MasterCoin: New Protocol Layer Starting From “The Exodus Address”

[Tachikoma]

Just a work-in-progress update on my (thin) Mastercoin client.

I've been working on a Mastercoin client that uses a combination of the Mastercoin ruby library and Mastercoin-explorer in order to create a thin-client implementation for Mastercoin. This means that you don't need a local synchronised Bitcoind instance in order to make Mastercoin payments. Right now this is a very centralised solution but once the Alpha version is out I will create a Mastercoin-server project that will enable users to setup their own Mastercoin servers which clients can connect to; think Electrum.
 
All the client requires is a private key of a Mastercoin address and enough Bitcoin balance to create a valid transaction. I just send my first valid multi-sig Mastercoin transaction so I figured this is as good as time as any to show some early wip screenies.




The first real transaction can be found on Mastercoin-explorer and Blockchain.info

There is still a lot of work to do but at least we are getting somewhere. I hope somebody else can send some multisig transactions soon so we can finalise the spec and start working on the next feature

This will be my last post for a while as I will be leaving the country and be without internet for a few days. See you all on monday

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[dacoinminster]

Just a work-in-progress update on my (thin) Mastercoin client.

I've been working on a Mastercoin client that uses a combination of the Mastercoin ruby library and Mastercoin-explorer in order to create a thin-client implementation for Mastercoin. This means that you don't need a local synchronised Bitcoind instance in order to make Mastercoin payments. Right now this is a very centralised solution but once the Alpha version is out I will create a Mastercoin-server project that will enable users to setup their own Mastercoin servers which clients can connect to; think Electrum.
 
All the client requires is a private key of a Mastercoin address and enough Bitcoin balance to create a valid transaction. I just send my first valid multi-sig Mastercoin transaction so I figured this is as good as time as any to show some early wip screenies.




The first real transaction can be found on Mastercoin-explorer and Blockchain.info

There is still a lot of work to do but at least we are getting somewhere. I hope somebody else can send some multisig transactions soon so we can finalise the spec and start working on the next feature

This will be my last post for a while as I will be leaving the country and be without internet for a few days. See you all on monday

Holy crap! Tachikoma strikes again!

Did you see the post I JUST MADE about how to do thin clients?! It's like you're reading my mind! (Are you?)

[StarenseN]

Just a work-in-progress update on my (thin) Mastercoin client.

I've been working on a Mastercoin client that uses a combination of the Mastercoin ruby library and Mastercoin-explorer in order to create a thin-client implementation for Mastercoin. This means that you don't need a local synchronised Bitcoind instance in order to make Mastercoin payments. Right now this is a very centralised solution but once the Alpha version is out I will create a Mastercoin-server project that will enable users to setup their own Mastercoin servers which clients can connect to; think Electrum.
 
All the client requires is a private key of a Mastercoin address and enough Bitcoin balance to create a valid transaction. I just send my first valid multi-sig Mastercoin transaction so I figured this is as good as time as any to show some early wip screenies.




The first real transaction can be found on Mastercoin-explorer and Blockchain.info

There is still a lot of work to do but at least we are getting somewhere. I hope somebody else can send some multisig transactions soon so we can finalise the spec and start working on the next feature

This will be my last post for a while as I will be leaving the country and be without internet for a few days. See you all on monday

Amazing job ! Congrats and keep going it like that

[Loozik]

[...] we ARE committed to spending more project money to spur development forward at the maximum possible pace.

I expect that once the coding contest is finished on 10/15, we will immediately launch another contest.

The next one will probably have a bigger prize [...]

1. You are putting TBF developers to shame. Last time they released a client with new features was in May (4 months ago) https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=219504.msg2311420#msg2311420 And the most appreciated feature in that release was the new icon and splash screen for Bitcoin-Qt  
What a joke Bitcoin development has become!

2. I get the impression you guys at Mastercoin project are focusing on important features and functionalities that not only make a difference but also are much needed by the users of your system.

3. Keep on!

[Loozik]

It is possible to understand the potential of this project without understanding the technology, but you DO have to have a pretty good grasp of how markets work to understand the explosive potential of MasterCoin.

My gut feeling is that the potential is huge.

You also need to be able to understand the limitations of bitcoin as it is today.

