i heard you left ethereum...(good choice)...will you ever "come back" and work directly on a bitcoin project? that would be cool Cool
One of the reasons I started working on Altcoins is that I never was welcomed into the bitcoin core developer clique. I don't even get an invitation to DevCon. I'm on the outside and my ideas and contributions are mostly ignored by the elites in the space. So I build altcoins to experiment and test them in the wild. It's a lot more fun as you have a chance to start with a blank slate and the benefit of hindsight.
I listened to your podcast; it's obvious you are extremely intelligent and an asset to any community that has you. I have always said of Ethereum that the technological possibilities are incredible, but perhaps are ahead of their time. As well, the distribution of such a token cannot be marred with concepts of pre-sales (otherwise the n-person pirate games seems to predict that subsequent players will reject joining this 'flawed' game). In my humble opinion, a successful currency must have an open and fair launch where all players had equal chances to acquire tokens in an increasingly growing playing field. Equal distribution isn't necessarily important, but equal
opportunity for distribution is.
Let's look one example of this type of "game" in action: Magic the Gathering. I haven't played in 20 years since I was a teenager, but I have watched it grow to a global phenomenon over my lifetime. In fact, certain cards are worth immense amounts and its possible that two people (who both value those cards) could conduct entire transactions entirely in them. Now admittedly, the distribution of powerful and valuable cards isn't uniform, but the key concept is that since its birth decades ago, new players perceive that everyone has been playing the same 'game'. The insiders are only insiders because they got their earlier and worked harder, not because there was some line drawn in the sand between insiders and outsiders. This perception of fairness amongst new potential players (as well as the network effect of being first to market) has kept this particular card game growing long after its many rivals.
Also, I agree with you that despite network effects it might not be Bitcoin that eventually becomes the largest cryptocurrency. I believe bitcoin will always carry value, but I think that a superior technology may overtake it for several reasons, one of which is a public blockchain cannot offer the fungibility necessary to achieve the hallowed dream of true "digital cash".
You mentioned anon-coins briefly in your speech, but I notice you didn't mention Cryptonote or Monero. I'm first of all interested in hearing your thoughts about Monero, and my secondary objective is to find out what it would take to convince you to wholeheartedly join into active Monero development with us.
When I first heard about the new batch of "anon-coins" I didn't pay them much heed - I thought they may let bad guys do bad business better but a public blockchain was good enough for most of the world. It wasn't until I really began to consider a.) the loss of fungibility associated with a public blockchain ("Russians are banned from accepting Bitcoins mined with US IP addresses!") and b.) the entire new class of applications, data structures, and 'games' enabled by a truly private blockchain that I became a believer (pretend you and I want to place a private bet that neither of us can back out of, but that only we know about so as to prevent the existence of that bet interfering with the outcome).
I am certain you have either already arrived at these same conclusions or will with some reflection.
It's out of professional courtesy that I don't include a bunch of Monero links (I'm sure you're aware of it and where to find it), but I will say this: you say that the bitcoin developers never "let you in", and I heard your complaints about the current governance. I would say that currently Bitcoin is on a dire collision course with an iceberg of fiat, while Monero is still in the formative stages of its network and leadership. The technical knowledge and wisdom of someone like yourself would be welcomed in the community, and as many important people have said - not since the release of the original bitcoin have they seen a project like this.
I think that it's becoming increasingly clear that this is the next big cryptocurrency, and potentially the successor/complement to bitcoin itself. As a result, I think that all great developers will eventually be forced on board purely due to financial incentives. It would be nice to have you join this early, while the inevitable financial incentives are less clear, so you can help us shape them.
