My apologies for letting everyone down. Originally I was waiting to clone Bitshares 1.0 to make the process as clean as possible and deliver a coin that is stable.  BitShares 1.0 was never released and went straight to 2.0. 2.0 originally had a license that would not let me fork it without entering into an agreement with Dan Larimer aka Bytemaster. (The lead dev and founder of BitShares)

I had no interest in doing that and had expected to be able to freely fork the coin which had been the core value proposition in the original marketing of BitShares. Apparently he took his community's money and delivered a product, just not open source.

My understanding is he then changed the source code license to MIT. By that point I had moved on and currently no longer have the bandwidth anymore to go forward with this project.

My intention was 100% sincere and a lot of time was spent on art in preparation for Dan Larimer to come through with what he said. By the time he finally did, I had to move on to other projects by that time.

Again, apologize to everyone who bought RPC in hopes of getting a stake. It is very possible but unlikely that I will release this at some point in the future. If it happens, the snapshots of RPC will get their stake in the sharedrop.

Being frank though, I do not see this as likely. I have put a freeze on new projects and this one has been moved to the bottom of my list. I really really do not like screwing people over, but things just never materialized that were not under my control.

Glad people are still following the progress.

Well it hasn't been launched so it will be a Ron Paul currency. Rand Paul is too center Republican for my preferences and if he doesn't make President then the name is bad. Ron Paul is an exceptionally principled person. Rarely in history does such a principled man make it so far even if he was still cut down by the established "conservative" party.

So we are going with RonPaulMoney but I am not starting a new thread until I have a live chain ready to release or at least a testnet.

RonPaulMoney will allow crypto-currencies of the dollar pegged to silver and gold. It has many excellent features but for a coin to be pegged to anything, a free market value has to be established for price discovery. So I will like create an quasi-automated gateway where people can trade their RPMs on a decentralized market. From here we bootstrap and then get buyin from other exchanges.  Possibly make another exchange for NXT. It isn't ideal but since I'm head benevolent dictator at this point in the code for a coin that has 0 value, I'm going to take on centralized trust early on. Yes, this is not ideal. THe other option is legitimate cross-chain trading which is too pie in the sky.

Regardless BitShares still has too many problems at the moment in addition to the fact that they're revamping to GUI. That is a good thing but for a guy like me who is basically rereleasing their code with some hopefully relatively simple and sustainable changes it is not so greaet. I was considering releasing .5 as a live chain but it will likely be .6 or later.  There isn't any reason to have people learn an old antiquated UI experience and then have it ripped out from under them.  So I'll implementing the features etc for now then put up a testnet for people to try.

So yea, there are going to be delays.  No pump and dump action here if that is your game.

Yessir and thank you for your support!

I'm really going to try to push to have delegates run these things out of their home. It is doable with our block times which do not push the capabilities of DPOS. If our traffic scales up enough then we can look to moving to VPS's for those who can't keep up.

I think we are changing that to 25 seconds.  The problem is that I want this chain to be easy to synch.  10 second block times gives you a huge database.  20 seconds makes it half the size and 25 seconds makes it 40% as big.

Yes, there will be a constant deflation. Block-signers are only paid in transaction fees with a small amount destroy to insure that the supply is being slowly deflated. If there are enough transaction fees we could channel that to another RPM address which is one of the things we may add to the codebase.

The first one will be offline claiming without having to reveal one's private keys. Then we're going to add features to the money system. Gold backed dollars, etc or best I think we can do with crypto.

Here is a preview of the new logo/wallet art.



Whatchyall think!?

Hello, my friends ! Sorry I have been inactive but I decided to not post updates if nothing is happening. There were no investments in this coin per se and no expectations so I hope people have not been let down.

We're still looking for Delegates! Post here if you are interested in running one.

I took on an advisor of sorts and have been investigating possible features which I do not know if I can talk about since they largely were not my idea. I will state that DPOS with a small amount of trusted Delegates allow some interesting cross-chain options since cross chain validation can be done on the Delegates. Unfortunately there is still a bottleneck of developer time. At some point I'll talk about this idea but for now it is a distraction.

