One thing that makes this project special is the opportunity to set up automated betting strategies.

There are no betting fees so the system is nearly frictionless.  And of course bettors are rewarded through the inflation of the currency, so betting technically has a positive expected value.

Then if you can improve on the odds being used in the betting events, you can write code to automatically bet and profit from your insights.

I have written a couple of sample strategies that you can select from when logging in to my public node.



Hopefully this helps clarify the idea behind this project.

Thanks for your feedback, I believe you've accurately pointed out some of the challenges facing this project.  I am working on getting Betcoin listed on exchanges, and finding investors.  If you want to stay updated on this project, just make sure to sign up for our newsletter via https://poly.cash

I will look into this, thanks for the recommendation.

Yeah, we badly need to get the difficulty up to a reasonable level.
Betcoin is not yet listed on any exchanges.

Betcoin is a cryptocurrency with a novel inflation model which is a hybrid between proof-of-work and proof-of-stake.

In Betcoin, approximately 1/3 of the currency is paid out to miners and 2/3 is paid out to coin holders via gamified proof of stake.

All betcoins accrue interest at a rate of 0.01% per 125 minutes and coin holders can realize their gains by staking their betcoins in virtual basketball games between 32 countries.

The Betcoin currency runs on an application called PolyCash and uses a blockchain called Datachain. For more information about the project please visit
https://poly.cash/

We've recently completed some important upgrades to Betcoin like making it easy to install with Docker, and building a peer verification API that confirms if you're in sync with the network every 10 minutes.

Betcoin uses the Scrypt mining algorithm and currently has a very low level of difficulty. Right now you can mine coins quickly even using a normal CPU.  We need to get the difficulty level up in order to secure the chain, as we prepare to begin marketing this cryptocurrency to a wider market.  Therefore I would like to connect with anyone who has Scrypt miners available for use.

Please feel free to PM me or reply in this thread if you have any questions.  If you're ready to set up a node and start mining please see our installation instructions on Github.
https://github.com/PolyCash/polycash

I have it listed on Dan.com; I will look into godaddy & afternic as well. Thanks.

I have two bitcoin related domain names for sale, buybitcoins.com and sellbitcoins.com

If you're interested in buying either, please PM me with an offer.

We can use escrow.com to complete the sale.

"buybitcoins.com" in particular is a top bitcoin domain with great SEO value. I believe it could be sold for 10 to 20 BTC to the right buyer (like a bitcoin exchange).  I'd be willing to sell it for at least 2 BTC.

For "sellbitcoins.com" I'd accept bids of 0.5 BTC or more.

Please feel free to post here or message me with any questions.

I am working on a new cryptocurrency called Betcoin and need some help with next steps for the project.  The software is ready to launch but I still need lots of help with branding, marketing, and getting listed on exchanges.

Betcoin uses an innovative POW/POS hybrid model where part of the money created is given out to miners and part of the money is given out to players for betting on virtual sports. Betcoin runs on a blockchain called Datachain which uses the scrypt mining algorithm so I am also looking for people with scrypt miners to help secure the network.

If anyone here is interested in helping out please feel free to DM me.  You can read more about the project at these links:
https://poly.cash/
https://github.com/PolyCash/polycash
https://github.com/datachains/datachain

Hi Vod, each bet placed in a PolyCash game is associated to a Litecoin UTXO.  When setting up your own PolyCash node, you first install litecoin as a full node.
You then acquire in-game coins from an exchange or by purchasing them from another user.
The private keys to your bets are stored in your litecoin wallet.dat

I'm not too familiar with your diagram, but levels 3 and 7 would both seem to apply to how consensus is maintained here.
PolyCash is a protocol for colored coins.  Each currency launched on this protocol runs on a UTXO-based blockchain like Bitcoin or Litecoin.
This consensus paradigm doesn't rely on smart contracts.

PolyCash nodes remain in sync as long as they agree on parameters that define the currency.
For this eSports stablecoin, nodes maintain consensus on transaction data by referencing data from the Litecoin blockchain.
But transaction data isn't the only information needed to maintain consensus.  Info about the betting events plus base parameters for the currency are included in the game definition (a text file).  Nodes verify that they're in sync by comparing game definitions with their peers.

Fixed odds betting relies on two-party contracts and there are plenty of existing systems for that.  For this, we used a more decentralized design for parimutuel betting.

With all bets placed by users, there's no need for a house.  Bets are placed and paid out at the protocol level, so you always maintain the private keys to your bets and never send coins to a trusted intermediary.

By eliminating the house edge / vigorish (typically 10%) we intend to attract bettors with significantly higher payouts.

I'll put more info about the investment I'm seeking on the website.  Thanks for your feedback.

Yes, we are launching an esports bookie using this tech, and accept bitcoin.  It's not that we are accepting stablecoins, but rather that the eSports betting is accomplished through a stablecoin that we are launching which uses the Litecoin network for its private keys.

I would like to make profit-sharing agreements with any investors.  Fees on betting are low (0.10% to 0.5%), but with good volume there should be money coming in.

It is also a very liquid investment.  Investors hold the private keys to their money and can cash out their stablecoins at any time.

Yeah I do see your point.  People are used to their potential payout being fixed at the time they place their bet.

But I think this system can work well for betting markets with large volume.  If you place your bet near the end of the betting period, the odds are not likely to change much by the time betting ends.  And of course the odds could change in your favor rather than changing against you.

