Bitcoin Forum

Hello people,

Beware Wall-of-Text below...

tl;dr version:
The Nxt Monetary System is a feature so distinct that I think it merits a separate topic.
Wíth the Monetary System, it becomes possible to issue Nxt backed currencies on top of the Nxt blockchain. These currencies can either work as a PoS currency ór a PoW currency.
The currencies are created by "locking" a certain amount of Nxt as collateral for all the coins subsequently released. Below, you can read the several parameters that can be set for these currencies, as well as several possible use cases for this feature of Nxt.

The Monetary System is currently running on the Nxt Testnet, so if you want to have a test drive, and even better: go on a bughunt, please join us and fiddle around with it.

How to use TestNet!
CHECK THIS VERY WELL!

1. Download last NRS release into some folder, say "testnxt". Version 1.4.0e can be found here: https://nxtforum.org/nrs-releases/nrs-v1-4-0e/
2. Unzip the archive, and go to folder testnxt\nxt\conf
3. Edit file nxt.properties: find the string nxt.isTestnet=false, and change it to nxt.isTestnet=true
4. Navigate to testnxt\nxt\, and start run.bat (windows) or ./run.sh (linux).
5. Open http://localhost:6876/ in your browser.
6. Request TestNxt in this thread: https://nxtforum.org/testnet/some-testnxt-to-test-asset-exchange/
7. Happy fiddling (and testing)

Overview

The "Currency" entity is the basic building block of the NXT Monetary System, currency has a unique name and code and uniqueness is guaranteed by the protocol, currencies can be deleted and their code can be reused under certain conditions.

The total currency supply is divisible into currency units. Like assets, currency units supports decimal positions implemented as a client side feature. The maximum number of currency units which can be issued per currency is similar to NXT i.e. 10^9 * 10^8. The actual maximum units supply is set by the currency issuer. The currency issuer is the account which issues the currency and pays the issuance fee. The issuer is responsible for setting the currency properties and in some configurations has additional control over the currency usage. Like asset balance, currency units can be transferred between accounts.

Currency Properties

The currency entity supports several properties. Properties can be mixed and matched in various ways to compose the currency type. The currency type then controls the inner workings of the currency. The list of available currency properties is as follows:
EXCHANGEABLE - the currency can be exchanged with NXT. Holders of the currency can publish an exchange offer specifying the buy and sell rate of the currency much the same as banks or currency exchanges publish their exchange rates . Each account can publish only a single exchange offer at any given time. Exchange offers has an expiry block after which they are no longer in effect. Buyers and sellers can issue exchange requests to match published exchange offers. Unlike asset bid/ask orders, exchange requests are not saved, they are either executed immediately (fully or partially) or not executed at all. A match of exchange offer with a buy or sell exchange request creates an exchange entity which represents the transfer of currency units in return to NXT balance and causes the relevant account balances to update. Issuing an exchange offer reduces the NXT and currency balance of the offer temporary as long as the exchange offer is in effect. Exchange offers also specify the limit on the number of exchanged units which can be larger than the number of units offered. When a buy exchange request matches an exchange offer the number of units offered for sell is reduced and the number of units offered to buy is increased as long as the limit has not been reached. Once the exchange limit of an exchange offer has been reached, This exchange offer can no longer be used.
CONTROLLABLE - currency property suitable for currencies which need to track an external entity. It imposes the following limitations on the currency (1) Currency can be transferred only to/from the issuer account (2) only the issuer account can publish exchange offers. The issuer account can issue a large (practically infinite) supply of units in advance, then transfer units to accounts or offer to exchange units to reflect actual transactions which takes place in an external system. The large supply of units in the issuer account can be used to mimic the effect of creating units out of nowhere to support features such as creating new units and interest payments.
RESERVABLE - currency units are not issued immediately. Instead the currency issuer sets a block height at which the currency is to be issued and a limit of NXT per unit needed in order to issue the currency. Currency "founders" then spend their NXT to reserve their currency stake. If the amount of NXT per unit needed in order to issue the currency is not reserved before reaching the block height the issuance is cancelled and funds are returned minus fees. If the required reserve is allocated, the currency is issued and units are split between founders according to their proportional stake of invested NXT. In case of rounding, leftovers are sent to the issuer account. See below discussion of usage scenarios for Reservable currency.
CLAIMABLE - currency units of resereable currency can later be claimed at the same NXT per unit rate reached when reserving the currency. The ability to claim a currency at a certain rate imposes some practical limits on the rates in which users would want to exchange it. However claimable currency can also be exchanged if only for the purpose of exchanging the whole currency supply so that the currency can be deleted.
MINTABLE - currency can be minted using proof of work algorithms much the same as Bitcoin. Unlike Bitcoin mining, minting currency does not secure the network (this is done by NXT). Minting is used solely for creating new currency units and serve as the only mechanism to increase the number of available units after the currency issuance.
NON_SHUFFLEABLE - this property indicates that in the future this currency cannot participate in coin shuffling. By default currencies are allowed to participate in shuffling.
Properties are combined into an Integer bit mask designated as the Currency type.

