeable global ledger. A blockchain-based clone will eat any promising alt coin.
April 09, 2014, 09:38:31 PM
its more like a seed for altcoin 3.0
this scheme makes every altcoin look like a scam.
this scheme also can bring the Bitcoin user-base to the new alt, this is an exciting approach to launching new cryptocurrencies.
this scheme makes every altcoin look like a scam.
this scheme also can bring the Bitcoin user-base to the new alt, this is an exciting approach to launching new cryptocurrencies.
Yes, this bootstraps future alts with the largest potential user base. If the coin has merits, people will hold (it didn't cost them anything), developers who believe in it will buy more, and it may survive. If the coin is useless, no one will use it, some will dump it, and it will fail.
An interesting side-effect is that if a bitcoin user does nothing, they automatically become a "holder" in the new coin, and holders play an important role in the evolution of a cryptocurrency.
If this bootstrapping technique becomes widely adopted, it will actually increase demand to hold bitcoin. It will also reduce the aggregate amount of wealth lost to what are commonly referred to as "scam coins."
April 09, 2014, 09:10:33 PM
scam coin 2.0
how is this a scam? its more like a seed for altcoin 3.0
this scheme makes every altcoin look like a scam.
this scheme also can bring the Bitcoin user-base to the new alt, this is an exciting approach to launching new cryptocurrencies.
April 09, 2014, 08:58:58 PM
scam coin 2.0
April 09, 2014, 08:45:31 PM
Spin-offs: bootstrap your alt-coin with a bitcoin-blockchain-based initial coin distribution
There are alt-coin lovers, alt-coin haters, alt-coin pumpers and alt-coin players. At this early stage in the development of cryptocurrency, our community hasn’t come to a clear consensus on these coins. Many people claim that alt-coins are important for conducting experiments that are too risky to do with bitcoin, while others say the primary purpose of alt-coins is to transfer bitcoins into the pockets of alt-coin developers.
Recently Daniel K published a compelling article describing the coming demise of alt-coins based on bitcoin’s superior liquidity, market capitalization, and user base [1]. Although I agree with all points Daniel made, I believe he failed to recognize the importance of the bitcoin blockchain itself. Over 5 years, 3 crashes, and $600,000,000 of unrecoverable mining costs, bitcoins have diffused across our user base and the resulting distribution has been logged to the blockchain. By tempting you with unimaginable wealth during a rally and then threatening to take it all away during a crash, the free market has become a highly-efficient computer continuously refining the answer to the question “what is the most efficient distribution of coins in a cryptocurrency?”
Through discussion in Cypherdoc’s “Gold down. Bitcoin UP” thread, we came up with an interesting method of solving the problem of how to initially distribute coins in a project like NxT or Ripple. Since the market has already encoded its best estimate of the “most efficient distribution” into the unforgeable global ledger known as the blockchain, why not use this? Since all bitcoin users can cryptographically prove ownership of their share of bitcoins, the code-base of any alt-coin can be modified in a trivial way to allow bitcoin users to claim a share of any pre-mine in direct proportion to the percentage of bitcoin’s market cap they control. This method (a) bootstraps alt-coins with a very large potential user base, (b) places all alt-coins on equal footings thereby allowing them to compete on their own merits, (c) automatically piggybacks bitcoin investors in any financial gains that may result due to community innovation, (d) fairly rewards innovative alt-coin developers as they can scoop up spin-offs dumped cheaply on the open market, (e) makes it difficult to “pump and dump.”
Our first case study is a clone of Ethereum called æthereum scheduled to launch shortly after the Ethereum IPO. æthereum is functionally identical to Ethereum, but rather than purchasing ether with bitcoins, you can freely claim your share of æther by signing an æthereum address with your bitcoin private keys. This process bootstraps æthereum by giving it a larger potential user base than Ethereum could hope to achieve with an IPO process. A broad user base is important as recent work has shown that the market cap of a coin is proportional to the square of the number of users [2]. What’s even nicer is that you get your æther for free simply based on the investment in cryptocurrency that you have already made by holding bitcoins (that you can prove to the æthereum network by producing signatures with your private keys to claim your æther).
If you are interested in joining the discussion about æthereum, please take a look at the æthereum RFC thread [3].
References:
[1] http://themisescircle.org/blog/2014/03/14/the-coming-demise-of-the-altcoins/
[2] https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.6025866
[3] https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.6148297
Useful Resources for Spin-Offs
Simplified claim verification (SCV) proposal
This post describes a method that can be used to allow 100% of the valid unspent outputs (at the time the snapshot was taken) to be claimed.
