[ANN][XCP] Counterparty - Pioneering Peer-to-Peer Finance - Official Thread

[520Bit]

The protocol itself is the escrow service, and will credit Alice with the XCP if and only if she sends Sally the BTC within the block expiration period.

I apologize if I am asking too many silly questions, the answers are probably listed in the specs but this gives us a chance for a dumbed down explanation.

Does the system track the BTC transaction via btc-pay and wait for confirmation (1 or 6?) This presumably means that btc-pay payload will require some reference to the original transaction. Once the transaction has been confirmed it will become part of the block chain. The counterparty client will then scan all transactions with XCP references and when it finds this particular one, it releases the XCP from escrow.

Another point is that Sally might intend to send the btc within the block expiration but it is not in her control when the bitcoin transaction is included and in which block. What happens if it is included in the next block after expiration.
 

Counterparty doesn't pay attention to confirmations. If the referenced transaction is earlier in the blockchain than the current one. it's valid.

A BTCpay does need to reference a particular order match.

Yes, if Sally does that, then she's out of luck.

In this case, you can also think the Poof-of-Burn period, there is a transaction sent at block 28311, so this guy was out of luck. If you want to make the deal, do it as early as possible. Hesitation will let you lose much.

[physalis]

I'm really having trouble using this guide http://counterpartyd-build.readthedocs.org/en/latest/BuildingFromSource.html..
When i run the command line

cd C:\
git clone https://github.com/xnova/counterpartyd_build
cd counterpartyd_build
C:\Python32\python.exe setup.py

wich is under windows-installing

i get Imput error : No module named win32api

Install the prereq's first

getting another error now,

Successfully installed prettytable python-dateutil requests cherrypy json-rpc py
coin pytest six py colorama
Cleaning up...
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "setup.py", line 488, in <module>
    main()
  File "setup.py", line 480, in main
    setup_startup(paths, run_as_user, with_counterwalletd)
  File "setup.py", line 294, in setup_startup
    f = open("%s" % os.path.join(os.environ['WINDIR'], "counterpartyd.bat"), "w"
)
IOError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: 'C:\\windows\\counterpartyd.bat'

I had the same before. Run cmd with administrator privileges

[Patel]

getting another error now,

Successfully installed prettytable python-dateutil requests cherrypy json-rpc py
coin pytest six py colorama
Cleaning up...
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "setup.py", line 488, in <module>
    main()
  File "setup.py", line 480, in main
    setup_startup(paths, run_as_user, with_counterwalletd)
  File "setup.py", line 294, in setup_startup
    f = open("%s" % os.path.join(os.environ['WINDIR'], "counterpartyd.bat"), "w"
)
IOError: [Errno 13] Permission denied: 'C:\\windows\\counterpartyd.bat'

Delete everything, make sure all the prereqs are installed, then run the first time setup. Make sure your bitcoin conf is properly set, and your client has been reindexed as well before you install counterpartyd

[Fastpow]

Meh i'm so bad at this stuff, is the client only visible in the cmd? Or should there be an interface popping up?

[Patel]

Meh i'm so bad at this stuff, is the client only visible in the cmd? Or should there be an interface popping up?

There will be in 2 weeks a GUI client released

[Fastpow]

Meh i'm so bad at this stuff, is the client only visible in the cmd? Or should there be an interface popping up?

There will be in 2 weeks a GUI client released

Ah ok, is there any way for me (as someone who was too late for the IPO to get some XCP now)?

[PhantomPhreak]

Noob question:

I'm currently reindexing and syncing the blockchain I got from bittorrent, planning to try out Counterparty. I also will be installing an Armory watching-only wallet on this PC for both watching and broadcasting transactions signed offline.

Will I be able to use the same bitcoind and data for both applications, or will the "txindex=1" in bitcoin.conf that I added for Counterparty cause trouble with Armory?

I don't think it should cause any trouble, but you might ask etotheipi just to be sure.

[sixteendigits]

Meh i'm so bad at this stuff, is the client only visible in the cmd? Or should there be an interface popping up?

There will be in 2 weeks a GUI client released

Ah ok, is there any way for me (as someone who was too late for the IPO to get some XCP now)?

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=445740.0

[lonsharim]

Meh i'm so bad at this stuff, is the client only visible in the cmd? Or should there be an interface popping up?

It is command line for now

A GUI should be out in a couple of weeks hopefully.

[ddink7]

I sent my mom an email this morning, since she's been interested in crypto here lately. Can someone correct me if I'm wrong on any point?

So that coin I told you about this morning on the phone—Counterparty—creates the first fully functioning distributed exchange in the world. This is really, really huge. Let me explain:

Suppose Alice has three sheep that she wants to trade for a cow. In a perfect world, she would go to Joe, and give him her three sheep and he would give her his cow. Wunderbar!

In reality, however, this is what would happen:
1)   Alice advertises her sheep for sale through a sheep broker.
2)   The sheep broker finds a buyer who will pay Alice $500 for her sheep, which she accepts.
3)   Alice now takes her $500 to a cow broker.
4)   The cow broker contacts Joe and negotiates a price.
5)   The cow broker calls Alice back and facilitates the trade.
6)   Alice now has the cow, and Joe now has the $500 to do what he wants with it.

From Joe’s point of view, if he really wants three sheep instead of $500, he has to reverse the whole process (since he wasn’t able to “connect” with Alice before she sold the sheep. Joe likewise goes through those same six steps in reverse. One simple transaction—three sheep for a cow—takes a total of twelve steps to execute, and several middlemen each way, who naturally charge fees for their services.

Using Counterparty, Alice could sell her sheep directly to Joe in exchange for his cow. (Dealing with livestock would be very complicated, of course, but imagine the simplicity of exchanging securities, or currencies, or anything digital.)

