The whole point of PoT is that (1) everybody is motivated to keep a node going as long as possible and (2) everybody who HAS kept a node going has an EQUAL CHANCE to forge a block whether you are a whale or a minnow.  Can PoT forgers be rewarded enough to keep them motivated to forge Crypti?  Let's explore that question.

First, how much does an always-on personal Crypti node cost?  Let's go with a $75 2W PCduino amortized over three years using $3 per year of electricity (17.5 KWh per yr at $0.15 per Kwh) and $20 per month for a continuous DSL line running 0.75 to 3 Mbps for bandwidth.  The computer and power is thus only around $3 per month; the key cost is bandwidth at $20 per month.  Let's say a personal always-on Crypti node is thus $25 per month or $300 per year.

There's only 1440 Crypti blocks to be forged in a day.  Roughly speaking, given the EQUAL CHANCE aspect of PoT:

Your single node in a 100 full-time node network captures 14 blocks per day, 5110 blocks per year; breakeven requires $0.06 per block
Your single node in a 200 full-time node network captures 7 blocks per day, 2550 blocks per year; breakeven requires $0.12 per block
Your single node in a 500 full-time node network captures 3 blocks per day, 1095 blocks per year; breakeven requires $0.27 per block
Your single node in a 750 full-time node network captures 2 blocks per day, 730 blocks per year; breakeven requires $0.41 per block
Your single node in a 1500 full-time node network captures 1 block per day, 365 blocks per year; breakeven requires $0.82 per block
Your single node in a 3000 full-time node network captures 1 block EVERY OTHER day, 182 blocks per year; breakeven requires $1.64 per block

So forging fees for a 100-3000 Crypti node network needs to be somewhere between $0.06 and $1.64 per block JUST TO BREAK EVEN with PoT forging.

Let's say that the forging fees are adjusted so that they are around 2 % of the total amount of transactions going across the Crypti network.   ATM and credit cards fees are around 3%, so this makes using Crypti a bargain compared to using a plastic card.

A 2% fee means to get $0.06 in forging fees per block, the AVERAGE block must have 50 times that much in sales transactions, or $3 per block.  That's Crypti sales of $4320 per day or $1.57 million per year.

A 2% fee means to get $1.64 in forging fees per block, the AVERAGE block must have 50 times that much in sales transactions, or $82 per block.  That's Crypti sales of $118K per day or $43 million per year.

So just to break even with a competitive 2% forging fee, a 100 node network needs to have annual sales of $1.57 million or $15.7K annually PER NODE.

And just to break even with a competitive 2% forging fee, a 3000 node network needs to have annual sales of $43 million or $14.3K annually PER NODE.

This $15.7K - $14.3K range is really a single figure per node regardless of network size, the difference is due to roundoff error in each scenario.

Bottom line, if you assume $30 per month to run a node and specify a 2% forging fee per block, each and every newly added node needs to support an additional $15K in sales per year just to break even via a PoT forging reward for running the node.

Now, here's the gotcha - any person running a node that generates $15K per year in sales is not a "miner" or a "forger" - they must be a VENDOR by definition.  A vendor that must add their own (always-on) Crypti node onto the network to allow processing of Crypti as a currency in a transaction.   Any guy who just slaps a new PoT forging node on the network WITHOUT SETTING UP AN ONLINE SHOP TO GO WITH IT is a PARASITE that is requiring the TRUE vendors to sell (MUCH) more and so keep the average sales-per-block figure high enough to support the forger.

Note how in order to keep a reward forging network adequately funded, the size of the network must scale in lockstep with the sales revenue it is supporting.   If people become forgers at a whim "just because I want to forge some XCR"  or "just because it makes the Crypti network stronger", then the economics of the network are DISRUPTED.  

FOR A COMMERCE BASED CRYPTOCOIN THAT USES FORGING AS A REWARD, THE NUMBER OF NODES MUST BE KEPT IN LOCKSTEP WITH THE INCREASE IN SALES REQUIRED TO SUPPORT IT.  

Just how does Crypti propose to do THAT?