One change we will be doing is making RonPaulSilverDollars and RonPaulGoldDollars. G$ and S$?
SUSD, GUSD? ot sure about the naming but this is the one concept I plan on significantly diverging from BitShares. It is a simple change I suspect and won't require an inordinate amount of work. The first iteration would not even touch new transactions types. All fiat currencies will be backed by either Silver or Gold. This will be done by leveraging the price-feed 'training wheels' used in BitShares. So when I transfer a G$ (Gold backed dollar), the current price feed will determine how much RonPaulGold must be transferred to be the equivalent of $1 USD. We now have Gold and Silver backed Dollars and any other currency without the liquidity problems of a full range of bitAssets. All we need are the pricefeeds – many which have been written for BitShares already!

So when you use the RPC sendTo asset, account, amount (made up) you can do something like
sendTo SUSD RPMDEV 19
Then in the background, the program will take the $19 worth of Silver and transfer it to RPMDEV. So if Silver is denominated in standard OZ's then it would be something like transferring of 1.0 RonPaulSilver.  The dollar aspect only exists for the duration of the transfer. We do not wish to have market pegged assets pegged to the US dollar, we want to keep our value in Gold and Silver while utilizing the convienence of USD. We will maintain API compatability with the normal assets.

I am also considering killing all unclaimed sharedrops at the 1 year anniversary of the coin. Perhaps sooner. If people have no interest then the money supply needs to be adjusted. I would likely not do this to PTS or AGS as they helped fund the original work but having a truer count of coins would be a benefit to everyone.

There will be no fiat assets only Gold and Silver with possibly non-fiat assets including BTC. This might change if I see a compelling reason to lead us otherwise.

We started on the artwork and are about halfway done. I'm excited about it. At least the wallet will have a unique feel to it on our first testnet. First impressions are important.

BitShares is in such change. They have a roadmap that they're rapidly developing. That means lots of bugs due to their high rate of releases (but nothing where anyone loses funds). I think we'll start making our testnet in the next week but keep it relatively quiet. 0.5.X seems like as good of a time to start as any. My concern is redoing all my changes but at this point I believe it will help for me to just start documenting again everything needing to be done and finally finish a genesis block and get 'er done. Let people do some sort of OTC trading.

It looks like I am going to fork the 0.5.x version for the first test iteration. Whether or not the live chain is launched (probably not) but this is where I'll setup a testnet that has no extra features.

Blocktime of 10 seconds is too severe. Between 20 and 30 so we're likely just going with 25. That will help us keep our blockchain size down, it should allow at Stay-At-Home Delegates (tm), and will cut-down on overall bandwidth usage.

I'd like to start with 29 delegates. I think 29 is a more manageable amount. 101 was considered but we might never even have 101 unique Delegates. Yet it would be easy if everyone started out with multiple delegates and then just gave up a slot as people wanted to try.

We're still looking for Delegates. I have a few people that have volunteered and we'll be looking for more. Post here if you are at least interested because I may be sending out pms with details. We're going to be trying to allow Windows machines to run Delegates from people's home connections.

You could try.  There is a CLI version that is readily compiled for Windows which I can provide.

AFAIK The BTS developers say that a Delegate with GUI is not supported and Windows is kinda one of those things you just have to try out.

I suspect the reason is that almost all VPS's are Linux because Windows Licenses add too much cost to the VPS's.  That and given how those guys are pretty hardcore nerds, they are ok with Linux. So that has left an area that hasn't really been tried. I'll likely be the one bootstrapping the network and voting people in  so you can try it out. The main thing is just that you have to make sure it runs automatically when the Windows machine boots up etc. I suspect it will be stable, but one never knows as I believe Windows receives the least testing.

And please don't forget to post in this thread if you wish to help out with being a Delegate (block-signer).  I'll be making a list when the time comes and contacting everyone directly.

Some of the follow might be slightly wrong - please excuse if so.