[physalis]

So nobody can help me with this?

All prerequisites installed, setup completed successful, this is what I get on running "counterpartyd server"

Code:

C:\counterpartyd_build>echo off
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\counterpartyd_build\dist\counterpartyd\counterpartyd.py", line 22, in
 <module>
    from lib import (config, api, zeromq, util, exceptions, bitcoin, blocks)
  File "C:\counterpartyd_build\dist\counterpartyd\lib\zeromq.py", line 14, in <m
odule>
    import zmq
ImportError: No module named zmq

[PhantomPhreak]

Question about escrowing funds for CFD bets. How is that currently handled in the protocol?

For example if I have 100,000 XCP and I want to short the Bitstamp BTC/USD price which is currently at $800 and specify leverage 1, how would escrow work if my bet is matched?

I assume the protocol should take out all my funds and hold them, correct? Because even though the chance is remote, there is still a possibility that BTC/USD will move up to $100,800 in the next block and I lose all my money.

Yes, it's all escrowed away immediately.

[rotalumis]

Noob question:

I'm currently reindexing and syncing the blockchain I got from bittorrent, planning to try out Counterparty. I also will be installing an Armory watching-only wallet on this PC for both watching and broadcasting transactions signed offline.

Will I be able to use the same bitcoind and data for both applications, or will the "txindex=1" in bitcoin.conf that I added for Counterparty cause trouble with Armory?

I don't think it should cause any trouble, but you might ask etotheipi just to be sure.

Thanks. Sent him a PM.

[PhantomPhreak]

Important Announcement: I just pushed a series of commits to the develop branch of the GitHub repository which contain a significant number of new features and a fair number of bug fixes:

• Most visibly, all asset names now include a checksum character at the end which will catch at least all single-character replacements and adjacent transpositions (statistically 90% of typos). Previously issued assets will have the character appended to their names automatically. To create a new asset, you need to calculate the checksum yourself with 'counterparty checksum STRING'. This change may not be permanent (in particular we may want to use a longer checksum), so tell me what you think of the feature. Note that the change is not in the protocol itself, but only in counterpartyd's CLI.
• Assets are now accompanied by up to 42 characters of Unicode text which may serve as a short description of the asset (esp. a link to a website with more information and proof it does what it says).
• The command-line syntax has been tweaked so that '--from' becomes '--source' and '--to' becomes '--destination', for consistency.
• Assets are now callable, if they are set to be so upon first issuance. An asset may be able to be 'called back' by its issuer at a fixed price from a particular date.

Also, the bug that Patel reported before, about cancels not recrediting escrowed funds, has been fixed in both master and develop (but the fix is still somewhat untested).

[PhantomPhreak]

Question about escrowing funds for CFD bets. How is that currently handled in the protocol?

For example if I have 100,000 XCP and I want to short the Bitstamp BTC/USD price which is currently at $800 and specify leverage 1, how would escrow work if my bet is matched?

I assume the protocol should take out all my funds and hold them, correct? Because even though the chance is remote, there is still a possibility that BTC/USD will move up to $100,800 in the next block and I lose all my money.

Yes, it's all escrowed away immediately.

Ok great! Continuing with this scenario: let's say I make this bet (short BTC/USD at $800, leverage 1, with 100,000 XCP in my address) and it's included into block X. In block X+1 BTC/USD spikes to $200,000. Then in block X+2 BTC/USD crashes back to $800.

At the end of block X+1 the bet is closed and I lose all my XCP, correct?

Yes. That's the 'forced liquidation' scenario.

[xnova]

So nobody can help me with this?

All prerequisites installed, setup completed successful, this is what I get on running "counterpartyd server"

Code:

C:\counterpartyd_build>echo off
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\counterpartyd_build\dist\counterpartyd\counterpartyd.py", line 22, in
 <module>
    from lib import (config, api, zeromq, util, exceptions, bitcoin, blocks)
  File "C:\counterpartyd_build\dist\counterpartyd\lib\zeromq.py", line 14, in <m
odule>
    import zmq
ImportError: No module named zmq

Please see my response at https://forums.counterparty.co/index.php?topic=22.new#new

[halfcab123]

What does it mean to short and leverage??

[Patel]

Also, the bug that Patel reported before, about cancels not recrediting escrowed funds, has been fixed in both master and develop (but the fix is still somewhat untested).

Thank you Phantom,

Do I have to rebuild the database? The wallet still does not show the XCP.

I pulled the latest git's, and ran setup.py

[Patel]

Done it.

unfortunately this error came up:

Code:

C:\counterpartyd_build>C:\counterpartyd_build\run.py burn --from=1CibkcwpBRZAMZU
wv6hXE1eNoZ8Mb38cQg --quantity=0.0029
Confirm? (y/N) y
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "C:\counterpartyd_build\dist\counterpartyd\counterpartyd.py", line 585, i
n <module>
    json_print(bitcoin.transmit(unsigned_tx_hex, unsigned=args.unsigned))
  File "C:\counterpartyd_build\dist\counterpartyd\lib\bitcoin.py", line 315, in
transmit
    return rpc('sendrawtransaction', [signed_tx_hex])
  File "C:\counterpartyd_build\dist\counterpartyd\lib\bitcoin.py", line 69, in r
pc
    raise exceptions.BitcoindError('{}'.format(response_json['error']))
lib.exceptions.BitcoindError: {'message': 'TX rejected', 'code': -22}

C:\counterpartyd_build>

Code:

'TX rejected', 'code': -22

 TX rejected?

I am getting this same error when sending.

[physalis]

I am getting this same error

When doing what? If I understand all of this correctly, the burn period is over, so running a burn command like in your quoted text should be rejected.