Open Transactions Server: Asset/Bond/Commodity/Cryptocoin/Deed/Share/Stock Exch.

[markm]

From a litecoin-exchange thread:

How many confirmations is the exchange going to want before accepting a deposit?

That reminded me:

We do not accept deposits! Wanna buy some tokens, okay, maybe we will sell you some tokens.

We are not a deposit-accepting entity! (Very important, apparently!)

-MarkM-

[markm]

It seems we need to add handling for much larger inboxes than the original code expected people to have, as test users posting 72 or more offers at a time two or three times a day then not downloading their inboxes until all the offers had expired were running into inbox-size problems.

The plan to deal with this is to check size and if too large break the download automatically behind the scenes into parts.

In the meantime a limit of ten cron items (e.g. offers) per nym has been put in place, which might not impact you directly but might indirectly due to the fact it means all the market-makers will not be posting their automatic offers anymore to fill the markets with offers.

-MarkM-

[da2ce7]

Windows Release:

https://github.com/downloads/da2ce7/Moneychanger/da2ce7-Moneychanger-00.10.06.7z

Code:

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Hope everyone likes it!  Please report bugs. 

[nedbert9]

@markm


Rather than dumping on the project because it wouldn't satisfy the masses need for convenience I'll just point out the serious, logical point.


Less security should be optional.  Not a design requirement.


Love the project.  Biggest reason why is due to most hacks in the Bitcoin space being enabled by operator negligence.

[fellowtraveler]

@markm


Rather than dumping on the project because it wouldn't satisfy the masses need for convenience I'll just point out the serious, logical point.


Less security should be optional.  Not a design requirement.


Love the project.  Biggest reason why is due to most hacks in the Bitcoin space being enabled by operator negligence.

Just pointing out that the "masses need for convenience" is something that must be supplied by user applications, not by software libraries that are linked inside those user applications.

No one would describe the OpenSSL library as "convenient for the masses" but that doesn't mean that convenient software cannot be written using the OpenSSL library.

The Open-Transactions library is the same way.

[da2ce7]

New version

https://github.com/downloads/da2ce7/Moneychanger/da2ce7-Moneychanger-00.10.07.7z

Code:

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Please note that the Java, VC Runtime, and OpenSSL must be of the same type (eg. Win32 or x64)

[markm]

So, anyone having any difficulty getting the new WIndows release up and running?

I do not seem to be seeing much traffic at what is still the only server currently open to the public...

I was going to start setting up another server, but if no one is able to get to the one that is already online maybe it is a bit soon for that?

-MarkM-

[scrybe]

Just saw this, checking it out now.

I was able to get the dependencies in, but I'm going to have to do some reading to see what I should set the "password image" directory to point to.

Perfect timing to start playing with OT I guess, yay GUI!

[scrybe]

Just saw this, checking it out now.

I was able to get the dependencies in, but I'm going to have to do some reading to see what I should set the "password image" directory to point to.

Perfect timing to start playing with OT I guess, yay GUI!

ok, figured that  out, makes sense.

Now I'm realizing that I want 32bit MSVC and and OpenSSL components because I'm not runnign 64-bit Java. Doh.

[EskimoBob]

Any ideas how transfer the remnants of Nefarios major fuck up of GLBSE over to Open Transactions?
Can you post your ideas to https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=115825.0

Thank you.
PS! I really like to see GLBSE fiasco to get fixed and without ever involving those people again in any future plan.
 

[da2ce7]

New Windows Version.... Including Opentxs!!

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=77301

[markm]

I have started adding to the Devtome wiki page about the server so that hopefully the wiki page can start to be of some actual use to users and potential users of the server.

Also in case anyone didn't already hear about it, I now also run the OTdemo Open Transactions server, which also has a a Devtome wiki page (which probably also needs more work done on it).

-MarkM-

[markm]

The server has been updated to the latest Open Transactions code, so you should now be able to export blinded cash purses to a passphrase instead of to a specific nym and to import purses that are thusly encrypted to a passphrase instead of to a specific nym.

This new version should also allow "usage tokens" to be assigned to nyms, ready for when we turn on the charging of "usage tokens".

There will thus be a grace period before the server starts actually charging usage tokens during which active nyms can obtain usage tokens free so that when we turn on the charging of them there will be some active nyms who actually have some.

Once the charging of usage tokens is shown to work, usage tokens will cease being free; how much they will cost we won't know until we see how many normal usage of the system tends to consume.

REMEMBER that Open Transactions has no percentage based fees; any API call your client makes costs a usage token, regardless whether the call is a request for information (your balance, the list of markets, the offers on a market and so on) or the making of an offer or the transfer of millions of coins or whatever. Currently an API call is an API call, they all cost the same: one "usage token" per API call.

-MarkM-

[becoin]

The server has been updated to the latest Open Transactions code

Mark, OT server is a brilliant concept and fulfillment but is actually quite vulnerable to government attacks in different jurisdictions from legal and regulatory point of view. Have you ever thought of merging OT server with Electrum server project?