Currency Exchange
For exchangeable currency, each currency holder account, can publish a single exchange offer specifying the buy rate and sell rate vs NXT and the number of units she is willing to exchange (which cannot exceed her available currency units and NXT balance). Users can observe all currency exchange offers (intuitively similar to fiat exchange offices) and try to match them with buy/sell exchange requests. An exchange offer has an expiration height as well as a limit on the total number of units which can be exchanged. When units are bought from an exchange offer the number of units to sell increases automatically and vise versa. The publisher can also limit the total transaction volume of currency units traded for a specific exchange offer.

Deleting a Currency
Since the available currency codes are limited to 3, 4 or 5 uppercase letters, the total number of codes is limited to 26^3 + 26^4 + 26^5 - 1 = 12355927 unique values (The code "NXT" is reserved), it is likely that some of these codes will have value by themselves. Therefore deleting a currency is possible under certain conditions depending on the currency type. Users may re-issue or delete a currency and then issue a new currency with the same code but with different properties. In order to delete or re-issue a currency an account must poses all the currency units (and additional conditions apply based on the currency type)

Creating new Currency Units
The only way to create new currency units after issuing a currency is using proof of work minting. Other methods of creating units are susceptible to denial of service attacks and/or sock puppets and are therefore not allowed. The controlable currency type provides a partial solution for creating new units, by allowing the currency issuer account to treat her supply as a treasury and only consider units outside of this account as the total currency supply. This approach requires users to trust the currency issuer which can increase the currency supply at any time.

Minting
Users can issue minting requests in order to mint additional currency units. Each minting request triggers a hash calculation based on the submitted data and the currency hash algorithm. The resulting hash code is compared to the target value derived from the current currency difficulty. Minimal and maximal currency difficulty values and minting algorithm are specified when issuing the currency and cannot be changed later. The expected number of hash calculations (i.e. difficulty) of minting the first unit is 2^minDifficulty while the difficulty of minting the last unit is 2^maxDifficulty. Difficulty increases linearly from min to max based on the ratio between the current number of units and the total supply. Difficulty increases linearly with the number of units minted per CurrencyMint request, small minters can mint only a few units per request while large minters can mint large number of units per request. The number of units per minting request is limited to 1/10000 of the total unit supply. Minting is limited to a single minting transaction per block/account/currency. Currency issuers can specify initial supply of units as a "pre-mint" supply assigned to the issuer account then use crowd funding by making the currency RESERVABLE and EXCHANGEABLE. Once the currency becomes active the delta between the current supply (pre-minted and reserved) and total supply can be minted. The NRS provides a Java based, reference implementation mInter, which can be used for minting. In practice we expect users to enhance this minter to calculate hash codes using their Asics or GPUs, trying to match the current target, and once solving a hash, submit a currency mint transaction (thus paying a fee).
If indeed the hash code is smaller than the target the currency units are credited to the sender account.

Store of Value
The combination of RESERVABLE and CLAIMABLE properties can be used to allocate initial value for a currency by locking NXT. Once the currency is issued the reserved NXT are locked and the only way to release them is to claim back the currency units in return to NXT. This provides the currency a value based on the locked NXT balance. Note: locked NXT do not participate in forging, therefore, in theory its possible that large amount of NXT becomes locked as currency store of value thus reducing the amount of NXT used for securing the network, we are aware of this problem and we'll monitor it closely. We do not expect this to become a major problem any time soon.

Crowd Funding
The combination of RESERVABLE and (not CLAIMABLE) properties can be used for crowd funding, in this configuration the NXT balance reserved by founders, is not locked, instead it is sent to the currency issuer account once the currency becomes active. The issuer can use these NXT for its operations and the founders cannot claim back their currency units, only exchange it based on the published exchange offers.

