[LTC-GLOBAL] The Litecoin Global Virtual Stock Exchange - Public Beta

[burnside]

I introduced a PIN validation issue yesterday that kept people from registering.  It is now fixed.    

[Bitcoin Oz]

Can't wait to see more stuff on the market! 

I might be listing something there soon. Maybe 6-7 weeks.

[burnside]

Bunch of bug fixes & interface fine tuning.

Added email notifications of transfers, purchases, sales, and dividends.

[burnside]

We had a successful launch of a new security this week, LTC-CHARTS.

We've also rolled out a new notifications feature.  Asset owners can post notifications on their securities, and all shareholders of that particular asset automatically receive a copy via email.

The site also sustained lots of poking and prodding this week from people doing SQL injection and script injection attempts.  Please let me know if you're one of the culprits and you actually find any holes.  And for what it's worth, your IP's have been logged. 

Cheers.

[burnside]

Changed the required confirmations on deposits from 10 to 6. 

[burnside]

Had a user buy a lot of shares of an asset, then sell a chunk of them way below market, then buy some back way above market.

I've sent an email to the account holder, I don't see anything in the logs that would indicate anything more than a possible account compromise, but I'm going to lock trading until I hear back from the account owner and can maybe figure out what might have happened.

Under normal operation I won't be shutting the site down for compromised accounts, but since we're still in beta, I think it make sense to be cautious.

Cheers.

[burnside]

Had a user buy a lot of shares of an asset, then sell a chunk of them way below market, then buy some back way above market.

I've sent an email to the account holder, I don't see anything in the logs that would indicate anything more than a possible account compromise, but I'm going to lock trading until I hear back from the account owner and can maybe figure out what might have happened.

Under normal operation I won't be shutting the site down for compromised accounts, but since we're still in beta, I think it make sense to be cautious.

Cheers.

User confirmed he was at the helm when the mistakes were made, so no compromised account.  I have promised him to make the trading interface clearer.

[burnside]

The trading interface should be clearer now.  I have added the text "BUY" and "SELL" to the "Place Order" buttons. 

I also added a PIN confirmation requirement to the order placement forms.  I know it'll slow down order placing a little bit, but I think it's worth it if it adds a little security and makes people think for another second or two before hitting the place order button.

Cheers.

[burnside]

New portfolio page.

Adds purchase history on a per-asset basis, along with approximate current value (based on quantity held and current bid price) and weighted purchase price.

Cheers.

[burnside]

New portfolio page.

Adds purchase history on a per-asset basis, along with approximate current value (based on quantity held and current bid price) and weighted purchase price.

Cheers.

Hah, forgot to push the new code from dev to live.  It's live now. 

[Bitcoin Oz]

The ltc-global stock price is looking healthy,have to be happy about that   

[Bitcoin Oz]

Something that might be good is a mini-forum for each asset which shareholders and asset issuers can post in for feedback and to provide updates.

[burnside]

The ltc-global stock price is looking healthy,have to be happy about that   

I'm definitely stoked about how well it's been doing.  I sold the initial shares for 25 LTC, now they seem to go for more like 60 LTC, so that's good.  The people that took a risk early on are getting a good reward, that makes me happy.    People that buy in now at 60 LTC, etc, will in turn hopefully see a similar reward as the exchange grows.  I've had lots of PM's asking if I have plans to take the site into BTC, so I'm very optimistic about the future of the site.

Just to give everyone an idea of where my current plans are, I do not have any short-term plans to go into BTC.  I have a couple of non-trivial security features that need to be integrated first, like Google Authenticator.  I want to make sure the site is tested, proven, and solid before even considering risking anyone's BTC.

It also seems to be good for LTC for the moment, having an exchange like this will bring value to LTC and hopefully in time we'll see a lot of cool LTC projects being funded through the exchange.  For LTC to succeed there needs to be a robust economy and I'm looking forward to providing a key tool at the core of that economy.

I do, briefly want to touch on one key difference between LTC-GLOBAL and GLBSE, which is that I am doing -zero- verification of the assets that are being posted there.  The only barriers to entry currently are:

- 250 LTC,
- that the contract be legible english,
- that the asset be legal in Benton County, Oregon, USA
- and that you agree to the LTC-Global Asset Issuer Terms.  (which mostly tells the issuers that if they lie, or do not fulfill the contract, etc, then the asset will be frozen.)

