○ Marscoin [MRS] Colonizing Mars!

[quarkkid]

One of the devs here.

Official history of Marscoin:
==================

Marscoin was created 1.1.2014 and launch date posted on website for mid-January (official end of the MarsOne indigogo campaign). Pre-mining the initial donation for MarsOne with the help of some early miners who found the project during that time. The team is international right now, with devs in the US, Europe, Russia...

We had slightly over 500k coins outstanding after launch. The majority of which is dedicated to MarsOne. Last week was the first official week. We spread the network launch on space related websites ... space.com, mars society etc. for one week to give them an extra edge for one week. We jumped to 2 MH/s during that week.

This weekend we spread the word at the Bitcoin conference in Miami (as mentioned on the launch page), giving away faucet.marscoin.org cards and officially launching in the Bitcoin community. It was definitely easier to explain the idea of Marscoin to the Bitcoin crowd than the space community. Lot's of great feedback and support!

Any questions, let me know.

Just to let u know , theres a fairly new exchange "cryptorush.in" that has quite a few new coins listed and will list pretty much any coin for a 0.25 btc fee if you are the developer..or the community can just request without paying a fee, they will consider but they might not list it. Just an idea to get ball rolling on trading

[Luke-Jr]

Awesome idea, and justifies the creation of an altcoin... but

Awful parameter selection:

• scrypt is a proven failure.
• There is no demonstrable benefit to faster blocks.
• There is no clear standard for a "Mars minute" with which to define block time in (I'd question if this unit even should be defined).
• Difficulty retarget is probably too fast and will allow luck to influence difficulty a lot.
• Why change total coin supply?

Additionally, it would really make sense to try to address the shortcomings of Bitcoin with known solutions, in any new altcoin.
I don't see any evidence of that here..

[novalis788]

Awesome idea, and justifies the creation of an altcoin... but

Awful parameter selection:

• scrypt is a proven failure.
• There is no demonstrable benefit to faster blocks.
• There is no clear standard for a "Mars minute" with which to define block time in (I'd question if this unit even should be defined).
• Difficulty retarget is probably too fast and will allow luck to influence difficulty a lot.
• Why change total coin supply?

Additionally, it would really make sense to try to address the shortcomings of Bitcoin with known solutions, in any new altcoin.
I don't see any evidence of that here..

The devs are pretty active on IRC @freenode #MRS and #Marscoin, they would probably love to hear from you. It's an international team, I am pretty sure they might be interested in feedback/help.
The faster blocks make sense though if you want to protect yourself from Earth miners (see discussion in their forum under "Evil Earth Miner Scenario". The retargeting is similar to 540 block coins, like Terracoin.

Regarding the coin supply: it aligns with the departure of the Marscoin blockchain to Mars:

2014 50 coins
2016 25 coins
2018 12 coins
2020 6   coins
2022 3   coins
2024 1   coin

[Luke-Jr]

The faster blocks make sense though if you want to protect yourself from Earth miners (see discussion in their forum under "Evil Earth Miner Scenario".

Except it does nothing to protect you...
Earth just needs more hashrate, and their blockchain trumps Mars', no matter how delayed.

The retargeting is similar to 540 block coins, like Terracoin.

Imitating a scamcoin which has had problems as a direct result of the change, is not the best idea

Regarding the coin supply: it aligns with the departure of the Marscoin blockchain to Mars:

Why is this a good thing? I'd think it make more sense to have most of the coins mined on Mars itself, not most on Earth...

[novalis788]

The faster blocks make sense though if you want to protect yourself from Earth miners (see discussion in their forum under "Evil Earth Miner Scenario".

Except it does nothing to protect you...
Earth just needs more hashrate, and their blockchain trumps Mars', no matter how delayed.

It will make it harder as it adds a much higher burden on a co-ordinated attack from Earth. Yes, they will have more hashing power, but to advance such a large blockchain in such a short time frame it will need a concerted effort from Earth to do that. On top of that, if the Marscoin network adds a timestamping or other security measures that are local to Mars an attack from Earth is impossible due to the distance.

The retargeting is similar to 540 block coins, like Terracoin.

Imitating a scamcoin which has had problems as a direct result of the change, is not the best idea

Terracoin's solution to its problems was adopting a 540 retarget. They are by far not the only Litecoin blockchains with a similar retargeting interval. Check out the discussions here: https://github.com/terracoin/terracoin/issues/14

Regarding the coin supply: it aligns with the departure of the Marscoin blockchain to Mars:

Why is this a good thing? I'd think it make more sense to have most of the coins mined on Mars itself, not most on Earth...

Depends. The idea is to raise the money NOW to actually help make the Mars mission a reality. Thus you increase the incentive for people to get into the currency before the blockchain leaves. Once on Mars, the Marscolonists have better things to do than to put their servers on a mining armsrace - Marscoin on Mars will then mainly become a transaction network. If need be, the minimal mining that will continue could be monopolized by MarsOne or whoever runs the base to pay early Mars settlers to incentivise the growth of the colony.

