The Official Mastercoin Foundation, Master Protocol & Mastercoin Thread

[udecker]

JR dumped his MSC at such an early stage when they cost X20 more, the least he can do it to support the price from being turned to zero, but what can you expect from a guy that spends so much money on "development" and a "background" work..

Mishax,

Most of the work that is occurring is happening in the background right now - we’ve got around 10 large organizations integrating Omni Core as we speak.  We’re also focusing on the next release, including 0.10 blockchain compatibility, the DEx, OS X desktop client, Omniwallet.org re-skin, etc.

As has been mentioned a very long time ago (and several times since then), JR sold a good number of his tokens in a private sale over a year ago so that he could focus on the project as the Chief Architect.

During the all-hands meeting today, we’ll be discussing the roadmap, which I will be publishing on the blog, on /r/Omni and here.

All historical All-Hands meeting notes and agendas are available to the community:
https://docs.google.com/a/mastercoin.org/document/d/1-KPu62xbWgMeAq9RRnYv_qHWyNca19-SXZYF1gHz3sE

People here seem to forget - Omni is the widest-deployed meta-asset software in the world, and continues to get more and more integrations (we’re working with exchanges, wallets, ATM’s/Kiosks, payment providers, issuers, etc).  We’ll try to keep everyone apprised of our progress, but I’d rather we get the development work done ;-)

Craig

[udecker]

OMNI DEVELOPMENT ROADMAP (from http://blog.omni.foundation/2015/03/18/omni-development-roadmap/)

This has been a busy few months, with the team’s efforts dedicated to enhancements to the platform and assisting in Omni integrations with partners and other interesting projects.

The most recent release of Omni Wallet Desktop for Windows capped off a strong development cycle, adding Send-to-Owners capability and a QT user interface (for 64-bit Windows and Linux. Mac OS X build forthcoming).

Our forward looking roadmap, as discussed and agreed upon with the team during our most recent all-hands, is as follows:

1. Continue top priority of stability/reliability above all else.
2. The move to Class C (80-Byte OP_RETURN) for most transactions.
3. Bitcoin Core 0.10 headers-first blockchain compatibility
4. Technical debt (multi-packet transactions, useful RPC commands not yet implemented, etc.)
5. Decentralized Exchange phase II RPC (trade between Omni assets and MSC)
6. Decentralized Exchange phase II UI
7. Omniwallet.org redesign launch
8. Address anchoring for metadata
9. Futures market DEx extension
10. Spec and Documentation improvements

Leveraging Sean’s automated testing suites, the 0.0.9.1 release was the most thoroughly tested yet. The team believes strongly that stability and reliability should remain our highest priority.

Zathras has completed a good portion of the Class C transaction work, and is currently refactoring the Class B code for the few cases where Class B transactions will be required (as they won’t fit into 80 bytes).

DexX has made substantial progress on a Bitcoin Core 0.10-based branch of Omni Core.

Technical debt includes the ability for Omni Core to broadcast multi-packet transactions, output raw transactions, include RPC commands for supported and active features such as dynamic asset issuance and the decentralized exchange, high-decimal precision improvements, etc.

Michael’s work on phase II of the decentralized exchange is mostly complete, and Marv and Sean are preparing the test plans as the matching engine logic is finalized.

Thanks to Adam, Tomás and Warren, Omniwallet.org will be getting its new skin (currently at staging.omniwallet.org), dramatically improving user experience.

Working with Paul Snow, the Omni Layer will gain an “address anchoring” method, used by Factom, for ensuring the validity of eligible “publishers” of data on the blockchain.

Patrick and Dave have been working on an innovative futures market extension to the decentralized exchange, allowing advanced market features for Omni assets.

Through all of this, the team is assisting with around two integrations per week, and meeting with 8-12 additional projects, each at various stages, all coordinated by Judith.

We invite the community to provide feedback, to contribute to the development of new features, and to keep innovating on the Omni Layer. The team continues to move the platform forward, with the assistance of some amazing integration partners helping to create the future of finance.

It keeps getting better, and I’m still humbled by the capacity and talent of this team.  Keep up the great work!

Craig

[mishax1]

Thank you for the updates Craig, much appreciated!  Please keep on doing so..

[TraderTimm]

All this back-and-forth reminds me of the old joke about how you can tell programmers from normal people when it comes to sex.

The normal guy will jump in the bed and actually do the deed.

The programmer will sit on the edge of the bed and explain to his increasingly frustrated girlfriend how great the sex they are going to have is going to be...

[udecker]

All this back-and-forth reminds me of the old joke about how you can tell programmers from normal people when it comes to sex.

The normal guy will jump in the bed and actually do the deed.