I know a possible verification system is on the TODO list, but I have to be honest, I do not believe that I could adequately verify applications in a way that would not be easy to forge.  Thus I am not currently certain that I will ever do a verification system.  It seems like a can of worms that could open up LTC-GLOBAL to possible litigation.  Maybe that will change down the road when LTC-GLOBAL is a full time job for someone and they can travel to visit each applicant to see their operation in person.   



The TL;DR version:

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, do not invest more than you can afford to lose. LOOK CLOSELY at the assets before you hit the 'BUY' button.  Do some research, send the asset issuer an email, ask questions, BE CAREFUL, etc.

Cheers.

[burnside]

Something that might be good is a mini-forum for each asset which shareholders and asset issuers can post in for feedback and to provide updates.

I thought about that.  I really wanted to do that, and asset issuers can already post notifications (which get sent to asset holders via email as well) but it seemed risky to me to allow asset holders to post back... it could really easily get ugly and I don't currently have time to moderate.

Maybe with a well defined policy of what's acceptable and a few volunteer moderators we could pull it off?

[burnside]

Something that might be good is a mini-forum for each asset which shareholders and asset issuers can post in for feedback and to provide updates.

I thought about that.  I really wanted to do that, and asset issuers can already post notifications (which get sent to asset holders via email as well) but it seemed risky to me to allow asset holders to post back... it could really easily get ugly and I don't currently have time to moderate.

Maybe with a well defined policy of what's acceptable and a few volunteer moderators we could pull it off?

What if I required that you own XX number of shares to be able to post on an asset?  Eg, you have to own at least 0.05% of the outstanding shares before you can post?

Thus if there were 1000 shares outstanding, you'd have to own 5, or if there were 10,000 shares outstanding, you'd have to own 50.

[Bitcoin Oz]

Something that might be good is a mini-forum for each asset which shareholders and asset issuers can post in for feedback and to provide updates.

I thought about that.  I really wanted to do that, and asset issuers can already post notifications (which get sent to asset holders via email as well) but it seemed risky to me to allow asset holders to post back... it could really easily get ugly and I don't currently have time to moderate.

Maybe with a well defined policy of what's acceptable and a few volunteer moderators we could pull it off?

What if I required that you own XX number of shares to be able to post on an asset?  Eg, you have to own at least 0.05% of the outstanding shares before you can post?

Thus if there were 1000 shares outstanding, you'd have to own 5, or if there were 10,000 shares outstanding, you'd have to own 50.

It just seems that without identity verification the community needs some way to rate different securities.

One way to get around this is letting people link to their bitcoin-otc profile or other ways to import rep.

There is a business case for someone to start a verification company.

[guruvan]

There is a business case for someone to start a verification company.

Comments I've seen from nefario suggest GLBSE would be interested in that, and would like to offload the verification process, expense, and risk.

[burnside]

There is a business case for someone to start a verification company.

Comments I've seen from nefario suggest GLBSE would be interested in that, and would like to offload the verification process, expense, and risk.

+1

I read through a bunch of GLBSE threads about why they do the verification and the effect it has had on the system overall.  I've just about come full circle now.  LTC is a lesser target for scams/fraud at the moment because it is worth significantly less than BTC, but as that changes I'm pretty sure we're going to need some kind of verification requirements.  The types of verifications I've come up with:

(mostly stolen from GLBSE)
- LinkedIn profile  (require XX number of references?)
- Facebook profile (require XX number of friends?)
- Government issued ID
- Utility bill
- Phone call
- Fax number
- Email address

I have thought of a couple other creative verifications:

- Ebay feedback (require XX positive feedback)
- Credit Card address verification  (I charge their card $1, run the address, make sure it matches.)
- Postal mail (with a BOLD, "do not forward" on the letter)
- Using a paid phone number address search on top of the above mentioned phone call.
- For companies, BBB and DnB references.

And for asset issuers that really want their users trust, the ultimate would be:

- Granting access to an Equifax/etc credit report by providing access to their equifax.com or equivalent account.


Can anyone else think of any to add to the list?

[Bitcoin Oz]

If you are getting people to send their ID they should hold it next to their face so you can compare it to other photos they send.

Their Utility bills or other paperwork they should write down the date and their security name as a timestamp.

Sending a postcard to their address containing a code they need to enter onsite is also good.



http://www.greenid.com.au/  theres also services like this.

[burnside]

All of your orders are summarized on the portfolio page now.

Cheers.