Appreciate your thoughts and input!!

[Luke-Jr]

The faster blocks make sense though if you want to protect yourself from Earth miners (see discussion in their forum under "Evil Earth Miner Scenario".

Except it does nothing to protect you...
Earth just needs more hashrate, and their blockchain trumps Mars', no matter how delayed.

It will make it harder as it adds a much higher burden on a co-ordinated attack from Earth. Yes, they will have more hashing power, but to advance such a large blockchain in such a short time frame it will need a concerted effort from Earth to do that.

I don't see how; the terrestials will just naturally create a forked blockchain, and if they have a higher hashrate, it will replace the martian one as soon as it gets far enough ahead...

On top of that, if the Marscoin network adds a timestamping or other security measures that are local to Mars an attack from Earth is impossible due to the distance.

I'm not aware of any such measures that can be taken without centralising the currency.

Regarding the coin supply: it aligns with the departure of the Marscoin blockchain to Mars:

Why is this a good thing? I'd think it make more sense to have most of the coins mined on Mars itself, not most on Earth...

Depends. The idea is to raise the money NOW to actually help make the Mars mission a reality. Thus you increase the incentive for people to get into the currency before the blockchain leaves. Once on Mars, the Marscolonists have better things to do than to put their servers on a mining armsrace - Marscoin on Mars will then mainly become a transaction network. If need be, the minimal mining that will continue could be monopolized by MarsOne or whoever runs the base to pay early Mars settlers to incentivise the growth of the colony.

Raising the money is done with the premine. Beyond that, it doesn't help raise money at all.
If all the subsidy is mined before leaving Earth, then where is the incentive for martians to mine at all, much less maintain the same hashrate as it had on Earth?
Keep in mind that the difficulty needs to be high enough to make it resistant to attacks...

[novalis788]

I'm not aware of any such measures that can be taken without centralising the currency.

Similar to a timestamping server here on Earth (or yes, even an ICANN like construct, but that is centralization, indeed). It will be in the Mars colonists' economic best self-interest to install server(s) that issue a list of timestamp marked credentials - which could be incorporated in each block to verify the mining occurred on Mars.

Raising the money is done with the premine. Beyond that, it doesn't help raise money at all.

Yes it does: the 300k (now 400k) of premined Marscoins are worth nothing at this point (well, on reddit they go for 10-80cents right now). If the incentive is strong enough, more and more fiat currencies will be exchanged for Marscoin driving up the price for Marscoins. That alone will make the initial premining worthwhile and allow MarsOne to actually make use of it. Maybe I should have said "allows to fund activities and make purchases in fiat related to the actual mission roadmap" instead of "raise money".

Keep in mind that the difficulty needs to be high enough to make it resistant to attacks...

See the above answer regarding the credentials incorporated into each block by a (network) of security servers that could form the backbone of a Martian internet.

Let me know what needs to be done, in your opinion, to convince you of Marscoin? Curious!

[Luke-Jr]

I'm not aware of any such measures that can be taken without centralising the currency.

Similar to a timestamping server here on Earth (or yes, even an ICANN like construct, but that is centralization, indeed). It will be in the Mars colonists' economic best self-interest to install server(s) that issue a list of timestamp marked credentials - which could be incorporated in each block to verify the mining occurred on Mars.

If a centralised system is desired, no blockchain is necessary at all.
Earth does not have any such timestamping restrictions on blocks.

Raising the money is done with the premine. Beyond that, it doesn't help raise money at all.

Yes it does: the 300k (now 400k) of premined Marscoins are worth nothing at this point (well, on reddit they go for 10-80cents right now). If the incentive is strong enough, more and more fiat currencies will be exchanged for Marscoin driving up the price for Marscoins. That alone will make the initial premining worthwhile and allow MarsOne to actually make use of it. Maybe I should have said "allows to fund activities and make purchases in fiat related to the actual mission roadmap" instead of "raise money".

Higher supply decreases value, not increases it... so this doesn't really argue why it should be increased quicker.

Let me know what needs to be done, in your opinion, to convince you of Marscoin? Curious!

Well, now it sounds like the goal is a centralised system masquerading as a decentralised one...
I'd be more inclined to support a system that improves on Bitcoin (or at least retains its functionality) rather than seems to be introducing new problems without addressing the existing ones.

[crocko]

How much worth this MarsCoin ?

I mean in BTC, LTC ..

[novalis788]

http://www.reddit.com/r/marscoin/comments/1we9bz/buy_marscoin/

[crocko]

http://www.reddit.com/r/marscoin/comments/1we9bz/buy_marscoin/

Some posts on reddit.com aren't a proof.

