[ANN][GEMZ] GetGems - Social Messaging App That Pays - Live on Android, iOS, Web

[robinf]

Thank you for the great support and keeping an eye on Gems at this early stage.

We are in touch with the major players that can help us make the Gems public sale as smooth as possible and we would like the community to help us decide who we should work with.

The options are:
Bter - example Crypti
Poloniex - example SuperNET
Vend - example Storj
Swarm - example COMICCOIN
respected escrow from the community - example maxmint, anon136

Each alternative has its advantages. It is important for us to hear and learn from everyones experience.

I would choose escrow from the community.

[Triffin]

Thank you for the great support and keeping an eye on Gems at this early stage.

We are in touch with the major players that can help us make the Gems public sale as smooth as possible and we would like the community to help us decide who we should work with.

The options are:
Bter - example Crypti
Poloniex - example SuperNET
Vend - example Storj
Swarm - example COMICCOIN
respected escrow from the community - example maxmint, anon136

Each alternative has its advantages. It is important for us to hear and learn from everyones experience.

I would go with a Bittrex hosted ICO ..
You set the price per GEMS in satoshis ..
Bittrex destroys any unsold coins pre launch ..
GEMS listed on Bittrex exchange at launch ..
No need for investors to download "wallets" until after Bittrex launch ..

Triff ..   

[rwfreshmore]

Bittrex doesn't even exchange XCP, the currency of CounterParty. I'm not sure many of you understand what CounterParty is or how it works. GEMS are not a coin with a blockchain.. They are tokens that are managed, issued, exchanged, created through CounterParty which operates in the Bitcoin blockchain. There is no need for a centralized exchange to be involved.

GEMS, the social app is exactly the kind of thing that CounterParty was created for. GEMS should (and probably will) integrate Vennd.io . That way people can directly exchange GEMS to bitcoin or xcp if they wanted right from the GEMS app.

The important thing to understand is this isn't a crypto coin. It's a digital token issued on the bitcoin blockchain using CounterParty. None of this should matter for users of the site.

[peled1986]

We are working hard to release our "White paper" which will address these issues:

-How is Gems different from social networks like WhatsApp or instant messengers like Telegram and Facebook Chat?
-What is so revolutionary about the Gems model?
-How does Gems make bitcoin more accessible to the masses?
-Does Gems allow users to be completely anonymous?
-Daily airdrop - how does Gems reward users who contribute to the network?
-How does Gems enforce security and privacy?
-Public Sell perks - why should I invest early?
-How does the Public Sell process work?
-How does the system flag fraudulent activity?
-Is it possible to spend gems in the network?
-How does the messaging system work?
-Who owns the network?

If you think there are more issues we should address let us know. In the meanwhile I will try to answer some of the questions and comments from the last few days.

p.s: rwfreshmore and sparta_cuss thank you for taking the time to answer some of the question that have been asked here!

[peled1986]

Gems relies on an IPO for initial distribution of the supply. The total amount of Gems in existence is 10'000'000'000 (10 Billion).

Eventual supply is achieved as follows: 4,500 million Gems distributed to stakeholders; 4,500 million Gems distributed as daily Airdrop rewards during ~5 years after launch; 500 million Gems reserved for bonus block rewards, promotion, marketing, bounties; 500 million Gems + IPOs will fund the network R&D and operation costs.

Please please please...no IPO/pre-sell!

Instead, set a release schedule for the tokens and a relative value on each action you wish participants to do. Then with each release period (weekly for example), you calculate each participants share of the new coins based on their contribution. By having a reward schedule that starts higher in the future (e.g. 10,000,000 per week and halves every two years) you can build in the same early adopter incentive as Bitcoin and I could trust it. For an example of this being done correctly now, see LTBcoin.

There's no way I would touch an IPO given how many scams there have been and if you do get people from your current process, they're not going to be the type that stick around. If you wish this to be successful long-term, you'll follow the advice above and if you need to raise money for your initial team, do that via a crowdsale that is for some perks on the network (but not for equity in the new tokens or social network).

We have thought about this for a long time and respect your opinion very much. In the end we think that having a Public Sell is important for Gems success for these reasons:

(1) Development of the Gems app / Maintenance of the growing network / Flagging fraudulent activity / SMS verification during registration / Azure service bus / Marketing / Advertising / Public relations and more have a heavy cost. The competition today to get "heard" and "stand out" is stronger than ever. Take for example
chancecoin its a very innovative project with extremely capable devs but they they don't even have the funds to run a small BTT add campaign to get recognition. Selling perks on the network will only be successful if the network is all ready successful.
 
(2) Public sell helps to build a community with vested interest quickly.

(3) Public sell gives Gems "value" from day one.

(4) I have been "hurt" by scams also so I know how you feel. We will be trust verified by CoinSource, cryptoasian, our public sell escrow and anyone else if needed.