Fees
Currency issuance fee is based on the length of the currency code.
3 Letters - 25000 NXT
4 Letters - 1000 NXT
5 Letters - 40 NXT
Re-issuing an existing currency with different properties costs 40 NXT regardless of the number of letters. All other currency transaction (as of today) has a fee on 1 NXT.

This release will definitely change the Cryptocurrency landscape.

It is one of those things that you don't know exactly what it will be good for but, at the same time, you sense that it's great and that people will find many ingenious and useful applications  8)  crowdfunding is only the first one

Use for loyalty points/tokens? :)
Less technical skills required than when you have to create/clone your own crypto.

Why not just use NXT itself?  What utility will this feature provide?

Decentralization²

http://www.troll.me/images/alien-guy-from-history-channel/just-awesome.jpg

NXT is pure innovation!

i will get some testnet coin , let's see what will happen then

For more info specific to using this release, please keep an eye on https://nxtforum.org/nrs-releases/nrs-v1-4-0e/

It's still in testing, so things are less intuitive than they will be in the stable release.  :)

thanks , will join the communication soon

Made my own currency and started minting. To see the monetary system in action is damn cool.

How long until it's on the main net?

Just reposting from nxt forum:

GJ devs, open node here:

http://5.196.1.215:6876/index.html

If you want to play with it but don't have the time to setup one.

I've not yet figured out how to mint.
Could you maybe explain to less technically adept people (me)?  ;D


Depends on how well this test goes, probably.
We've heard no firm dates yet, but maybe the development manager ChuckOne can tell us.

Cool, I'll keep my eyes on this one ...

Cool! when will go real NXT?

Have a look at the config file. There's a section for minting. After that start minter.sh/bat

It's quite easy :)

Very cool :)

OK, for those confused by "minting"

You need to fill out the following in nxt-default.properties file

#### MINT ####

# Address of the NXT server to which the mint worker submits its transactions (default: localhost)
nxt.mint.serverAddress=localhost

# Specify a mintable currency code
nxt.mint.currencyCode=Coin shortcode

# Secret phrase for the minting account, this secret phrase is sent to the host specified by
# nxt.mint.serverAddress therefore do not specify secret phrase of an account with lots of funds
nxt.mint.secretPhrase=your passphrase

# Number of units to mint per transaction
# The minting difficulty grows linearly with the number of units per mint
nxt.mint.unitsPerMint=1 < no idea exactly what does yet. I left it at 1.

# The initial nonce used for minting
# Set to 0 to start with a random nonce
nxt.mint.initialNonce=0 < left this at 0, too

# Number of concurrency threads used for minting
# Set to 0 allocate one thread per processor core
nxt.mint.threadPoolSize=0 < same

# When set to false mint transactions are not submitted when a hash is solved.
# Set this value to true to perform actual minting
nxt.mint.isSubmitted=true

You then, with Nxt running, need to run either mint.bat or mint.sh.

And voila, you are minting.

If anyone can tell us more about the parameters, that would be nice.  :)

NXT never ceases to amaze me , good job guys.

Interesting

UPDATE

https://nxtforum.org/nrs-releases/nrs-v1-4-1e/

Indeed.

I would like to see people breaking the testnet!

Different properties than NXTs.
Different use-cases than NXTs.
Diversification.

Ah yes, and brings a bit of sidechain flair to Nxt. ;)

Exactly. Have a read here: http://nxter.org/nxt-for-financial-experts-local-groups-and-cryptofans/

This should put NXT on everybodies radar!

Indeed. I would love to know what entrepreneurs will make out of it. They always come up with some crazy ideas no computer scientist and programmer could have come up with.

Exciting times!

ORA will be launching as an MS currency in the not too distant future!

For details, and to join in the discussion please follow the links in my signature!

All are welcome!!

This is incredible !! NXT is the most innovative coin ever :)

Oh, I did not know that. How come?

What do you further plan on top of ORA? Will it have some special properties?

wow. this looks so promising. Amazing work guys!

We decided that MS system has everything we needed, and no real disadvantages.

At the moment we're working on a proposal suggested by coinsolidation (bitmark dev) to let holders of dead & dying alt coin 'burn' their coins in exchange for ORA coins.