The programmer will sit on the edge of the bed and explain to his increasingly frustrated girlfriend how great the sex they are going to have is going to be...

If only the frustrated girlfriend would remember how great it is every time, and that it gets better each time…

Point taken, TraderTimm.  Touché. 

Normal is normal.  Exceptional is not (but always has caveats).

Craig

[mmortal03]

The Wikipedia page needs some updating: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mastercoin

[dexX7]

Craig, you're great.

I can see the blog is available, even with Adblock plugins enabled. Thanks!

I'm very happy about:

multi-packet transactions

... as this was my first non-trivial issue I created on the spec.

Would you mind to go into some detail about the following two points?

8. Address anchoring for metadata
9. Futures market DEx extension

I had a few ideas regarding BTC/MSC options, and the concepts/ideas of Patrick Dugan which I saw some time ago were pretty impressive, so I'm even more curious what this is about.

[udecker]

Craig, you're great.

I can see the blog is available, even with Adblock plugins enabled. Thanks!

I'm very happy about:

multi-packet transactions

... as this was my first non-trivial issue I created on the spec.

Your contributions have been exceptional from that issue onward.  It’s amazing working with you.  For those who want a peek at the depth of talent, diligence and consideration that DexX7 provides to Omni, (and to see how much he and Zathras understand the complexities of an embedded consensus system) please take a look at the current discussion:

https://github.com/mastercoin-MSC/spec/issues/281 (regarding the removal of the Exodus address and the move to OP_RETURN)

Would you mind to go into some detail about the following two points?

8. Address anchoring for metadata
9. Futures market DEx extension

I had a few ideas regarding BTC/MSC options, and the concepts/ideas of Patrick Dugan which I saw some time ago were pretty impressive, so I'm even more curious what this is about.

Factom records information in the blockchain, once per block.  Do to this, they need several distributed systems that can each publish data to the blockchain, but guarantee that the addresses that do publish are, in fact, valid Factom addresses.  Since these addresses will cycle (as servers are added, replaced, removed, etc), a mechanism to establish the “publisher” of the data (similar to the “issuer” of an asset) is needed.  Some of what this publisher needs to be able to do is add and remove addresses that validators should consider valid and legitimately coming from the Factom network (and not someone faking it).  This is considered an “anchoring” of addresses into the blockchain so that data planted there has an accepted home.  Omni (and any other meta layer on Bitcoin) can use this method (since it is not “consensus affecting” with regards to asset balances) as a third-party validator of these addresses because they conform to the correct format, and because they follow the rules established for anchoring.

I have a call with Paul Snow tomorrow to go over this, as the vast majority of this mechanism has been completed by Factom.  The current goal is to make sure that the tag type used (and the bytespace needed for identification) is generic enough such that any other group can also become a publisher (of their own data stream) with anchored and validatable addresses that may change.

This address anchoring method will go into the spec first once the format is agreed upon, and will be implemented in a subsequent version of Omni Core.

Regarding the futures market DEx extension - this is where I will need to defer to Patrick and Dave, who really are the experts on this.  In essence, they’re working on a self-balancing sub-asset issuance method that creates derivative assets against other Omni assets held as collateral.  The possibilities are staggering, and I honestly can’t do justice to the description myself.

Craig

[vokain]

Following up http://blog.omni.foundation/2015/02/19/2015-mastercoin-foundation-board-elections/

I only have a mobile phone with spotty internet access in Vietnam at the moment so I apologize for any brisk conduction of the elections, but vote away. If anyone procrastinated in signing up and would like to be put up for candidacy (as we currently have five candidates) before the elections close in two weeks on the 20th of this month, just message me either at antonyvo@mastercoin.org or PM me here, and I'll assign you a BTC address, I'm pretty flexible.

Again, all you have to do is send a dust transaction from an omni-holding address to send an equivalent amount of votes to a candidate.

J.R. Willett
1G3KnLZLsLCHNwSVM7o5QUVqiaFCx8qkZ6
I invented Mastercoin, and would like to be sure that what funds are distributed are spent wisely.

David Gilman
15fH5mspYMqqRkbUvY1gVbVuiQpsEwMa9F
As a member of the Mastercoin Foundation board I would push to liquidate all Mastercoin Foundation assets into Bitcoin, return the bitcoins proportionally to Mastercoin holders and close the foundation.

