OK first of all, I just want to say, I will be investing in this and love the model in general....
But I have a few criticisms / suggestions:
1) I am worried about the potential for the "smartphone mining" to be a very short flash in the pan. Yes, those that are mining on day one will get a few coins and we could see some cool growth among teenagers and newbies that simply want to say they are involved with the cool math-based currencies. But give this a few weeks even, then the hype amps the value of coins, then the professional mining organizations start taking over and then the casual smartphone app user is getting a fraction of a coin a day if any at all. We need them to keep coming back for a while. They will not come back if nothing is happening. The Windows, Mac, and Linux based miners will hog it all and I see that potentially stunting the viral growth. Hot-or-Not was a great flash in the pan for a while and was insanely viral, and everyone used it for a month, then nobody looked back at it anymore. We need the casual smartphone user to actually see something happening for at least the next year or so. You won't get this to ubiquity if you get 200,000 users then the mining is fruitless. Nobody will join after that because at that point it doesn't do anything that scores of apps already do, and it won't be a large enough network to be valuable in its own right. We need something that engages them continually....
SUGGESTION: Continue to reward the casual smartphone-based user by rewarding them for recruitment or evangelizing. Have a pool of coins available (since the mining is basically centralized to any degree you want) and reward people based on the number of unique users they recruit directly to the system. Shoot, reward them for the recruits their recruits recruit! Give them a larger cut for their efforts. Make an incentive for each user to become a seller. It will keep a steady crew of people jumping in. Do that for the first year or so then allow the remaining coins to be mined when the network size is so large it is valuable in its own right as a value transfer system. In addition, you show them on the app how many people "downline" have joined based on their individual recruitment efforts so they can always at least come back to see the impact they have had. (e.g. 2,657,888 have joined electronium based on your referrals!) Anything to keep them logging back into the device.
ANSWERGreat idea - we're already on that - the system give incentives for recommending the platform and also we should now have live for Nov (or close thereafter) an addictive game built into the system that educates about cryptocurrencies and also gives a tiny payout in real coins (fractions of ETN) for levels completed - allowing more viral marketing of a game that pays you to play - and a publicity opportunity for the same reason.
2) You need to publish the specific timeline for coin emission over time. I saw that the coins will be mined over ten years? So how many per day or per block? How front loaded will it be?
SUGGESTION: Publish this information so we know how much we can mine.
ANSWERIt's really not that easy to publish how much you can mine! If it were just you - and nobody else joined in we could calculate it, but the smooth emission algorithm slowly reduces with each block and the amount each miner earns depends on the number of people mining. We're confident that it'll be worth mining for mobile miners even if we have a million plus users - but again, the price of ETN will define if it's worth mining - rather than the number of coins. Our simulation of mobile miners suggests a few dollars in value per month - so not a fortune, but an appreciable amount - especially outside of the western world.
3) I applaud the idea that you want to take bitcoin mining to mainstream. This has been needed for so long. I would love to see this succeed! I want my mother on crypto but unless something like this exists, not way that's happening. But for it to succeed there needs to be a roadmap for eventually showing how a system like this can be in compliance with AML/KYC. If any currency is to be ubiquitously used throughout the world, it will be a lightning rod in terms of governmental control and oversight. So I ask, why was the cryptonote tech chosen? Do you really want these transactions to not have a public ledger? I mean I love coins like Monero and they are sooooo vital in the blockchain ecosystem, but eventually you guys will have to answer to government if you get too big. I am looked at as a crazy person in this community when it comes to compliance but I am also a certified AML/KYC expert and the govts of the world will eventually need some kind of oversight on a system like this. You could see govts attack this hard especially if it is a widely-used and strong currency and your team personally could feel some serious heat. You are quite out there and centralized in that the app is the main driver of use. That can be shut down over night with a court order to Apple and Google. I think the govt will be fine with this if you can somehow provide a mechanism to trace transactions on a public ledger at least. The killer-app currency that takes over the world, which will eventually happen, will need to somehow make the enormous financial powers of this world play ball with it. Anonymous transactions + ubiquitously-used global cryptocurrency is a bit of an oxymoron in my opinion. It might have to stay niche like its cousin Monero in other words.