No, there are a few hardcoded IPs that are used to find the network and "chainservers". To be a Delegate you could run it out of your house. Our blocktimes will not be 10 seconds. While I think that is a great thing for a coin like Bitshares, we're scaling back. I'm currently thinking somewhere between 20 and 30 seconds. So with that length of block time you could run your Delegate on a home connection. In fact, unlike Bitshares I think we're going to promote this idea. Bring us back to the roots ! There shouldn't be a need for pricey VPS's. I doubt even Bitshares needs them at this point in crypto and they have one of the larger networks.

In general without a lot of data it is hard to even tell you are running a delegate vs just another wallet. Some people will have to run VPS's and some might have static IPs. There are also things like dynamic DNS where you change a DNS to point to your home IP.  

So the answer is no. No static IP. You'll just own your key and sign the blocks with that key.

I have slightly slowed down my urgency.  BitShares is working on a release that seems that it may likely have quite a few changes.  I need to get more in the habit of viewing the github changes. It would be pleasant to have all these new features in our initial release.  So I expect to clone the next release but will let it settle out for a few days for any of the minor bug fix releases.

My concern is that if I sit around and get people to be delegates on the testnet and then just make little changes all the time then people will become uninterested.

I almost feel like I should get the signed claiming integrated and just test it internally.  So many decisions, none are that clear.

That being said if anyone wants to help me with a testnet for fun then I would be most happy to work with you. However if you do not want to be bothered with possible common resets etc and are more interested in a stable version then you will wish to wait.

Either way please comment in this thread if you have interest in being a delegate (block-signer).

One could actually run one of these out of your home. I do not expect this coin to require VPS's.  Physically secured PCs have advantages over data-center VPS's which can always have private keys stolen by the hardware's owner and admins.

Does renaming delegates into angels make any sense?  hahaha..  Just a thought.

We've made some progress today. I have some initial balances for people to test RPC imports etc.

There will be none of the signed claiming yet.

It is hard for me to recommend that people trust any binary. Why should you trust me? PTS/AGS keys are worth too much to risk. While I personally know I have done nothing malicious I can't in good faith tell anyone to listen to me over some other random person. Regardless I will put a Windows binary out there. Just be reminded that when you run an executable and that can be any executable one can always have data compromised on their PC. This is especially important for those of us who have decided to be early adopters of crypto-currencies.

Compiles
---------
Windows - I can do
Linux GUI - Either PC or Cube volunteered this - so it seems likely.
Mac - Cube has kindly volunteered.

Coding
---------
Current goal Finish out a sharedrop json file to compile into the binary/genesis block.

Doge - Chain downloaded - Want to contact their community for advice.
RPC - v.1 done
BTC - Started but failed to run to completion. ~12+ hour process.
PTS - Using the combined json from bitshares.org
AGS - See above
Github - Need to create
--Create diffs of source used for creation of each snapshot.

Features to be done
-------------
Constants requiring change - block time, number of delegates, Bitshares reference.
Artwork changed out.
Implement the signed claiming feature.

Scripts to be written
-------------
Sharedrop management script - In progress.  Forking build_sharedrop.py

Questions to be answered
--------------
What to do with Cryptsy.
What about any other large address?  mining pool?
Is it likely we could have a superior peg mechanism?

Dreams
-------------
A changetip clone where people could tips like RonPaulGold RPGs and RPS for RonPaulSilver.
Possibly a superior peg mechanism learning from mistakes others may have made.
A system of donations although we might just hardcode it straight towards Rand. Various things need to be considered. How much can we give?  Legal ramifications? Code constraints. Do we wait for Bitshares to introduce a proposal voting system? And so on ...

A Linux hobbyist is more than sufficient IMO. We are narrowing our version of bitAssets so there will be limited need to run various pricefeed scripts. AFAIK Gold and Silver and nothing more.

Go over to pts.cubeconnex.com and I'll post more instructions. It will basically go like this.

Have a decent internet connection with your own IP address outside of a firewall (port-forwarding would work I'd imagine) or run a VPS. VPS will cost you $20 a month. In theory one could run this in a virtual machine if the host was stable.