Of course, if you were to DROP PoT....and DROP forging...and JUST GO WITH PoI / PoP... then a CUSTOMER pays NO visible transaction fee AT ALL (yipee!)...a VENDOR could add a node anytime they wanted, and write off $30 per month as a cost of doing business in running their own node AS A PART OF THEIR ONLINE SHOP, and they wouldn't have to hit a target of $15K in sales per year (or more!) to guarantee the fees are there for some forger to stay motivated...  

Eventually you guys will acknowledge my point and realize it's VENDORS, not FORGERS, that are the key to running a successful Crypti network.   And on that day, you will drop this crazy insistence on perfecting PoT to motivate forgers get on with making Crypti the key cryptocurrency for commerce...

I too remain invested in Crypti and offer my encouragement to the devs to keep up their commitment and hard work.  

I believe that Crypti can still succeed BIG TIME even if the PoT algorithm is eventually proven infeasible.  What makes Crypti special is its emphasis on commerce.

If you have say 500 vendors running a $75 Crypti node based on a cubieboard2 or a PCduino  ( maybe this ), then the Crypti network is secure.  The cost of running that network becomes a trivial business expense funded by a tiny increase in vendor sales costs, not forging fees captured from running a  node.

(And such a Crypti network would be a HELL of a lot cheaper than the Bitcoin miner ASIC rat-race).

If the Crypti network can be secured solely by vendors running under just PoI/PoP, WHAT IS THE REASON FOR TRYING TO IMPLEMENT PoT?  

I vote simple, too.  KISS is an acronym for a reason.  The core logo of Crypti is a circle with a dot in it.  Extra "connections" or "layers" are just unnecessary junk and clutter the mind has to wade thru to "get" the core logo.  Somebody new that doesn't already KNOW what the core logo is that they're supposed to be looking for will never even see it.

Don't add gingerbread to the core logo (see: https://www.google.com/search?biw=1920&bih=1123&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=gingerbread+architecture&oq=gingerbread+architecture&gs_l=img.3..0j0i5j0i24.1839.4788.0.4983.13.13.0.0.0.0.144.1297.9j4.13.0....0...1c.1.54.img..0.13.1291.yyEfkhDr77I )...

Instead, embolden it (see: https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&biw=1920&bih=1123&site=imghp&tbm=isch&sa=1&q=bold+text+font+design&oq=bold+text+font+design&gs_l=img.3...15786.24553.0.24825.13.13.0.0.0.0.151.1135.11j2.13.0....0...1c.1.54.img..12.1.151.6iL1QoE67_k)

Is the goal of rewarding users in an equitable manner for running nodes the right goal for Crypti to have?

This leads directly into a critical philosophical discussion and a practical solution for Crypti that I was going to wait about bringing up until things were more stable, but maybe it's time to have that discussion now.  

Start from first principles.  In any cryptocoin system, SOMEBODY must be selected to encrypt the current block and add it to the blockchain.  

PoW Bitcoin first motivated these "miners" by giving them a reward of newly created coins.  This created three problems.  

First, the new coins created every ten minutes is a huge source of monetary  inflation for the Bitcoin economy (despite Bitcoin's false propaganda to the contrary).  

Second, the miners are motivated to start a huge ASIC arms race that cannot be sustained and is headed very soon to becoming a classic case of ecological exponential growth / collapse (see http://blockchain.info/charts/hash-rate?timespan=all&showDataPoints=false&daysAverageString=7&show_header=true&scale=0&address=) .  Like the death of the dinosaurs, this will soon kill Bitcoin stone cold dead and open the landscape for a new 2.0 cryptocurrency to become king.

And finally, the Bitcoin approach is incredibly wasteful.  During every Bitcoin 10 minute block period, literally thousands of millions of billions of candidate blocks are generated for possible inclusion on the blockchain.   It takes tens of millions of dollars of gear to do this burning huge amounts of electricity.  Every single one of these block is mathematically correct as a block chain add-on.   All (except eventually for one) are rejected because they don't have enough "leading zeros" in the first part of their bit string to "win" the (illegal in all US States) DICE THROWING GAMBLING GAME being played by the miners to select who gets the new coins.   Bitcoin is no different than shooting dice in the back alley except they use computers for the dice and the internet for the back alley.  BESIDES BEING ILLEGAL, THIS IS A HUGE UNNECESSARY WASTE OF COMPUTER POWER.