ORA has been trading on the NXT AE for some time now, but ORA stakes were initially distributed for FREE or in exchange for people contributing effort, and we want to continue with that 'vibe', and letting alt coin holders burn effectively worthless coins in exchange for ORA lets us increase our community size, and it doesn't require us taking money from people, but does offer a method that prevents abuse. It might also compensate some people in a small way for 2014 losses.

There's still a lot of details to work out, and we welcome opinions from ALL comers!

ORA community is very small, but still active :)

Chuck, am I right to think that other properties can be added in the future? Depending on what people want/dream up?

This is very exciting! Even my grandmother can create a new and secure crypto currency now.

Excellent work! :)

Haha, exactly. Let me know when she does. ;)

We're still working on that, and actively taking suggestions. The core ORA team have been brain storming for quite a while, and it's like our holy grail, "what will people use ORA for, what problems does it solve, how does it make people's lives better?".

We're working on the assumption that we don't necessarily have to have all the answers before we proceed, as long as it's really really obvious to everyone that we're NOT a scam or joke, and so investing time & effort into ORA isn't going to be a bad experience. I think after more than 6 months, with no IPO/ICO etc it should be obvious that we're serious about this project, and our invitation to everyone and anyone to join ORA is sincere.

We don't have ALL the answers (or even the majority of them) but we have built a decent community framework so far, and that gives me confidence that over time new people will join ORA, and some of those people WILL have great ideas!!

ORA is a starfish, no leader, just a trajectory :)

very cool and exciting :)

That is true. However as with every decentralized currency (which those Nxt Currencies will be), they start with a social contract. That is, people will only have faith in the newly created currency when they can trust the stability and adherence to the social contract of the currency.

Currencies of the MS are not supposed to change once they are created AND in production.

Only new currencies would enjoy new properties later introduce than those initial ones.


But yes, people are free to suggest and to shape the decentralized nature of the Nxt economy platform (http://nxter.org/nxt-the-economy-platform/).

Nice. That would I call a satisfied customer!

Credits go to the devs.


Yes, the social contract of ORA will be very important for its future.

This is going to be the most interesting Nxt feature thus far, truly unique and a thousand possibilities.  Can't wait to try it out (updating TestNet client)

Crowdfunding in completely transparent and decentralized way? Sounds like a great use case to me, more ideas will come, I'm sure.

I don't really understand the PoW minting inside PoS currency, but hey, old habits die hard I guess.

I look forward to your suggestions and conclusions. I guess ORA could be a blueprint currency when MS is released on the mainnet. Others could be inspired for their own currencies.

Indeed. People should know about this. I wrote an [img=http://nxter.org/nxt-for-financial-experts-local-groups-and-cryptofans/]http://article[/img] but I think we need to address directly the people who need such a crowdfunding platform. There are so many people out there and when I talk to them and explain all of this, they simply say:

"Why does nobody know about this?"

And I am like: "??" I do not know what to answer then.


:D Sure but all people are welcome.

Very nice, I have to get some more testnet to test it out now!

hope this will point that NXT is very superior to many coins

interesting, will test to see how its like!

My thought too! Hope it is flexible enough so that the MS coins can get unique features and innovations.
Curious to see the POW system working.

Very nice ,That really is HUGE

I have so many worthless coins to burn. If you pull this off I'll be all over this ORA coin.

Great attitude, music to my ears :)

This is going to be awesome. I am already preparring. Please dont release before 2015 so I can enjoy new years eve and family before all the squatting starts :D

Very interesting concept.. Nxt is still searching for its niche in the crypto world, with so many features its bound to find one soon!

That's a very good point.  I think the success of Nxt AE has filled a void but I expect MS to really take off, it's an original BCNext idea.

Cool, thanks!

(As a reminder, don't use your real password testers)

@ChuckOne

Cool. I have a suggestion for a new property, someone was asking about it on Nxtforum. We have provision for those that want a POW coin but someone asked about POS+Inflation i.e. the supply is inflated at a set (or variable I suppose, like BTC) rate over time. I don't like inflation coins (I don't like POW either  ;D) but lots of other people do.

So, does MS currently cover the scenarios:

1a) "I want a POS coin that has 1min blocktime, each block issues new coins that give an annual percentage inflation of X%"

and

1b) "I want a POS coin that has 1min blocktime, each block issues new coins that give an annual percentage inflation of A% for the X years, then reducing A-B% for the next Y years." < option of variable or linear reductions rate would probably be good


I looked at the spec and I didn't think it did. Maybe a the first new property after initial release?

