Nice project. Gonna follow this thread.
BTW Are there any milestones or estimated time of launching some concrete alpha/beta implementation of B&C Exchange?
I'm not aware of estimated time of the milestones, but a kind of development road map can be found here in the thread.
For convenience here's an estimate about the total time of completion:
2) Given your funding request will be successful, how long will it take to realize the project?
This is an important question, and one I would like to know the answer to as well. Development of an unprecedented software solution such as B&C Exchange is characterized by the unfolding of unexpected issues which must be solved.
I have delivered an unprecedented blockchain solution in the past in the form of the Nu network, which pioneered stable cryptocurrency and the ability of shareholders to constantly adjust the protocol by voting. The network worked just as promised and was delivered in 8 months at a cost of around 250,000 USD. While I made no promises about the time it would take to deliver Nu, I will report that I privately thought it would take 6 months and 500,000 USD. So, I was 50% under budget and 33% over my private time estimate.
I can say that I believe B&C Exchange is modestly or slightly simpler than creating the Peershare template and Nu. I am absolutely committed to doing everything in my power to delivering it as quickly as possible. However, investors should be aware that I am unable to absolutely guarantee its delivery at all, and I can't guarantee it will be delivered in a certain time frame or for a certain cost.
Here's some information about milestones:
Would it be possible to get say monthly updates on development of B&C?
I certainly expect you will see visible progress and updates at much shorter intervals.
There has been a concentration of holidays taken by team members the last couple weeks, so progress has been slow within that time interval. I expect we will see quite a bit of progress over the next month, although I know most team members have additional holidays scheduled.
We have two independent iterations moving forward right now. Sigmike is working on the reputation voting system along with its associated block reward as detailed on pages 14 and 15 of
the design document. John (aka erasmospunk) will be working on the other voting features unique to B&C Exchange as detailed on page 3 and 4 of
the design document. When complete, these changes will be deployed to our publicly available test network, but will not be added to the production network until enough development has been completed to make the exchange fully functional.
When those iterations are complete, we will begin implementing the individual message types unique to B&C Exchange which are described in detail in the design document. Each will be implemented in our public test network when complete. Here is a summary of those message types:
1. Reputed signer deposit public key list
2. Non-reputed signer deposit address request
3. Non-reputed signer withdrawal address request
4. Order
5. Order validation
6. Fill (not signed and no transaction fee)
7. Fill validation
8. Fund transfer
9. Cancel order
10. Withdraw from deposit address
11. Pairing of BlockCredit and BlockShare addresses
We will start with forming the message pairing BlockCredit and BlockShare addresses and client processing of that message. Next will be the reputed signer deposit public key list. Then we will add the non-reputed signer deposit address request message. We will continue to add the rest of the messages to testnet one at a time in the approximate order they would be used in typically.
When the bulk of the messages have been implemented we will begin developing the web interface.
If additional funding is received, we could see additional goodies such as an Android interface that simultaneously functions as a wallet for assets being traded.
Here's some information about goodies that can be expected now that the funding is way beyond the minimum funding:
Is it correct to assume that with this level of funding the development of CHECKLOCKTIMEVERIFY and and Android app has at least been secured? Also, JordanLee mentioned that (estimation) with another 10-20k dollars a specific type of escrow service could be developed by making certain changes to the protocol. That should also more or less be covered, shouldn't it?
I really hope that the recent boost in funding pays off for us instead of diluting all our shares without really getting something extra to the version that we were supposed to see with 200k funding.
For the future, I would really like to see an outline of a certain feature and the required funding for the development. Otherwise it might be tempting for those in charge of the funds to talk down the raised amount of money and overemphasize the required development efforts.
Looking forward to see as many additional features as possible for the extra 50k raised.
Cheers,
BTP
It will be months before those projects can be started. That means the situation might shift some between now and then. For instance, a better and more urgent use of the funds may emerge. For these reasons I'm not sure it is optimal to commit funds to it now. I do think they ought to be the top priorities (CHECKLOCKTIMEVERIFY and the Android app, with the escrow framework as a third priority).
When it does become time to decide whether to commit to an Android app, it makes the most sense to pass a motion to transfer a specific quantity of NuBits raised to the developer that commits to developing it, such as Giannis or Cybnate. There isn't much reason for me to be directly involved in that because it doesn't pertain to the core client software.
So, shareholders can decide whatever they want to about how funds raised are allocated and spent. As always, I will be very responsive to motions. But it is probably premature to commit to specific features many months before development begins.
Reputation voting has been implemented. You can see
screenshots of the user interface for it here. Once the reputation reward is done (currently in progress), the other new voting types are complete (also in progress) and Bitcoin dividends are supported we will push a release to test net. It probably makes sense to push this release to production so that reputed signers can get established before the exchange is operational.