[marcus_of_augustus]

The server has been updated to the latest Open Transactions code

Mark, OT server is a brilliant concept and fulfillment but is actually quite vulnerable to government attacks in different jurisdictions from legal and regulatory point of view. Have you ever thought of merging OT server with Electrum server project?

Yes, it has been thought of. There is also already a python OT API library.

Further, da2ce7 has some interesting ideas that will integrate server contract ID with bitcoin addresses themselves and via P2SH amybe able to piggy-back on to the bitcoin network's hash power to secure OT servers against attacks and malfeasance ... stay tuned.

[fellowtraveler]

The server has been updated to the latest Open Transactions code

Mark, OT server is a brilliant concept and fulfillment but is actually quite vulnerable to government attacks in different jurisdictions from legal and regulatory point of view.

If you are openly running a server in a given jurisdiction, and if that server is being used to process real money (vs, say, game tokens) then I could see how you could come under the jurisdiction of local authorities, and need to comply with AML and KYC requirements. (Also, keep in mind, in OT there is a difference between a "server operator" and a "currency issuer.")

However I don't see any technical barriers to running an OT server anonymously on an anonymous network, and being paid to do so in Bitcoin. I'm not recommending that anyone actually do this, but I'm curious how you believe an OT server, in that scenario, is "actually quite vulnerable to government attacks" ? Doesn't the use of Bitcoin for moving funds on/off of an OT server mean that the server can operate in a censorship-resistant fashion? What good is Bitcoin otherwise?

I'm also curious how Silk Road could still be operating, if that were true, since it seems like a similar example.

Have you ever thought of merging OT server with Electrum server project?

Please be specific about what you are trying to accomplish. For example, why would you integrate the OT server with anything at all? Normally, commands are sent to the OT server from the various clients, using the OT client API. (https://github.com/FellowTraveler/Open-Transactions/wiki/Use-Cases)

So NORMALLY, if you wanted to integrate OT into some other software, you would be integrating the OT client API, not the server.

My (limited) understanding is that the "Electrum server" is actually a Bitcoin client. In which case, I could understand the value of integrating the OT client API into it, the same as I could understand the value of integrating the OT API into any other Bitcoin client (or Bittorrent client... or web client... or sip client...) but I'm still not sure exactly what you are trying to accomplish through the integration. Technically you can already link OT to anything else, since OT has a powerful command-line utility that is fully-scriptable. So any UNIX-style scripting to connect OT with other transaction systems is completely possible.

If your point is that OT needs a graphical user interface, I agree with you--but Knotwork is a server operator, not a coder, so he is unlikely to be the person who writes the UI integration you desire. I am also unlikely to take on some new project (such as a commercial-grade client), since my free time is already all booked up on OT itself, which represents (so far) 3 years of my life spent working to create software for you, for free. Thus it will have to be left to you (the open-source community) to "stand on the shoulders of giants" and create whatever OT clients or integrations you need. Luckily, it has specifically been designed for this purpose, and so those of you who choose to do so, will find the path has already been cleared.

[da2ce7]

New Windows Builds are OUT:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=77301

 

[markm]

The "usage tokens" system is now active on the Digitalis server.

That means each API call now costs one "usage token".

Which in turn means you need "usage tokens" to do anything on that server.

How much "usage tokens" will be worth is something the market is going to have to figure out I guess, presumably by the famous process known as "price discovery".

-MarkM-

[cbeast]

Are usage tokens pre-mined? Are usage tokens similar to XRM on Ripple?

[markm]

Are usage tokens pre-mined? Are usage tokens similar to XRM on Ripple?

They function similarly to XRP in the sense that they ration the use of server resources.

But they are not a currency nor an asset, they are outside the system, outside the markets; they are arbitrary credits the server operator assigns to nyms (identities) and which the server consumes at the rate of one credit per API call.

Currently all API calls cost the same, one credit aka token per API call.

Since quite likely some API calls consume far more system-resources than others possibly this initial simple system will need to be adjusted to charge more for actions that consume a lot of resources.

The system operator can make up these tokens aka credits out of thin air, they are not transferable from one identity to another nor can you trade them on the markets. There is not yet even any built in mechanism for requesting them from the system operator nor for offering bribes or inducements to the system operator to encourage said operator to assign you some of these tokens aka credits.

They are not transferable from server to server either: if I assign one of your identities some on the Digitalis server that is local to the Digitalis server, they cannot migrate to the OTdemo server.

What they do do is give the server a way of paying its bills other than by taking a percentage of trades or transfers.

There is no mechanism for taking any percentage of trades or transfers.

I had imagined volume traders would flock to Open Transactions precisely because the higher the volume you trade the more damage you would take from percentage-based fees; I figured paying a tiny fee per API call would be far cheaper for professional traders than being charged a fraction of every trade, a larger fee the larger the trade.

Of course this usage tokens approach also means window-shopping is not free; an API call to obtain prices as just as much an API call as is an API call to make or take an offer...

-MarkM-