I made several attempts to read the Bitcoin protocol and most important articles on Btcoinwiki but failed rather miserably in understand it (due to being a non-techie), so limitations of Bitcoin remain a mystery for me. And I don't care - it is just an instrument I trade.

Somebody with a background in trading stocks and other assets will immediately grasp how groundbreaking it is to have distributed, unregulated exchange between assets, and the ability to pseudo-anonymously (as anonymous as bitcoin can get) place bets on real-world assets.

I have the background - no problem here. I have some questions:
- in fiat world you have (i) exchanges that do some job and (ii) brokers that do some jobs; will this decentralized exchange perform the job of both an exchange (e.g. matching orders) and a broker (e.g. managing sub-accounts through Percent Allocation Management Module)?; do you have a specification of this decentralised exchange?
- will event-based data feed be stamped in seconds or nanoseconds or microseconds?
- how will the data feed be distributed to end-users?
- what types of orders will be supported? At the moment you can't put a stone age stop loss or a trailing stop at any of the exchanges, MtGox inclusive, which is a joke.
- will open interest on derivatives be reported daily (as is the case in all American exchanges) or will it be reported in ticks (as is the case with some European exchanges)?
- many more questions that a short video would easily explain ...  

There is an UNBELIEVABLE amount of money waiting for something like this, and only ~600k MasterCoins [...]
Our ~600k MasterCoins are worth about 12000 BTC at current prices (about $1.5M). MasterCoins don't have a huge market cap right now because there are also a lot of risks.

How many of the 600k Mastercoins have already been mined? Are they mined the way BTC is mined or they created in some other way? Where can one buy these Mastercoins? How was the valuation: 600k Mastercoins = 12k BTC arrived at?

[solex]

1. You are putting TBF developers to shame. Last time they released a client with new features was in May (4 months ago) https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=219504.msg2311420#msg2311420 And the most appreciated feature in that release was the new icon and splash screen for Bitcoin-Qt  
What a joke Bitcoin development has become!

No. That's totally unfair and unwarranted.

The payment request changes are imminent and these will take Bitcoin to the next level:
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=300809.0;topicseen

A lot of merchants want this - and what's the major difference in success between Bitcoin and the 100-odd alt-coins? Apart from LTC no merchants accept the alt-coins.

While the Mastercoin progress is impressive it is only one area activity.

[hl5460]

[...] we ARE committed to spending more project money to spur development forward at the maximum possible pace.

I expect that once the coding contest is finished on 10/15, we will immediately launch another contest.

The next one will probably have a bigger prize [...]

1. You are putting TBF developers to shame. Last time they released a client with new features was in May (4 months ago) https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=219504.msg2311420#msg2311420 And the most appreciated feature in that release was the new icon and splash screen for Bitcoin-Qt  
What a joke Bitcoin development has become!

2. I get the impression you guys at Mastercoin project are focusing on important features and functionalities that not only make a difference but also are much needed by the users of your system.

3. Keep on!

Holy Crap! I used to expect a client in roughly about 6 months. JR said that not possible.
With the recent turbulence in BTC securities Exchange. I can see the potential of MSC is huge.

[zathras]

Holy crap! Tachikoma strikes again!

Did you see the post I JUST MADE about how to do thin clients?! It's like you're reading my mind! (Are you?)

Again, nice work Tachikoma

Prior to these recent posts I have been explicitly avoiding using remote sources for data.  Forgive the relative naivety of this question if it comes across that way (I'm fairly new to cryptocurrencies) but would this not be considered a form of centralization?  And is that considered acceptable for Mastercoin given it's the presentation layer we're centralizing not the protocol?

Perhaps given recent discussion it may be worthwhile adding this option to the Masterchest desktop wallet also (sorry Tachikoma/JR, not meaning to poach your ideas but they do say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!!!).  Currently in my desktop wallet settings panel users configure their connection to a bitcoind/bitcoinqt server but it would actually be quite a small amount of work to add in another option to use masterchest.info as a data source if the blockchain is not available locally (especially since they use the same transaction engine/data structures).  If Tachikoma and I were to standardize a JSON-RPC API then we could offer users a choice of web services for remote data sources which would be even better.