PoS NXT solves the last two problems by cooperatively designating in advance one single person to generate the block every blocktime instead of competitively selecting in realtime the winner of a huge worldwide gambling contest every ten minutes as Bitcoin does.  Instead of the warehouse full of $2000 ASIC supercomputers the Bitcoin miner needs to win his lottery to forge a Bitcoin block, all a NXT forger needs is a single $35 Raspberry Pi (or better still, something just a little more powerful but still incredibly cheap like an ODROID-U3 : http://hardkernel.com/main/products/prdt_info.php).  This HUGE advantage alone means NXT will ultimately win over Bitcoin.

But NXT still feels the need to "reward" people for running nodes.  Since no new coins are being created like Bitcoin does, NXT "recycles" to node operators / "forgers" a small proportion a coins gathered as "fees" during a blocktime.  Well, that's OK, but to win the NXT lottery that single Raspberry Pi or ODROID-U3 has to be loaded up with as much NXT as possible (the "stake" in PoS) to maximize the chances of winning the NXT lottery.  This leads to a mentality that NXT needs to be hoarded by individuals instead of dispersed among many to form a merchant-based sales economy.  

Crypti wants to become the foundation for merchant-based sales.  So the devs have come up with "PoT/PoI/PoP" to replace NXT's PoS and so break out of the PoS inevitable coin-hoarding mentality.  This is indeed the next big step  and why I am interested in seeing Crypti succeed.

But in addition to breaking out of NXT's PoS coin-hoarding weakness, Crypti ALSO needs to break out of the real flaw that both Bitcoin and NXT share : the perceived need to reward node operators.

Rewarding node-operators just isn't necessary AT ALL.  Computers have become so cheap and so ubiquitous that it really isn't necessary to motivate people to operate them anymore.  There will be no stopping the cryptocoin that realizes and implements this fact.

Think about it.  In the real-world retail environment, the concept of "blocktime" is "ringing up a sale".  Are reward fees used to finance the operation of a cash register?  Is a cashier paid a "tip" for pushing the buttons and swiping a card / opening a cash drawer and making change?  NO!  Both the cash register and the clerk are so cheap they are both considered "overhead" in the operation of the sales environment and paid as an expense in the overall operation.  

With cheap sub-$100 computers like ODROID-U3 capable of making up ALL nodes in a Crypti network, the idea of coin-owners being needed to operate the nodes AT ALL, much less needing to be "REWARDED" for doing so, is ridiculous.  If Crypti is really being used by merchants as true money, the MERCHANT POOL running Crypti processing nodes will provide all the nodes required to secure the network, and can adjust their prices so running a cheap node is just another incidental business expense.  

So to repeat, there really isn't a need to have Crypti coin holders running nodes at all, much less be "rewarded" for doing so.   You've got 750 BTC worth between a quarter and half million dollars.  Go buy a thousand ODROID-U3s for $100,000 and let the devs set up a huge 1000-node Crypti network on those at relaunch.  As merchants sign up, power down an ODROID and mail it to them for FREE to start back up in their store.   Or let them download the code to put in an SD card and stick in a ODROID for a configuration-controlled addition to the network.  If Crypti is a successful cryptocoin of commerce, paying $100 for a little plastic brick to sit in a corner so they can join the fun is no big deal for ANY commercial vendor of ANY size.  They don't need to be rewarded every so often for such a small buy-in requirement, especially since the reward is a mere pittance anyway.

Remember, the key is not rewarding a node operator - it is cooperatively designating one to add the next block.

The real key is to get merchants to want that little plastic ODROID brick / Crypti node.  No mystery remote server setup for them, no bulky windows computer running 24/7 for them - just pull it out of an envelope, plug it into a wall socket, and access it thru a cell phone app / wifi to setup and processs sales transactions.   That should be the pitch.

Crypti alone isn't very enticing to lure a merchant  - it's just one of many cryptocoins and has a had rocky start to boot.  So the brick needs to offer something more than just Crypti to generate immediate interest.  Now, if its code could handle / automate BITCOIN operations NOW for a vendor as well as CRYPTI  operations as those ramp up in the FUTURE, I think there would be some real merchant interest in getting one.  Offer merchants something that can help them handle Bitcoin AND Crypti.  We gain market penetration based on the Bitcoin capabilities.  If and when Bitcoin falters, we have already arranged a seamless merchant transition to Crypti.  Merchants come for Bitcoin, they stay for Crypti.