Craig Sellars
1D7A2HSchwcNxq1EKyejoDozFHVcwDnTsc
Technical Leadership for the past 12 months at the MSC Foundation

Antony Vo
17LcCUzNA7j7afk8GsWW5QwyP1wuN6Bj3c
Founding board member

Patrick Dugan
1KLMKeZGphWcDGQxEEPLxysmntPRqNteMd
Patrick Dugan has worked as a game designer, ran an organic food company in Chile, and is a serial entrepreneur with 7 years experience trading financial markets. He has been involved in the Foundation since February 2014 and conceived the models of decentralized futures contracts and decentralized banking. He is currently focused on algorithmic market making for bitcoin, various fiat currencies and smart properties, and is passionate about turning money into a vehicle for improving the world, from Argentina to Sierra Leone.

And we have our five! Thank you everyone for volunteering, happy Pisces new (super)moon and total solar eclipse on this spring equinox

Plant those seeds—and let's see what happens next!

[metaliquid]

Hello everyone,

Here's a conceptual preview of the futures contract:

http://www.metaliquid.io/post/110737608153/the-seinfeldian-contract

We're going to have a special kind of smart property that gets issued/revoked dynamically as people transact, allows a negative balance (i.e. a short position) and locks up a corresponding amount of OMNI. Then it has an index of transactions that is reference at expiration to settle everyone against a data feed. We're trying to nail down a prototype for the hackathon next weekend, initial data-feed will be a random walk number. The initial contract will be very short duration and very basic in terms of paramters. Later iterations will support more sophisticated indexing so people can get settled either immediately or sometime before expiration when taking profits, and can get settled immediately when taking losses.

Then later, rolling contracts, and then double-locking 100% collateral to issue what was originally called "user currencies" in JR's original spec. I refer t this as decentralized banking. There's a potential to earn interest from the yield gained as one rolls a contract at a slight premium paid by speculators who want leveraged exposure to the underlying reserve asset (OMNI in this case) - that yield balances out tail-risk that a 50% move in the underlying i 6 hours or whatnot might lead to a breaking of the buck. Very experimental but this would enable billions of people to dynamically get liquidity to peg payments to minor fiat currencies or commodities, and also to save with pretty high yields, and it can become an engine to rocket the valuation of OMNI and even BTC into the giga-bucks range. 

So as a board member, I want to see that vision realized - so all OMNI holders get fabulous returns. We've got negative interest rates in the EU, a crazy stock market bubble in the US, gold temporarily suppressed, BTC as a monetary commodity facing headwinds (which this protocol can help alleviate by boosting transaction volumes 1000x), maybe OMNI can create a new paradigm for money and be the digital platinum to bitcoin's digital gold.

[Bitoy]

Here's a conceptual preview of the futures contract:

http://www.metaliquid.io/post/110737608153/the-seinfeldian-contract

<What’s happening here is the reduction of the absolute value balance integer of a smart property categorized as a futures contract is reduced by 1 or more. The protocol parses the index# of the contract that is being netted to 0 and compares the price of that transaction to the price of the contract that nets out the first contract. In this case, both parties in a transaction are netting positions. The price difference between netted contract is a positive number, so a settlement will be paid to the address that is reducing a positive balance by 1. This process repeats for each contract involved in the batch transaction, and a series of send-to-owners transactions push a certain amount of USD to the winning address, the amount paid to addresses reducing a long position equals: Notional_Value x Close.Price-Open.Price, for short positions the subtraction is Open.Price-Close.Price.>

jerry has $10 and 1 Seinfeld.
Elaine has -1 Seinfeld
Elaine paid $10.1 for jerry's 1 Seinfeld

After netting.

How did jerry get $11 and Elaine $9? 

[dexX7]

How did jerry get $11 and Elaine $9?

Those numbers seems to be based on the underlying value of what the contract represents:

Elaine: I’ve put up an order to sell 1 Seinfeld contract for $10

Jerry: Now I’ve got [...] 1 Seinfled

Elaine: I’ve got -1 Seinfeld, what does that even mean?

Jerry: It means Elaine, you need what I have

Elaine: Hah! But you also need someone to buy that 1 Seinfeld off you if want your money freed up again

Elaine: It says the contract is valued at $100 worth of Seinfeld

Jerry: I’ll put my order at $10.1

Elaine: I’ll buy it back at $10.1

Jerry: Now we both have 0 Seinfeld, I have $11 and you have $9

What’s happening here [...] The protocol parses the index# of the contract that is being netted to 0 and compares the price of that transaction to the price of the contract that nets out the first contract. In this case, both parties in a transaction are netting positions. The price difference between netted contract is a positive number, so a settlement will be paid to the address that is reducing a positive balance by 1.

[metaliquid]

That's right - it's the leverage.

Notional value is $100, margin req. $10.

[Bitoy]

That's right - it's the leverage.

Notional value is $100, margin req. $10.