As always appreciate comments/feedback - thanks

[Tachikoma]

Holy crap! Tachikoma strikes again!

Did you see the post I JUST MADE about how to do thin clients?! It's like you're reading my mind! (Are you?)

Again, nice work Tachikoma

Prior to these recent posts I have been explicitly avoiding using remote sources for data.  Forgive the relative naivety of this question if it comes across that way (I'm fairly new to cryptocurrencies) but would this not be considered a form of centralization?  And is that considered acceptable for Mastercoin given it's the presentation layer we're centralizing not the protocol?

Perhaps given recent discussion it may be worthwhile adding this option to the Masterchest desktop wallet also (sorry Tachikoma/JR, not meaning to poach your ideas but they do say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery!!!).  Currently in my desktop wallet settings panel users configure their connection to a bitcoind/bitcoinqt server but it would actually be quite a small amount of work to add in another option to use masterchest.info as a data source if the blockchain is not available locally (especially since they use the same transaction engine/data structures).  If Tachikoma and I were to standardize a JSON-RPC API then we could offer users a choice of web services for remote data sources which would be even better.

As always appreciate comments/feedback - thanks

I personally don't think centralisation for Mastercoin is that much of a problem; mainly because there is no intercommunication between Mastercoin clients.
However I really think we should have both thick and thin clients. Thick clients help decentralise Bitcoin and are not reliant on outside sources. Not everybody will be comfortable with a client talking to remote servers. I would suggest you keep working on a version that communicates with a local Bitcoin-qt/d so we have both types of clients from the start.

[StarenseN]

I'd just like to bring attention to Retep's proposition at this link and Cunicula's valuable comment regarding derivatives/smart property, in case anyone didn't catch it.

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=299679.0

I really think these things need serious consideration and I'm a bit concerned with the dismissive attitude they have received. The consensus on Retep's ability and knowledge regarding Bitcoin is that of high regard from what I can tell. This seems like a potentially invaluable resource. The white paper is a good outline, but this could provide a more solid framework to build on, giving focus and direction and accelerating development. I'm sure the content of the reports can be optimized so it's effectively aligned with the projects goals, as decided by the board and community. It's at least worth negotiating, even if you don't go down that road in the end.

Regarding Cunicula's comment, is there a plan to consult someone with an economics background to be sure you're building a viable system for the smart property/derivatives? J.R., you said one of the great features of the planned smart property implementation is it's simplicity. Are you professionally qualified to claim viability of the planned design in these type of systems and markets? A well working system is as simple or complicated as it needs to be. To move forward rigidly with your plan, viability be damned because you want a "simple" design, seems like a setup for failure. I realize these aren't absolute priorities at the moment. But they will be in the (near) future and it just feels a bit flying-by-the-seat-of-your-pants with the talk about some of this.

You've laid out the basics with the white paper. Personally, I'd expect team building (probably more ad-hoc than structured for the moment, I know) so the goals for the respective parts of the project can be met effectively by those with the most suitable skills and knowledge. The coding contest and everyone doing the work they are is a great start. These considerations could be an important addition.

About that, can the board officially prononce a statement about the retep offer? 

[TaaviK]

How many of the 600k Mastercoins have already been mined? Are they mined the way BTC is mined or they created in some other way? Where can one buy these Mastercoins? How was the valuation: 600k Mastercoins = 12k BTC arrived at?

Mastercoins were made by sending bitcoins to the exodus address between 31 July  - 31 Aug. Every bitcoin sent earned the sender 100 Mastercoins + a bonus (10-40% depending on how early you sent them. early bird bonus). All the bitcoins sent made all the mastercoins that are ever going to exist. Roughly 600k mastercoins were "made" and that will be the total number for ever and ever. (+10% for the foundation but maybe that has already been factored in?).

So there is no mining. Right now the only way to buy mastercoins is from another person who has them (there isn't yet an exchange). Im not sure but my guess is that the current valuation is a rough estimate that the price of mastercoin has doubled  (50 coins for 1 btc)

[Loozik]

Mastercoins were made by sending bitcoins to the exodus address between 31 July  - 31 Aug. Every bitcoin sent earned the sender 100 Mastercoins + a bonus (10-40% depending on how early you sent them. early bird bonus). All the bitcoins sent made all the mastercoins that are ever going to exist. Roughly 600k mastercoins were "made" and that will be the total number for ever and ever. (+10% for the foundation but maybe that has already been factored in?).