Snapshot file format specification
This post describes the most up-to-date format for the blockchain snapshot files.
Example Snapshot file
This post contains a diagram that illustrates an example snapshot file.
Example Merkle Tree
This post illustrates the Merkle tree construction for a given blockchain snapshot.
Example Merkle branch claim proof
This post illustrates the Merkle branch technique used to prove one's claim.
UTXO Distribution
This post summarizes the % bitcons by wealth and by claim number that be classified as pay2PubKeyHash (99.86%), pay2ScriptHash (0.14%), native multisig (0.0001%) and raw script (16 claims). 100% of valid outputs can be classified in one of these four bins.
There are alt-coin lovers, alt-coin haters, alt-coin pumpers and alt-coin players. At this early stage in the development of cryptocurrency, our community hasn’t come to a clear consensus on these coins. Many people claim that alt-coins are important for conducting experiments that are too risky to do with bitcoin, while others say the primary purpose of alt-coins is to transfer bitcoins into the pockets of alt-coin developers.
Recently Daniel K published a compelling article describing the coming demise of alt-coins based on bitcoin’s superior liquidity, market capitalization, and user base [1]. Although I agree with all points Daniel made, I believe he failed to recognize the importance of the bitcoin blockchain itself. Over 5 years, 3 crashes, and $600,000,000 of unrecoverable mining costs, bitcoins have diffused across our user base and the resulting distribution has been logged to the blockchain. By tempting you with unimaginable wealth during a rally and then threatening to take it all away during a crash, the free market has become a highly-efficient computer continuously refining the answer to the question “what is the most efficient distribution of coins in a cryptocurrency?”
Through discussion in Cypherdoc’s “Gold down. Bitcoin UP” thread, we came up with an interesting method of solving the problem of how to initially distribute coins in a project like NxT or Ripple. Since the market has already encoded its best estimate of the “most efficient distribution” into the unforgeable global ledger known as the blockchain, why not use this? Since all bitcoin users can cryptographically prove ownership of their share of bitcoins, the code-base of any alt-coin can be modified in a trivial way to allow bitcoin users to claim a share of any pre-mine in direct proportion to the percentage of bitcoin’s market cap they control. This method (a) bootstraps alt-coins with a very large potential user base, (b) places all alt-coins on equal footings thereby allowing them to compete on their own merits, (c) automatically piggybacks bitcoin investors in any financial gains that may result due to community innovation, (d) fairly rewards innovative alt-coin developers as they can scoop up spin-offs dumped cheaply on the open market, (e) makes it difficult to “pump and dump.”
Our first case study is a clone of Ethereum called æthereum scheduled to launch shortly after the Ethereum IPO. æthereum is functionally identical to Ethereum, but rather than purchasing ether with bitcoins, you can freely claim your share of æther by signing an æthereum address with your bitcoin private keys. This process bootstraps æthereum by giving it a larger potential user base than Ethereum could hope to achieve with an IPO process. A broad user base is important as recent work has shown that the market cap of a coin is proportional to the square of the number of users [2]. What’s even nicer is that you get your æther for free simply based on the investment in cryptocurrency that you have already made by holding bitcoins (that you can prove to the æthereum network by producing signatures with your private keys to claim your æther).
If you are interested in joining the discussion about æthereum, please take a look at the æthereum RFC thread [3].
References:
[1] http://themisescircle.org/blog/2014/03/14/the-coming-demise-of-the-altcoins/
[2] https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.6025866
[3] https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.6148297
Useful Resources for Spin-Offs
Simplified claim verification (SCV) proposal
This post describes a method that can be used to allow 100% of the valid unspent outputs (at the time the snapshot was taken) to be claimed.
Snapshot file format specification
This post describes the most up-to-date format for the blockchain snapshot files.
Example Snapshot file
This post contains a diagram that illustrates an example snapshot file.
Example Merkle Tree
This post illustrates the Merkle tree construction for a given blockchain snapshot.
Example Merkle branch claim proof
This post illustrates the Merkle branch technique used to prove one's claim.
UTXO Distribution
This post summarizes the % bitcons by wealth and by claim number that be classified as pay2PubKeyHash (99.86%), pay2ScriptHash (0.14%), native multisig (0.0001%) and raw script (16 claims). 100% of valid outputs can be classified in one of these four bins.
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