Has anyone integrated an alt-chain with Open Transactions yet?

[moonmoon]

Just wondering if there are any alts out there that have been integrated with Open Transactions?  As I understand it, OTX is a protocol.  I have not downloaded the code to try it out yet, but is there a core reference OTX p2p network, that you then interface with via the protocol.  Or do protocol implementers essentially run their own network?

Presumably at some point in the future, one would be able to connect to an (or "the"?) OTX network and exchange alt-chain 1 for alt-chain 2 or any other supported virtual financial asset or vehicle. 

Are there example of anyone who has done this yet?  Or is it still uncharted territory?

[fellowtraveler]

There are only two ways to use a blockchain-based currency in OT:

1. Trust an issuer to hold the coins, and then he issues the corresponding units inside OT. Markm's OT server is doing this now. This is the same as if he was holding gold, or dollars, etc.

2. Eliminate the issuer by putting the coins into a multi-sig voting pool. We are working on this now and should have the code ready soon. Note that this will only work with blockchains that support multi-sig.

[defaced]

Started looking into open transactions. That is some pretty neat stuff. Compiling now

[moonmoon]

There are only two ways to use a blockchain-based currency in OT:

1. Trust an issuer to hold the coins, and then he issues the corresponding units inside OT. Markm's OT server is doing this now. This is the same as if he was holding gold, or dollars, etc.

2. Eliminate the issuer by putting the coins into a multi-sig voting pool. We are working on this now and should have the code ready soon. Note that this will only work with blockchains that support multi-sig.

Can miners be issuers?  Or mining pools would act as issuers?  Or is this more like, somebody sets up an issuer that acts like a local exchanger, you send your mined coins to them, and they send you the OT tradeable units.  You are trusting them to be your reserve bank.

With #2, once you do this, can you then trade and perform transactions with the coins in the voting pool, or do you still need to convert them into tradeable units?

Also for #2, does this require a bitcoin-based blockchain, or does it only require a multi-signature interface that you could have a different type of blockchain behind?

Last question for now - so is there one OTX P2P network, that everyone using OTX will connect to?  To facilitate trades between assets I might define, and assets somebody else might define.

Sorry if too many questions.  But OT is very interesting to me and I have some ideas for something I want to build.

[fellowtraveler]

There are only two ways to use a blockchain-based currency in OT:

1. Trust an issuer to hold the coins, and then he issues the corresponding units inside OT. Markm's OT server is doing this now. This is the same as if he was holding gold, or dollars, etc.

2. Eliminate the issuer by putting the coins into a multi-sig voting pool. We are working on this now and should have the code ready soon. Note that this will only work with blockchains that support multi-sig.

Can miners be issuers?  Or mining pools would act as issuers?

FYI, mining pools have nothing to do with voting pools. Totally separate concepts.

You can ignore the concept of mining pools for the purposes of this discussion.

Or is this more like, somebody sets up an issuer that acts like a local exchanger, you send your mined coins to them, and they send you the OT tradeable units.  You are trusting them to be your reserve bank.

This is correct. The issuer is the guy you trust to hold your gold, and issue tradeable units in return. You are trusting him to return the gold to you, when you return the tradeable units to him.

(This is why I prefer #2 over #1 -- because I want to eliminate the need to use a trusted issuer.)

With #2, once you do this, can you then trade and perform transactions with the coins in the voting pool, or do you still need to convert them into tradeable units?

The whole point of putting the coins into the voting pool, is so they can be safely stored, so that when the server gives you tradeable units, you are able to use the tradeable units, without having to trust the server with your actual coins.

So yes, there are tradeable units, the same as in (1) -- the only difference is, you don't have to trust the server not to steal your coins.

See this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teNzIFu5L70&feature=youtu.be

Also, this article:  http://bitcoinism.blogspot.com/2013/12/voting-pools-how-to-stop-plague-of.html

Also for #2, does this require a bitcoin-based blockchain, or does it only require a multi-signature interface that you could have a different type of blockchain behind?

Technically speaking, this will work with any blockchain that supports multi-sig.

Last question for now - so is there one OTX P2P network, that everyone using OTX will connect to?  To facilitate trades between assets I might define, and assets somebody else might define.

OT is federated, meaning:  many servers, many clients, and each client talks to many servers. A server is not an authority over a client, but a cloud commodity.

OT (the library) is not P2P itself, but OT clients will be integrated with P2P networks for various purposes. For example, the upcoming Bitmessage integration into the OT desktop GUI will allow clients to discover other clients for various purposes such as price discovery, wiring, legacy bank integration, etc. In that case, Bitmessage acts as the P2P layer -- but notice it's just incorporated into the same application that OT is, versus being directly integrated into OT itself. (Which would be unnecessary.)

[moonmoon]

Multi-sig seems the way to go, at least when it comes to "coins".

So does this mean that there could be many P2P networks that support OT protocol, and the user can choose to connect to different ones?  Or BitMessage will sort of be the de facto OT P2P network?

Kind of like how there is Bitcoin the protocol and Bitcoin the coin that operates on its port.  There will be the OT protocol and the "core" OT network that our users can connect to?

I kind of feel like OT is going to be the next seminal moment in internet history...