You will git clone the repo and then it should be like 5 commands to compile once you get the dependencies installed. If you stick with ubuntu 14.04 the compile is straight forward. Once it is running, you will register a name as a delegate. Once you receive enough votes to be voted in you will displace an init-delegate. Then the wallet starts signing blocks with your private key and you become an active part of the blockchain/consensus algorithm.

There are howtos floating around from Bitshares that we will reference.

I've moved some of the conversation over to http://pts.cubeconnex.com/index.php?board=16.0 because the Protoshares community is very helpful.

We're going with Ron.

Thank you for your support!

BTW We will likely remove Cryptsy. If nothing else it is good press. The types of heuristics used to determine which addresses are from the same wallet are fairly simple from my understanding.

Things are coming along.

Windows GUI client is compileable.
We've generated balance JSON from RPC.
Linux CLI to run delegates/use wallet is readily compileable.

I have one concern and that is removing Cryptsy's balance.
This is a list of all RPC accounts that were 2k RPC or higher.
I will mark off ones I suspect are Cryptsy with ***.  
This is just my visual inspection of top accounts.
I would need to write a script to grab every address located here https://chainz.cryptoid.info/rpc/wallet.dws?33239.htm and take the intersection of the sharedrop.  Then remove all those addresses.

Cons - We are now changing around distributions and thus "changing the rules"

Pros -
1) Cryptsy does not own the share-dropped coins. So the sharedrop is not deserved especially since Cryptsy have never supported a DPOS coin to date.
2) This increases legitimate shareholder's percentages.
3) It lowers the whale aspect of a third party who has no interest in the well being of the coin itself. This prevents a big large dump as Big Vern gets free money.
4) Lowers security concerns because Cryptsy will likely be largest owner of coins due to not everyone understanding the sharedrop and leaving many on Cryptsy.  

The other coins portions will have better distributions.

BTC - I've decided to flatten BTC addresses. So every address over a certain amount just gets a flat amount.

Doge - I'm undecided here but would like to do something special.

AGS/PTS will be basic. First I need to find the sharedrops on github and use those.  We would like to implement the system provided by the PTS community to allowing signing by private keys so that people can unlock their stake without having to trust binaries.  Hopefully the system is not too complicated.

"RJuHvsgtqhZKDSYGWNDcbsguV7d4bxCDX3" : 199999700000
"RSJwUNRfANgXbCSuZG1jsb5ENtrri6kDX5" : 207182526012
"RNg53D9krXyG2zkFoPzTQB5i8wBgLjTTWB" : 221613005513
"RWya211D6Y7v37mqEjcMndFAEfkX7RpJAb" : 222614050000
"RHWD67DFZ6euUwPrUWGJ71ksGmduMZrmsX" : 228918450200
"RU76xBXgYotwYE25K3tGBiiS6QGEqM8yfL" : 252299700000
"RTkVRLtaVxbvXee7PYe9mvmBxJrRt16Cmw" : 267215707392 ***
"RGUtdfFY9V17FvRYop31Y5wb4VTeXAQwxP" : 299999700000
"RRe3NzXg9DHRKb3Uy3gFxKJs2t7rVzYcGZ" : 304062000000
"RECmtapSmS51dF5kuXQZ4aonVsKsMPSkp5" : 305409595658 ***
"RQRGgDkbWGbgwRzBfKbBCYsuCY1v9M2Kfk" : 307153604814
"RUVvspsdjJEsnTbBzv5hVZeV36xaNse7kV" : 322777911857
"RTCrFZp6ZLf7prxyZhrLdUmgxqMqwqfyeW" : 324743970101
"RDsTpro5Pxy9QNxwGJPJkVnpBtPpZjMH95" : 329927689820
"RTKDtu19a3E87vZLvBAFWKS5FqkhJcszJL" : 350366857688
"RCRavC7fhRXC8mTSMjFfWWgQbnETYm5fdE" : 376458662350
"RGP6twMhsa39hjYBabeEVBNXXxDaME8aCA" : 400499700000
"RXhBoro3h7SaiCo1GywkycymupHxXwvsHL" : 402638346837
"RHvEcbvAyKLcJaqGwMuxsfaYkE6qoVTUdF" : 429354896828
"RUnUBdQSp65M6T5AsMensoYWBFbeXwUT12" : 435600944978
"REbSPsERCn84uVtcVmDUAnuNJsaL5rjXDZ" : 453558960049   ***
"RCeyd4RgwhqDjTnTU144hfWo8LfvHrDPxi" : 480592506333
"RLjTf2dck6R7VP6cfTw1uewCmCVppfpquT" : 487047865796
"RTcBqJZ4D8eR7n6c6oJs3CEeJo9gRgBr89" : 537138615624
"RVMfJ9f84dKKfY9jdbdRAj3LnvBNj4tDW2" : 593192726594
"RB9VxS85ZawnWipx6PD7NiiNChEagzDFsy" : 635596492100 ***
"RPSWBTLrCynoU7LyedfnSZsF7GtbjNe3ai" : 976579000000
"RMkJ8kYiJs3vTxVnx6D8rghMBShXJWyT9h" : 1034350525190
"RFT42nTmqGzFGNzPq1x7wvyg4r86d4dXd1" : 1198700000000

