[ANN] Ethereum: Welcome to the Beginning

[charleshoskinson]

At what time (please also state the timezone) will the IPO start on Feb 1st?

Good old 00:00 GMT

[bananahunter67]

Good luck!

I am definately in.  

A few questions here:

1.

Early investors for taking a great risk due to the uncertainty of investment will be rewarded by a bonus of 2*initial investment for the first week and then this bonus decays by 2 percent per day for the remainder of the fundraiser until it reaches a floor of the base exchange rate of 0.001 BTC per 1 Ether

Could you please put some more light on this statement, for example, if I invest 1 BTC within the first week, how much Ethers will I end win at the end of the fundraising period?

2. Where can I find a client for Linux and install it, if it is still not created, how can I get the ethers I am going to buy from the IPO?

Thanks and good luck again!  

Bump.

[ZBBBB]

Looking forward to it!

[revjp]

This is super exciting. I've been following this for a while now and the more I read, the more interested in it I am!

[Rampion]

• After the fundraiser closes, the total sum of ether produced will be denoted as X and we will instantiate a premine of 0.50*X for the fiduciary members, early stakeholders, strategic partners, a pool for use between the conclusion of the fundraiser and the launch of mining and finally a long term endowment. Specific percentages will be discussed in the Prospectus to be released on the day of the fundraiser (Feb 1st)

A premine? 50% of the whole supply? REALLY?

Isn't the massive amount of BTC you will probably gather in the IPO enough?

It seems to me that greed is taking over.

[LeChatNoir]

Dear Ethereum developers,
may i ask why you are fixing fee ratios instead of allowing the market to adjust them in the future?
Isn't it the same as trying to fix prices in a centrally planned economy?
What will happen if for a certain "x", DATAFEE will be too low (below real market value) and NEWCONTRACTFEE will be too high at the same time?
Don't you run the risk that some very good applications will not be built or run properly, while others "bad" applications will because of this?

GL for the project!

[Anduck]

Looks like another way to get money and give nothing back. Where did you dump your other projects? The ones people also invested into...

[Djinou94]

Interested
Want to invest 0.2btc how to do?

[E.Sam]

Interested
Want to invest 0.2btc how to do?

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=428589.msg4683379#msg4683379

[Anotheranonlol]

Trust Over IP to Bitcoin's Money Over IP . It is an ambitious project, one of the most exciting in this space for some years. Keeping an eye on the latest progress

[Djinou94]

Interested
Want to invest 0.2btc how to do?

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=428589.msg4683379#msg4683379

That's mean we have to wait 7 days and 21 hours ?

[ddink7]

I've read all 28 pages on the other thread, and all the posts on this one so far. I'm surprised at so many people who are opposed to the founders' share. My take on it is this: if you invent potentially world-changing technology, and that technology succeeds, you deserve to be rewarded. I don't see anybody here complaining about how much money Larry Page and Sergey Brin made off Google!

The founders' ether doesn't even begin to vest until one year after launch, and doesn't finish vesting until three years after launch. That means two things: first, there is no "insant profit" for the founders...they only make money if they create long-term value. Secondly, their premine shares are "locked," which means that even though there is an initial 33% premine (0.5X), no portion of that money will show up on exchanges until 1-3 years have passed. For all practical purposes, that ether doesn't even exist until it vests.

Some of you have said "but they get the bitcoins, and then they get a share of ether, too!" But you aren't reading their terms carefully enough--those bitcoins go to pay for development. They do not go into the pockets of the founders (other than inasmuch as they are paid salaries, as employees). If you think they are lying, well that's another thing entirely. Given the caliber of the founders' and their reputation, I think that is seriously unlikely.

Another thing I don't understand is how people understand ratios so poorly. Would you rather 1000 coins at $10 profit each, or 100 coins at $100 profit each? (HINT: It's the same amount either way!).

TL;DR If you think ethereum just faces too many technical and legal hurdles, or that it's just too risky, then don't invest. But if you think this has true potential and you decide not to invest "on principle" because you feel like the founders are making too much money, then you're a damn fool.

[E.Sam]

Interested
Want to invest 0.2btc how to do?

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=428589.msg4683379#msg4683379

That's mean we have to wait 7 days and 21 hours ?

[KawalGrover]

Congratulations! I've read the white paper (twice) and I am beginning to understand about 25% of it! Whenever I hear about protocols that support building custom currencies, I get all giddy.