If MRS worth something, why this coin is not listed on Cryptsy / Coinex etc ? Like the MOON, DOGE, Terracoin  ?

[novalis788]

If a centralised system is desired, no blockchain is necessary at all.
Earth does not have any such timestamping restrictions on blocks.

It is not "desired" - it would only be necessary in the unlikely event of a massive attack from Earth. Something we could discuss for the next 10 years to figure out. How to best address.

Higher supply decreases value, not increases it... so this doesn't really argue why it should be increased quicker.

Psychology: "Oh no, all Marscoin will be gone by the time they leave". Vs. "Oh, they have 100 Mio. Marscoins of which only 30 Mio are mined on Earth, who cares, my grandchildren can mine on Mars".

Well, now it sounds like the goal is a centralised system masquerading as a decentralised one...
I'd be more inclined to support a system that improves on Bitcoin (or at least retains its functionality) rather than seems to be introducing new problems without addressing the existing ones.

Welcome suggestions how you would implement such a system, initially, when Mars mining server are week and hashrate on Earth is high. So far Marscoin is completely decentral and if we can keep it that way, the better. Check out http://mars-project.com for discussions on this topic and/or the Marscoin IRC channel.

[quarkkid]

If a centralised system is desired, no blockchain is necessary at all.
Earth does not have any such timestamping restrictions on blocks.

It is not "desired" - it would only be necessary in the unlikely event of a massive attack from Earth. Something we could discuss for the next 10 years to figure out. How to best address.

Higher supply decreases value, not increases it... so this doesn't really argue why it should be increased quicker.

Psychology: "Oh no, all Marscoin will be gone by the time they leave". Vs. "Oh, they have 100 Mio. Marscoins of which only 30 Mio are mined on Earth, who cares, my grandchildren can mine on Mars".

Well, now it sounds like the goal is a centralised system masquerading as a decentralised one...
I'd be more inclined to support a system that improves on Bitcoin (or at least retains its functionality) rather than seems to be introducing new problems without addressing the existing ones.

Welcome suggestions how you would implement such a system, initially, when Mars mining server are week and hashrate on Earth is high. So far Marscoin is completely decentral and if we can keep it that way, the better. Check out http://mars-project.com for discussions on this topic and/or the Marscoin IRC channel.

Hey man, are you pushing for any exchanges?

[Luke-Jr]

Well, now it sounds like the goal is a centralised system masquerading as a decentralised one...
I'd be more inclined to support a system that improves on Bitcoin (or at least retains its functionality) rather than seems to be introducing new problems without addressing the existing ones.

Welcome suggestions how you would implement such a system, initially, when Mars mining server are week and hashrate on Earth is high.

Yeah, I did give it some thought a few hours ago, but I was unable to come up with a workable solution
I suppose martians could prioritise an ASIC foundry and manufacture a proprietary implementation of some new proof-of-work.
It might leak to Earth, but hopefully by then it will be "too late"? :p

[Ng93]

Looks good

[novalis788]

Hey man, are you pushing for any exchanges?

Pushing hard...all help welcome!

cryptsy.freshdesk.com/support/discussions/topics/64091

We spoke to cryptsy CEO Paul Vernon at BTCMiami. Guess what, he is a MarsOne fan and liked the idea. Said they look at hashrate, community engagement, general idea of the coin before they list it. Just have to keep growing Marscoin in popularity and cryptsy will list.

Also applied at https://crypto-trade.com/ and https://cryptorush.in

Please support with votes and comments.

[novalis788]

Yeah, I did give it some thought a few hours ago, but I was unable to come up with a workable solution
I suppose martians could prioritise an ASIC foundry and manufacture a proprietary implementation of some new proof-of-work.
It might leak to Earth, but hopefully by then it will be "too late"? :p

LOL, yes: Eventually Mars colonists will overtake Earth anyways - they are closer to the Asteroid belt and can 3d metal-print giant scrypt-ASICS. Puny Earth network will shake in fear :-) The first interplanetary war will be about hashing power, 

[dombra]

i have 15000 MRS to sell for 0.75 or PM your offer

[quarkkid]

Why is the diff taking so long to go up??

[novalis788]

Why is the diff taking so long to go up??

2014-02-01 05:00:26   nActualTimespan = 85786  before bounds
2014-02-01 05:00:26 GetNextWorkRequired RETARGET
2014-02-01 05:00:26 nTargetTimespan = 88775    nActualTimespan = 85786
2014-02-01 05:00:26 Before: 1d01d3c9  00000001d3c90000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
2014-02-01 05:00:26 After:  1d01c408  00000001c408fd5b0c013bf5ee1d85f4ce350de114be0efd4c4849d87cd45217


acording to the logs on my end, the network is producing blocks about 3% too fast, and it does appear to have changed the difficulty slightly to match (thanks cleverca22 for pointing out)