So there is no mining. Right now the only way to buy mastercoins is from another person who has them (there isn't yet an exchange). Im not sure but my guess is that the current valuation is a rough estimate that the price of mastercoin has doubled  (50 coins for 1 btc)

Thanks.

So there were about 5 - 6k BTC sent to a BTC address (controlled by someone) these BTCs were transferred (split and renamed) and became Mastercoins - so far I get it, I hope.

Does someone have this address so that I can have a look at its historical operations and final balance?

[maxmint]

Mastercoins were made by sending bitcoins to the exodus address between 31 July  - 31 Aug. Every bitcoin sent earned the sender 100 Mastercoins + a bonus (10-40% depending on how early you sent them. early bird bonus). All the bitcoins sent made all the mastercoins that are ever going to exist. Roughly 600k mastercoins were "made" and that will be the total number for ever and ever. (+10% for the foundation but maybe that has already been factored in?).

So there is no mining. Right now the only way to buy mastercoins is from another person who has them (there isn't yet an exchange). Im not sure but my guess is that the current valuation is a rough estimate that the price of mastercoin has doubled  (50 coins for 1 btc)

Thanks.

So there were about 5 - 6k BTC sent to a BTC address (controlled by someone) these BTCs were transferred (split and renamed) and became Mastercoins - so far I get it, I hope.

Does someone have this address so that I can have a look at its historical operations and final balance?

All the info is in the first posting of this thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=265488.msg2841328#msg2841328
The address you're talking about is called the "Exodus address": http://blockchain.info/address/1EXoDusjGwvnjZUyKkxZ4UHEf77z6A5S4P

[Loozik]

All the info is in the first posting of this thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=265488.msg2841328#msg2841328
The address you're talking about is called the "Exodus address": http://blockchain.info/address/1EXoDusjGwvnjZUyKkxZ4UHEf77z6A5S4P

Thanks.

The address received 4,740 BTC, paid out 411 BTC, final balance 4,329 BTC.

One of the pay outs was to gmaxwell. He is a programmer I think. Do I understand it well that BTCs deposited in exodus address are used / will be used for programming and development of the system. How much of the remaining 4,329 BTC will be used this way?

[Ola]

Just a work-in-progress update on my (thin) Mastercoin client.

I've been working on a Mastercoin client that uses a combination of the Mastercoin ruby library and Mastercoin-explorer in order to create a thin-client implementation for Mastercoin. This means that you don't need a local synchronised Bitcoind instance in order to make Mastercoin payments. Right now this is a very centralised solution but once the Alpha version is out I will create a Mastercoin-server project that will enable users to setup their own Mastercoin servers which clients can connect to; think Electrum.
 
All the client requires is a private key of a Mastercoin address and enough Bitcoin balance to create a valid transaction. I just send my first valid multi-sig Mastercoin transaction so I figured this is as good as time as any to show some early wip screenies.




The first real transaction can be found on Mastercoin-explorer and Blockchain.info

There is still a lot of work to do but at least we are getting somewhere. I hope somebody else can send some multisig transactions soon so we can finalise the spec and start working on the next feature

This will be my last post for a while as I will be leaving the country and be without internet for a few days. See you all on monday

Great work Tachikoma you are spearheading this thing and single-handedly inspiring development in mastercoin. keep doing what you are doing!!!

Dacoinmaster,

Would it be possible to create a short video (and post it on YT) that would explain in simple English what your project is about? My gut feeling is telling me it is something big, but I can't conceptualize it. Pictures would be welcome explaining how e.g. this decentralized exchange would work. Seeing a picture will help understand your project more than words. Pictures stay in brain for a longer time.

The reason I ask for this that I am neither a good speaker of English (which is a minor problem), but I am also a non-techie (which is a bigger problem).

Let me give you an example of a non-techie level: when you speak that Mastercoin protocol is a higher level protocol built upon Bitcoin protocol and you give the example of http built upon tcp/ip, then I neither have a clue of tcp/ip is nor have knowledge what http is (except for I use http everyday - but I have no clue what it is - it is too abstract).