The feeling I had when I first learnt about the MasterCoins project, or ColoredCoins or OpenTransactions or NXT has just been magnified even more by seeing what Ethereum is about to bring to the table.

I will be keeping a close on this one.

[tgerring]

I've read all 28 pages on the other thread, and all the posts on this one so far. I'm surprised at so many people who are opposed to the founders' share. My take on it is this: if you invent potentially world-changing technology, and that technology succeeds, you deserve to be rewarded. I don't see anybody here complaining about how much money Larry Page and Sergey Brin made off Google!

The founders' ether doesn't even begin to vest until one year after launch, and doesn't finish vesting until three years after launch. That means two things: first, there is no "insant profit" for the founders...they only make money if they create long-term value. Secondly, their premine shares are "locked," which means that even though there is an initial 33% premine (0.5X), no portion of that money will show up on exchanges until 1-3 years have passed. For all practical purposes, that ether doesn't even exist until it vests.

Some of you have said "but they get the bitcoins, and then they get a share of ether, too!" But you aren't reading their terms carefully enough--those bitcoins go to pay for development. They do not go into the pockets of the founders (other than inasmuch as they are paid salaries, as employees). If you think they are lying, well that's another thing entirely. Given the caliber of the founders' and their reputation, I think that is seriously unlikely.

Another thing I don't understand is how people understand ratios so poorly. Would you rather 1000 coins at $10 profit each, or 100 coins at $100 profit each? (HINT: It's the same amount either way!).

TL;DR If you think ethereum just faces too many technical and legal hurdles, or that it's just too risky, then don't invest. But if you think this has true potential and you decide not to invest "on principle" because you feel like the founders are making too much money, then you're a damn fool.

Thanks for the coherent thought--it's nice to find between all the troll posts

[Seefude]

Regardless of which technology stacks survive and/or thrive, I think we can all agree that the financial world is in for some major upheaval!

My thoughts exactly! Good luck guys!

[deadace21]

Hey guys,

So if I can jump in here quickly to clear a question out of the air...

It seems that a main concern to many is that, upon the fundraiser/IPO stage, investors can put forth X amount of BTC for 2000 ether(or less as the days progress)... This simply amounts to investing within a company/idea at the early stages, giving the capital needed to produce a product/good/service.

Once this product is created, the worry seems to be that there will be a 50% devaluation of ether, effectively ruining the "profit" of those who got in early.

However, isn't the point that, if true value is created within that time frame, that the 50% devaluation has no real affect, if say, interest in the new protocol/system, has risen exponentially? As in, an increase of the money supply will not affect prices, per se, if the productivity of the market at that time, outpaces the rate of inflation.

I think the idea of escrow services, contracts, reputation services, etc, is crucial, not only to money itself, but to how the internet and the future will be shaped. If Bitcoin was the "TCP/IP" of the internet, then Ethereum is the "HTML/UI Browser" of the internet, which is massive... however/whatever spawns from this innovation, will be where we are today, meaning those who are in the right place at the right time, will be very well off.

Profit is people. When individuals value a good/product/service/etc, they reward it with profit. The division of labor and all other Econ 101 factors come into play and I for one am a bit confused as to the nervousness of this devaluation and why it is viewed negatively.

Could someone help clear the air? Assuming I invest 5 BTC, therefore receiving 10,000 ether, what is the worst/best case scenario after the release?

Sorry for the tangent!

[Financisto]

• The fundraiser will last two months and close at the end of March
• Early investors for taking a great risk due to the uncertainty of investment will be rewarded by a bonus of 2*initial investment for the first week and then this bonus decays by 2 percent per day for the remainder of the fundraiser until it reaches a floor of the base exchange rate of 0.001 BTC per 1 Ether

Greetings Mr. Buterin,

I hope this project shows us much progress! 

BTW, Why not getting a wider period of time in order to raise more funds? Wouldn't anything near a 100 days or + be more appropiate?

What about:

early investors for taking a really HUGE risk due to the uncertainty would be rewarded by a bonus of 10*initial investment for the first week and then this bonus decays by 2 percent per day for the remainder of the fundraiser until it reaches a floor of the base exchange rate of 0.001 BTC per 1 Ether

Summary: More time = Higher fund raising = Higher risk/return ratio

I'm gonna keep a close eye on the development of this.

Keep up the good work!

Cheers!

[RGBKey]

Hey, I don't really understand this, can someone explain it to me? Thanks a lot. It looks cool, but i'm not exactly sure what it is.

[Patel]

This should be posted in Altcoin announcements

Interested though