Ok.  I'm just trying to understand how the system splits the payment.

jerry has $10 (locked) Elaine paid $10.1.  Winner gets $1 ( ($10.1 -$10) x $100 / $10).

system pays jerry $11 and Elaine gets $9.  ( where does .1 go)?

[ejinte]

How much money did the social network raise so far? Judith has pumped it to the moon since months back. Maybe now she'll finally shut up.

[ejinte]

33BTC so far.
https://blockchain.info/address/3BNGSfyKdTLvZwZAiUHdhgdENA9dJqgVq9

dacoinmaster still didn't go online here for over a month.

[udecker]

State of the Layer: ALL HANDS – MARCH 24 2015

http://blog.omni.foundation/2015/03/24/state-of-the-layer-all-hands-march-24-2015/

Repo moves, OP_RETURN, 0.10 Blockchain, UI updates, OmniJ, HFT exchange engine using DEx API, instructional videos….

And stay tuned for announcements this weekend at the Texas Bitcoin Conference with some new uses of the Omni Layer.

You may continue the “is MSC dead” debate now. 

Craig

[mishax1]

Thanks Craig  

Where can I find any updates on Tethers' legal progress and money transmitter license?
 the latest article is from July 2014 - http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2014/07/08/dollar-backed-digital-currency-aims-to-fix-bitcoins-volatility-dilemma/

[udecker]

Thanks Craig  

Where can I find any updates on Tethers' legal progress and money transmitter license?
 the latest article is from July 2014 - http://blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/2014/07/08/dollar-backed-digital-currency-aims-to-fix-bitcoins-volatility-dilemma/

Official statement from Tether:

Tether Limited (“Tether”) is a limited company incorporated pursuant to the Hong Kong Companies Ordinance. It is wholly owned by Tether Holdings Limited, a BVI business company incorporated pursuant to the BVI Business Companies Act, 2004.

Tether is registered as a Money Services Business with the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network of the U.S. Department of the Treasury (MSB Registration Number 31000058542968). Tether is establishing a relationship with a U.S. financial institution for purposes of better servicing Tether users in the United States, the details to be announced by May.

Tether is concluding a principal–agency agreement with RenRenBee Limited (“RenRenBee”). RenRenBee is licensed as a Money Services Operator by the Hong Kong Customs and Excise Department (Licence No. 13-09-01265). Pursuant to the agreement, RenRenBee will provide anti-money laundering compliance work and customer due diligence procedures as agent for Tether as principal.

Through these and other measures, Tether is undertaking customer due diligence, record-keeping, and reporting procedures consistent with U.S. law and with the Hong Kong Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing (Financial Institutions) Ordinance.

Tether Limited currently has accounts with Cathay United Bank and Hwatai Bank in Taiwan, both of whom are aware and confident that Tether’s business model is acceptable.  In addition 3 more banking partners will be announced in the coming months. 

These banks are satisfied with our processes and also satisfied that our business operates in accordance with Taiwan off-shore banking regulations, as all of the banks had been requested to check this with their own legal, compliance and head-office before opening accounts (also at our own request).  It was our goal from the beginning to have a compliant operation and to provide the maximum level of comfort to our banking partners here.  In addition these banks have and are working with other Bitcoin based businesses.

Craig

[crazy_rabbit]

State of the Layer: ALL HANDS – MARCH 24 2015

http://blog.omni.foundation/2015/03/24/state-of-the-layer-all-hands-march-24-2015/

Repo moves, OP_RETURN, 0.10 Blockchain, UI updates, OmniJ, HFT exchange engine using DEx API, instructional videos….

And stay tuned for announcements this weekend at the Texas Bitcoin Conference with some new uses of the Omni Layer.

You may continue the “is MSC dead” debate now. 

Craig

You know, I wouldn't say it's so much a  "is MSC dead", but more like- has innovation in bitcoin technology moved from open community funded projects to less-open and venture capital backed projects?

At this point, I think the foundation should be thinking more seriously about how it's technology is going to compete in the PR realm against the technology being created by VC's, funded by VC's and used by VC's. Judith can put out as many updates as she would like (nothing against her BTW) but can that really match the Press Release cycle of VC funded companies that seem to take priority on the main Bitcoin news outlets?

I feel as though perhaps the first round of Bitcoin 2.0 technologies have lost their steam before really getting a chance to take off and investors seem to be looking to other sources of bitcoin innovation.

Perhaps I'm a pessimist at times, but the lack of movement in MSC trading- (and other bitcoin2.0 projects) seems to point to a greater obstacle at hand than just simply getting the technology working. While the Mastercoin Team and counterparty teams are hard at work making the technology work- the Venture Capital backed projects seem more interested in earning the trust of their future clients and taking their millions to build the technology that makes it work, later.