I am looking forward to today and seeing what progress we make. The Cryptsy question doesn't need answering at the moment but I would definitely like to hear feedback.

Also please post in this thread if you would like to be a delegate.

I would think a week at the most.

I am going to get a first testnet where anyone can play around with it if they desire. 

So this testnet will be more of a practicenet than one might expect from a testnet.

Noted. I recognize your name from somewhere. I'll make a list of delegates in this thread and communicate with your privately.

I'm still looking for a home base. We might just end up at the PTS forum.

Exactly. The main effort here is to just leverage what Bitshares has done but make it so there there is no inflation of the money supply.  Ever.  I plan on leveraging everything we can and would also like to help in the Bitshares project. Except for graphics the only initial change will be block times, delegates.

Today I compiled Bitshares under Windows. A lot of different things involved there.

Tomorrow hopefully I'll see if I can do the complete setup package. I need a Mac person to compile stuff or will have to purchase one myself.

This is the same problem being mulled over with my coin.  (Search RPCD ANN)

According to my analysis Bitcoin has incentives to centralize as market cap goes up, especially as long as block rewards are relatively high. You can't risk orphaned blocks mining on your own little home based node and p2p pool doesn't seem to be as efficient either.

Where with DPOS it seems all the centralization should occur early on and then as market cap grows, the largest reason for multiple delegates per person decreases because each can pay a fair amount of compensation. At that point shareholders (which POW miners are not) will be incentivized to keep the network decentralized because NETWORK SECURITY WILL DEMAND IT !

Who here is interested in becoming a Delegate?  

What is a Delegate? It requires a 3-4 gigabyte (less if you compile elsewhere) VPS instance to run a C++ program that creates and signs block. These positions are voted in by the community. This is Delegated Proof of Stake - there is no mining. The more different people that volunteer to be delegates the better the network's security will be until the community grows. Transaction fees will be significant until we get pushback. That is the only way to maintain deflation and expect fees to pay for the Delegates.  I can not suggest what anyone will receive - this is mainly a for fun endeavor with hopes of making a decent currency. This is ideal for someone who has spare VPS instances or a datacenter sitting around. Otherwise it will likely cost approximately $20 a month. I believe almost all instances are run under Ubuntu but it would be possible to run a Windows version if someone wishes to try.


"Why would I want to run a Delegate?"

1) You want to gain system administration experience.
2) You have system admin experience.
3) You have a spare VPS sitting around that can handle ~3 gigabytes of memory possibly left.
4) You will waste your time elsewhere doing less interesting things
5) You want to test the waters for running as a paid Delegate for the BitShares (BTS) chain.

I will think of more reasons in the coming days.  

It still hasn't been determined how many Delegates the chain will have. 29 would be a good maximum.