Don't lose sight of what your primary goal for Crypti is: to become a non-hoarded coin for merchant use in sales transactions.  

Is working to perfect a PoT algorithm to reward coin-holders the most direct, most efficient, and most likely to succeed effort that will achieve that goal?

Or is concentrating on creating a dual Bitcoin transaction access / Crypti block creating cheap node that merchants will want for themselves NOW a better path?

Maybe this is not an either - or situation.  Maybe...do both?

My parting thought: if you are doing a major system reorganization anyway, take a step back and see how you can more tightly integrate a cheap, simple standardized building block like the ODROID-U3 into your revamped effort and so create something that will better advance Crypti with an additional hook like Bitcoin access to MAKE MERCHANTS WANT IT NOW.

Making merchants want it NOW:  that's the path forward for Crypti.

It's obviously not scalable to have "everybody talking to everybody during all blocktimes".

For PoT to be implemented, the total pool of nodes is going to have to be divided into a number of subpools where only nodes in one subpool have the "possible right" to forge during a given blocktime, only one node in this subpool actually DOES forge during this blocktime, only one choosen subpool talks "everybody to everybody" during this blocktime, and all other subpools must STFU during this blocktime.   The max subpool size is dependent on what will work in the real world, and the "devil in the details" is how nodes are added and subtracted to an appropriate subpool as they come online or go offline.

Not an impossible problem, but tricky, and it would avoid both the PoW ASIC arms race of Bitcoin and the PoS hoarding problem of NXT to set a new and viable 2.0 standard methodology.   I'm hodling.

That's not me.  This is me:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_Reynolds

If you've never watched Firefly, do yourself a favor and get hooked on it right away - best science fiction dramatic TV show EVER...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firefly_(TV_series)

On a serious note, I'm losing money like everybody else and I am quite worried these days.  

I think Bitcoin and other PoW variants are doomed sooner rather than later because of this:

http://blockchain.info/charts/hash-rate

However, I believe in the ultimate victory of PoS cryptocurrencies and I am hodling:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=375643.0

GreXX, SyRenity, all of you on the Crypti dev team -

I just wanted to give you a word of encouragement.  Things are obviously not going as you had planned and times are tough right now.  You still have plenty of supporters that have faith and trust in your efforts, and confidence that you will succeed.  I am one of them.   You are trying something very difficult and problems are to be expected.  Keep pushing back and you will ultimately succeed.

I am "all-in" on Crypti because you alone are tackling the two shortcomings I see with NXT, amazing as it is - a primary emphasis on merchant transactions and forging algorithms that remove the incentive to hoard coins in a PoS environment.  When you succeed in implementing these two features, Crypti will soar.

Hold your head up high as you plow through the current difficulties.

I vote this.

You say to-MA-to, I say to-MAH-to...

Technically this is true, we bought a product which has been delivered.

But this attitude is not a healthy one for Crypti devs to adopt and I urge you to dream bigger.

Trust me, you REALLY REALLY want for your users to feel like "stakeholders" and not just "product buyers".

"Product buyers"  can become "product dumpers" at the press of a button and never give Crypti a second thought as it fades away in their rear view mirror on the way to their next cryptocoin purchase.

"Stakeholders" WANT YOU TO SUCCEED.  "Stakeholders" WILL STAND BY YOU WHEN FORGING FREEZES DUE TO A GLITCH.  "Stakeholders" WILL ADD THEIR EFFORTS TO YOUR OWN AND SO MAKE CRYPTI BETTER.

Technically, you've got product buyers.  Practically, you need stakeholders. 

If somebody classifies themselves as a Crypti stakeholder (like me), NEVER NEVER NEVER tell them their dream and enthusiasm and hope is technically just the same as buying a can of soda out of a vending machine.

Crypti will go a lot farther if you heed this advice.

 

Any interest / effort in mirroring the long numeric account number string with a Reed - Solomon alphanumeric string beginning with XCR?

I have a general question for the devs.  In a sentence or two, what are the primary advantages / disadvantages that using node.js for a cryptocoin has compared to using Java, like NXT does?