Thanks

It is possible to understand the potential of this project without understanding the technology, but you DO have to have a pretty good grasp of how markets work to understand the explosive potential of MasterCoin. You also need to be able to understand the limitations of bitcoin as it is today.

Putting on my marketing hat for a moment:

Somebody with a background in trading stocks and other assets will immediately grasp how groundbreaking it is to have distributed, unregulated exchange between assets, and the ability to pseudo-anonymously (as anonymous as bitcoin can get) place bets on real-world assets. There is an UNBELIEVABLE amount of money waiting for something like this, and only ~600k MasterCoins.

If, on top of all that, the escrow-backed currencies work as I expect, the real-world applications for distributed currencies with stable values would make MasterCoins yet another order of magnitude more valuable.

The difficulty of understanding the potential of MasterCoin is not a limitation of technical understanding, but a limitation of understanding how markets work (and how freakishly big they are), and a limitation of imagination.

Our ~600k MasterCoins are worth about 12000 BTC at current prices (about $1.5M). MasterCoins don't have a huge market cap right now because there are also a lot of risks. A TON of very real risks from numerous sources (potential competitors, technical risks, security risks, etc). However, I believe we are on track so far to overcome those risks.

Can anybody else add to that marketing pitch?

You pretty much nailed it but to add my 2 satoshi's...Mastercoin is a layer on top of bitcoin allowing creation or trades of escrow backed currencies and commodity without the licensing or regulatory limitation. It mimics the functionality of wall street or "the city" (London equivalent) virtually in a decentralized manner. Brief digestible information is given here at: http://wiki.mastercoin.org/index.php/FAQ...I still think that other newbies looking in should have an introductory video to summarize and explain Mastercoin and its potential without taken too much time...like how its done for colored coin here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmFjmvwPGKU a competing idea.

All the info is in the first posting of this thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=265488.msg2841328#msg2841328
The address you're talking about is called the "Exodus address": http://blockchain.info/address/1EXoDusjGwvnjZUyKkxZ4UHEf77z6A5S4P

Thanks.

The address received 4,740 BTC, paid out 411 BTC, final balance 4,329 BTC.

One of the pay outs was to gmaxwell. He is a programmer I think. Do I understand it well that BTCs deposited in exodus address are used / will be used for programming and development of the system. How much of the remaining 4,329 BTC will be used this way?

Yes this is correct, all funds are towards the hiring/ development of mastercoin features. The process of awards has been quite diplomatic thus far

[Loozik]

The address received 4,740 BTC, paid out 411 BTC, final balance 4,329 BTC.

One of the pay outs was to gmaxwell. He is a programmer I think. Do I understand it well that BTCs deposited in exodus address are used / will be used for programming and development of the system. How much of the remaining 4,329 BTC will be used this way?

Yes this is correct, all funds are towards the hiring/ development of mastercoin features. The process of awards has been quite diplomatic thus far

1. People or even maybe businesses paid / crowdfunded BTC 4,740 = USD 640,000 to get a project going and paid for the creation of its features. This is fantastic.

2. I just knew crowdfunding would work in crypto realm for developing a particular project / features within a project! - and even proposed how this could be done in respect to speeding-up the Bitcoin development: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=210130.msg2209663#msg2209663 TBF developers didn't like it and decided to continue to be underpaid / non-paid for their general (not defined by objectives) work instead of being paid for particular features.

3. Who's your daddy?  

4. Dacoinminster has balls. I already like his sensible approach to pushing things forward.

[maxmint]

Just a work-in-progress update on my (thin) Mastercoin client.

That's awesome Tachikoma! Can't wait to put my hands on this!

[ripper234]

FYI I'm in the "Bitcoin Alternatives" panel today at the Bitcoin Europe conference today, will talk about Mastercoin.

[NewLiberty]

FYI I'm in the "Bitcoin Alternatives" panel today at the Bitcoin Europe conference today, will talk about Mastercoin.

Looking forward to it.

[ripper234]

I have a happy announcement to make - mastercoin.org website is launched!
(DNS propagation might take a while)

If you have suggestions for improving the content of the website, please post them here.

I'd like to thank Mich Palmer for taking the time to setup the site, just in time for my talk today