SUGGESTION: Consider allowing only Facebook users to sign up to start. Yes it's a little cheesy. Yes some will not sign up because they don't want the man to know they own this stuff. But, this provides you, as a central organization, at least some ammo when the feds come demanding you help them find criminals that are using YOUR system, assuming they don't co-implicate you guys in helping said criminals execute financial transactions. Facebook is not fool proof as there are plenty of dummy accounts, but the feds LOOOOVE it because it is a treasure trove of investigative information when trying to find a user. Other apps have used this method to great success. You guys are going to automatically be money transmitters by having the level of centralized control over this app that you have. Be prepared to pay a ton of dough to get licensed in all the jurisdictions you allow this app to be downloaded. This heat will come very, very fast if you are growing rapidly.
You will need to have some way to know who your users are. If you are truly marketing to the average casual smartphone user, this will be a non-issue for them because most of them are law abiding citizens that have no intention of breaking the law. They will be happy to dish out their personal info too. They are not the usual crypto-anarchists like all of us right?
ANSWERI was under the impression that KYC was for cash in or out of cryptocurrency, rather than holding the currency itself? We can't limit to Facebook at this stage. We chose cryptonote / bytecoin for the ability to run a pre-mine which was considered essential to raise funds, and because I rather like the anonymity - but I totally see your point about legislation. We'll have to handle those items as the arrive. Thanks for your input on that - perhaps I can pick you brain privately some more?
Secondly, in regard to AML/KYC, I would seriously have considered using a more transparent blockchain model. The feds are actually not minding bitcoin so much because the public ledger does give them the ability to follow transactions to a degree. When bitcoin ends up at the usual exchanges that are AML/KYC compliant, govts have ways of gathering information at that point that helps them find criminals when needed. I realize this is something that is probably too late to consider at all which is understandable, but I do want to voice this as a notable criticism in that there are people starting to hope this could be the next big thing in crypto. Real money will go down on this. If anyone believes this could be THE internet currency, these could be real roadblocks. Will it be used by a devoted fan base? I don't doubt it. But taking over the world will take some very careful planning on how to get past the BIG boys. They will NOT go down easy.
ANSWERPhew, it's a little late to change blockchain now!! Perhaps we can hard fork down track if we really have to - lets face it, it's been done before! If we have brand power than we can do a lot. It makes me shudder just thinking about a hard fork though - so hopefully not for a long long time.
...I have to say this project is one of the most exciting developments I have seen in a long time. I have been waiting for shit like this to start happening. Maybe electronium can pull off a facebook-sized effect on the world and make this into one of the most widely used tokens to date. If not, I suspect the above discussion points could end up limiting its success.
ANSWERTHANKS!!! We believe in it, and think we can get mass adoption - so we will try our very best to achieve it!
So, if electronium eventually has only mediocre success? Well, if you are reading this and you are one of the legendary blokes that could build this kind of smartphone system that has the above qualities as well, please tell me about it so my wealthy partners and I can be some of the first to invest and sign up, or hell, we can pay you to build it! I will join any team that is advancing this kind of tech.
ANSWERThe great thing about our combination of centralisation and decentralization (see what I did there for UK / US!!! ) is that we have the ability to evolve, where other blockchains need a hard fork. Obviously we can't evolve the blockchain itself but we can change the market and utility of the app with a simple update. Also because we are in touch with our userbase through centralisation, we can help the market respond to changes that we need. I have great confidence in what we are doing and think the app will take off. But I still have my fingers crossed too!!!
Please, electronium, let me know if there is anything more I can do to be of assistance to you in all of this. With respect... BTCINVESTOR
ANSWERTHANKS! Getting our name out there is a great start - thanks very much - and join our telegram group - you'll like it on there - busy and very upbeat! Some awesome guys on there (and gals too - surprisingly!!! Admit it - we're a bit geeky!!!)
Have a great day!!!!
Richard.