Awesome stuff!

Looking forward to ORA on the MS too.  :)

This could be huge for cryptos.

Did someone say decentralized crowd funding platform?

You can say that again!  ;D

So is this pretty much a way to make your own coins? or what is the deal with this?

Excactly, issue your own currency. Secured by the NXT network.

In depth info here: https://bitbucket.org/JeanLucPicard/nxt/issue/205/monetary-system-documenation

Thanks I have an amazing idea for a coin and had no idea how to make one so I will be on top of this one for sure :) Cheers Mate ;)

Make sure you read the documentation on the different options for coin creation, it allows some very interesting scenarios.

Thanks Mate I will be for sure to do that :)

No worries, definitely recommend testing on Testnet if you can, that way you can be ready to launch your coin when it goes live.

Really appreciate the help from all of you here on this thread I'm most definitely gonna take a good long hard look into it for sure :-)

glad Im not the only one who saw that.  and with the way BTC seems to be foundering on the subject, my guess is MS will come out long before sidechains do

decentralized crowd funding platform

So quick question what would it cost to make my own coin through this Nxt Monetary System? Any specs lingering around I could look at?

It depends on if you want to have your coin backed by Nxt (locked), but if you don't it's as cheap at 40Nxt

https://bitbucket.org/JeanLucPicard/nxt/issue/205/monetary-system-documenation (scroll down to Fees)

I don't really see why it would be better for crowdfunding than the Asset exchange... or digital good store if you prefer a stable price.

Because you can set a block height so if your target crowdfunding Nxt goal isn't reached, the MS coin isn't created and everyone gets their money back (called Reservable).  With Assets, people buy the Assets and their money is gone regardless if the target is reached. 

We also need to check how certain features will get used out in the wild. :)

Something like this would have saved people a fortune lost in IPOs for undelivered coins.

that is pretty neat

Would have saved me some BTC (I knew I was gambling so it didn't bother me much)

How customizable will MS coins be when it goes live on testnet?  I know we have a few set options like POW and Coin Mixing, but will we be able to add advanced features via API or will more options just be added by devs in future releases?

Right now, we go for a "just to be added by devs".

But:

What brings us to the question why invest in a currency in the first place? Investing in an asset on the Nxt Asset Exchange makes sense to support the venture behind it. But why did you invest in currencies?

Indeed.

We also cover use-cases that otherwise would have people required to wait for Ethereum. So, people can use Nxt and get started with their local currency project.

Nxt might not offer a 100% flexible solution but it is flexible enough to cover 90% of the use-cases.

Nxt continues to set the bar...  ;D

Monetary System goes live on the mainnet at block 330000

This will be a hard fork, upgrade to the latest version 1.4.5 before block 330000 or be left on a fork.


Whoop  ;D

WOW that was fast!

We're at block 321435 right now, so that's in 8565 blocks (6-9 days) — exciting!

Testers still busy at work, upgrade to version 1.4.6 to ensure a smooth transition.

If you want to test Monetary System so you know how to use it on launch day, see here >>> https://nxtforum.org/general-discussion/%28core%29-hardfork-on-330000

Monetary System goes live roughly 10th January, block 330000

this just went live it seems... alot of MS coins out now it. this can totally help out small community altcoins.

Here's a handy guide to get you up to speed quick on the NXT Monetary System: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8paJFYHGv0QVDN2dXFaRTBFeFE/view?usp=sharing (https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B8paJFYHGv0QVDN2dXFaRTBFeFE/view?usp=sharing) Enjoy!

Title could be updated to show Monetary System is now live  ;)

Pow mining, trustless crowd funding, stores of value and secure retail vouchers are now all available and, more importantly,  being used.

How is MS doing? Any good (or bad) news? I am quite disconnected these days.

Wolf0, well known in the the mining world it seems for custom settings/mining software, is quite involved. Check out his posts here or on nxtforum. Also ScripterRon on Nxtforum has written a GPU minter. Seems to be popular with a growing group, I guess speculating on the future value of the 'first mover' MSCoins. If such a thing exists   ;D

Nxt Academy raised 578.232 NXT with a crowdfunding coin on de Monetary System. Crowdfunding on the Nxt blockchain with the monetary system, cool!

You can start from 40NXT to start your own cryptocoin!! Even mining is possible in Nxt Client (CPU).