If the odds do change dramatically, you can effectively cancel your position by betting on the other options.

Since this is open source & running on the blockchain, bets can be placed in an automated way & there's very little friction.

On average bookmakers may pay out only 80% or 90% of the money they take in.  So offering payouts that are on average ~20% higher can hopefully overcome objections to the differences with this system.

We are now distinguishing between the protocol (PolyCash) and a site dedicated to eSports betting (StakeMoney)

To check out the eSports betting, follow this link:
https://intro.stakemoney.com/

This system uses parimutuel betting, so odds are not fixed until betting ends.

You can see the current odds when you're placing your bet, but those odds may go up or down a bit, depending on how people after you bet.  Everyone gets the same odds once betting ends.

I'm launching an eSports betting business & looking for some help.  The goal is to provide maximum odds & payouts to bettors using open source P2P tech.

The technology for this business is fully built.  It makes extensive use of the blockchain for the underlying betting system, and also uses the blockchain for player deposits and withdrawals.  You can read my post history to get some more information about this technology.

Betting operates with no house and the payouts & odds for each event are determined entirely by player bets.

I need some investors who can consistently wager money on eSports betting events.  Currently we have very low betting volume which means that when bettors join, they find that they can't bet very much money without dramatically changing the odds on eSports matches.

Investors will essentially set up their own "eSports betting hedge fund" where they'll bet on eSports matches.  By betting on both sides of each match, investors can provide liquidity to betting events and also avoid losing or gaining much depending on the outcome of each match.

If you're interested in getting involved, please DM me, reply with any questions in this thread or visit our eSports betting landing page:
https://intro.stakemoney.com



For more info on the tech behind this project, you can follow these links.
https://poly.cash
https://github.com/PolyCash/polycash

This is open source and anyone can install a node.  This is an implementation of the colored coins concept and is compatible with Bitcoin, Litecoin and any other blockchain based on bitcoin's code.

Unlike ICOs I'm not trying to launch a single currency.  Anyone can use this open source protocool to launch their own currency.

Here I'm proposing a stablecoin pegged to the dollar and using the Litecoin network.  Players own coins with litecoin private keys held in a litecoin wallet on their node.

It's possible to use this protocol to launch coins which are not backed by anything.  But I believe coins should be backed by sources of value which is why I'm pursuing a business model which uses stablecoins.

Yes, the stablecoin aspect means this is less decentralized than bitcoin and is more similar to Tether.

One of the weaknesses of Tether's business model is that there is no end date to their stablecoin.  Tether holders are asked to trust Tether to keep every coin fully backed by a dollar, without incurring any operating expenses and no end date to the scheme.

Here I'm proposing a series of stablecoins each of which has an end date.  When a game ends, the source of value funds are paid out and the stablecoin is terminated.  Then another game starts and players have the opportunity to buy in to the next game.  You can buy from the stablecoin issuer or from other coin holders via an exchange.  Putting an end date on each stablecoin means that any situation where the stablecoin issuers fails to maintain the escrowed store of value funds becomes apparent.

I believe the transparency and incentives in this design are a much better way to guarantee against fraud in comparison to stablecoins like Tether.  Charging fees to bettors by burning some coins whenever a bet is placed causes the supply of coins to constantly reduce, and these fees accrue to the stablecoin issuer by reducing the amount of store-of-value funds owed to the coin holders.  Giving stablecoin issuers a legitimate way to make money makes the business model work and allows them to earn a transparent profit which they can use towards operating expenses.

As I mentioned above, the business model that I'm pursuing is not similar to ICOs where the founders make money via seigniorage.  Instead in this business model, fees are earned by the stablecoin issuer and any "hedge funds" which help sets the odds and provide liquidity to the bettors.  Bettors benefit since they get odds which are higher than traditional bookmakers and also from more decentralized design of this system (open source software, holding your own private keys).

I would like to launch real money betting with a game that isn't too long (say 1 week or a month).

Anyone who wants to participate can sign up and commit a dollar amount.  Once enough commitments are made, everyone will send in their money via BTC which I'll immediately convert to dollars.  The game will then be launched, and I'll distribute in-game coins to the investors in proportion to the amount of money they sent in.  (In game coins will just be called dollars since they're pegged to the dollar).  The game will run on Litecoin network, which means that to launch the game I'll create a genesis transaction on Litecoin, and then each investor will receive their in-game coins via a Litecoin address.  (They will receive a tiny amount of litecoins which will have a larger value in dollars via the PolyCash protocol).

Betting on eSports events will then run while the game is in progress.  The game will end at a fixed time, at which point the currency will be wound down by the stablecoin issuer (me in this case) buying back the in-game coins while maintaining the 1 dollar per in-game coin peg.

Players / investors should install their own nodes.  It's possible to play by creating a web wallet on a hosted node, but much better if players run their own nodes.

I would like to get at least 20 players who each put in $100 to $500 for this trial run.  Some of the details of this are still flexible.  For example, we could use Rock Paper Scissors betting rather than eSports betting.  We could use Bitcoin blockchain to run the game rather than Litecoin.  (The reason I'm proposing Litecoin is because the fast blocks are good for betting, and transaction fees are low).  We could keep the in-game coins pegged to BTC rather than dollars.  Buy-ins and payouts could be done with Tether rather than Bitcoin.