Debian 7 (native OS on Raspberry Pi) or Ubuntu 14 (native OS for ODROID-U3).  See:

https://github.com/crypti/crypti-docs/blob/master/install.md

The Raspbian OS is a modified Debian Wheezy (Debian 7.5) 

https://wiki.debian.org/RaspberryPi

Ubuntu on a Raspberry is a story unto itself, because Ubuntu stopped supporting the Raspberry chipset after release 9. See:

http://www.theopensourcerer.com/2013/11/building-ubuntu-for-the-raspberry-pi/

In addition to cloud servers, there are dedicated microboards such as the Raspberry Pi ($35) and the ODROID-3 ($59) that could be used as Crypti nodes.  The Raspberry is marginal with its relatively low memory and speed.  However, the ODROID-U3 is far superior to the Raspberry, well worth the extra $24 and could easily be the foundation of a cheap Crypti node.  Here's some links to get up to speed:

https://blacksn0w.de/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/magazine.odroid.com_assets_201301_pdf_ODROID-Magazine-201301.pdf

http://hardkernel.com/main/products/prdt_info.php?g_code=G138745696275&tab_idx=1

http://magazine.odroid.com/

http://forum.odroid.com/index.php

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcIXknkcNjg&feature=player_embedded

I encourage the devs put up an official Crypti microSD card image for the ODROID-U3.  

The key advantage that PoS Crypti / NXT etc have over PoW Bitcoin / Doge etc is that Crypti only needs a single block calculation per block time to secure the blockchain instead of literally thousands of millions of billions for Bitcoin with its expensive and power hungry miner ASICS.  Avoiding the ASIC arms race with cheap single board computers is why Crypti will ultimately win and Bitcoin will ultimately die.  I have a lot of ideas about how Crypti can use the U3, this is not my last post on this subject.

Please add FIMK.  This is a straight NXT clone so that whatever you have done to enable NXT support should be directly applicable.  It is basically NXT for Finland.  There is a lot of specialized development going on with it (SMS mobile phone payment app, broadcast blockchain updates on Finland's TV stations, etc.)  It is currently on par with Cryptsi in terms of market cap, which you already support.

Thanks!

Great job on block explorer, a few comments:

1. Could you set the decimal part of a listing to a standard length of 8 or so decimal places and trailing zeros so that all the decimal point lines up in a column?

2. Could you list the total number of accounts in the header along with "height" and "fee percent" etc?

3. Is there any discussion / interest about going to a Reed -Solomon type account number similar to NXT that would be XCR-ABCD-ABCD-ABCD-12345 format?  That really does work better than a long unbroken numeric account number.

4. I presume the top account is Bter and the next largest account is the 15% "community fund"?  Is this correct?

+1.  I have contacted noashh, chanc3r and whale over on nxtforum.org to ask them about including Crypti in SuperNET.  

SuperNET intends to pick a dozen coins and obtain a 10% stake for long-term investment as a type of "hedge fund".

Crypti is a natural for inclusion.  Get ready for some buying pressure.

I rode that ride.  It's rough but worth it.  Hodling.

If I can keep rambling here, XCR needs to address early on another of NXT's key weaknesses - fiat exchange.   Bter has a NXT/USD exchange but it is low volume and American users can't use it.  Cryptsy has not implemented NXT/USD and this is a big problem for NXT.  

Please, XCR: push Bter, Cryptsy and anybody else you can think of to offer XCR/USD and XCR/EUR and XCR/CNY as soon as possible.

This is important.  It is a grave strategic weakness to let a coin be primarily valued in BTC.  Bitcoin is going to fail sooner rather than later.  On that day, it will drag down with it all other coins that have their primary value expressed in BTC.

Bookmark this page, it is Bitcoin's deathwatch.  This cannot go on skyrocketing upward much longer (months, maybe, but not years) and it will result in a sudden and epic fail.

https://blockchain.info/charts/hash-rate

According to my spreadsheet scan of the visible Bter Sell book, anybody with 130 BTC could pick up 3.5M right now - average price 3700 satoshi.    That's 30% less than I bought at 25% more than I paid for unit price just six hours ago.  

It may not look like it on a minute-by minute basis, but the XCR people are willing to sell is drying up fast and its price is going up fast.