[peled1986]

How does the messaging work. Is this a normal server based msg system, but the monetizing done via the token? Or is this an actual decentralized messaging system? How do you achieve 10sec response time.

The Gems network operates very similarly to other messaging apps such as WhatsApp. The system relies on a client mobile app (for platforms such as iOS and Android) which is used for sending and receiving the messages.

All currency related operations, such as rewarding gems in the airdrop, are based on Counterparty and bitcoin blockchain. The messaging system does not rely on the same mechanism and uses a proprietary real-time data protocol which is better suited for fast paced high scale communications.

Once a user chooses to send an outgoing message, the client mobile app encrypts the message and sends it to the Gems cloud service. The reliance on a cloud server infrastructure allows Gems to scale easily and support a massive amount of concurrent users. The more concurrent users the network will have, the more servers will be required to cater them. Since the server architecture is completely distributed, new servers can be added and removed from within the cloud according to demand - maintaining a high degree of resource efficiency.

The cloud service stores the message until the recipient has safely received it. This is a requirement because recipients may not be available or have network connectivity when the message was sent. This model does not compromise on privacy because the message is encrypted. The decryption key for secure messages is only found at the recipient mobile app, preventing 3rd parties from eavesdropping to the conversation.

If the recipient is not currently inside the app, they are notified about an incoming message using a mobile push notification. Push notifications are normally delivered in under a second. If the recipient is currently inside the app (such as during an active chat), push notifications are avoided and message delivery is instantaneous between the sender and recipient.

The server costs involved with supporting free messaging are will be funded by money raised during the Public Sell.

[peled1986]

What are your unique value propositions? you know the whole network effect and switching costs...for example why would people use you over whatsapp? is your app decentralized? or just encrypted zero knowledge approach with centralized storage?

Edit..also, i think you'd prob benefit more from nxt's technology and its rapid but friendly community support...just get a whif of the alien technology to come : http://www.nxttechnologytree.com/
 and you know the aboundance of qualified core devs and insanely brilliants infrastructure ones ones like jl777 from skynet Supernet

The unique value proposition is activity == capitalization. The value you generate by using the network is yours and increases as use of the network increases. That value is directly transferable/exchangeable to other currencies.

Your activity in the network is generating ownership over the value you've "invested". This doesn't exist yet.

Imagine each upvote on reddit was equal to one dogecoin.. Or a like on facebook gave you 1/10000000000000th of a facebook stock. Imagine each ad you see in google search results paid you a portion of the revenue paid to google by the advertiser.

you own none of the value you create for whatsapp by using whatsapp.

cool concept like the maidsafe and storj models, it should work out nicely...Now privacy in this day and age shouldn't be an option its a requirement. I wonder if this app addresses that.

The Gems app assumes zero trust and even protects user data from the Gems cloud servers themselves. Every secure outgoing message is encrypted with a key unknown to the server, making the message recipient the only one who can decrypt it. This privacy model has become popular lately and adopted by other secure instant messengers like Telegram to prevent any possibility of eavesdropping by rumored government agencies.

[peled1986]

I would go with a Bittrex hosted ICO ..

Bittrex doesn't even exchange XCP, the currency of CounterParty.

This is true for now. But I know that the counterparty and bittrex devs are working together to get xcp and counterparty assets listed. (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=395761.msg8469632#msg8469632)

[peled1986]

yes - on registration you the app automatically creates a passphrase for you.
This passphrase lets you access your wallet and the funds it contains on counterwallet (https://counterwallet.co/)

Accessing your wallet inside the app will be protected by 4 digits password (much simpler than requiring you to enter the ("long") passphrase.

(more info about counterwallet web-wallet @ https://wiki.counterparty.co/w/Counterwallet).

That's nice and convenient, but it sounds like the "real" passphrase is embedded in the storage somewhere. What safeguards are in place to prevent someone from cracking the real passphrase and using good 'ol brute force to crack the PIN?

The core security model of Gems is based on Counterparty. Since Counterparty is secure by nature, every action performed on a gems wallet conforms to the guidelines established by Counterparty and the bitcoin blockchain.

Another layer of security is enforced by locking a Gems account to a specific single mobile device. If you want to transfer your account to a different mobile device (after buying a new iPhone for example), you will be required to input your secure passphrase. If your mobile device gets stolen, you can use your secure passphrase to disconnect your Gems account from the device by remote - making Gems inaccessible to the thief.

[peled1986]

can you elaborate on your team?

My name is Daniel Peled.

I live in Israel, Tel Aviv. Graduate of the combined program in Law (LLB), Law and Technology (LLM) and Economics (BA) at the University of Haifa. As you can you see my role is more on the "economics" and "legal" side.

The other two team member also live in Tel Aviv, they prefer to stay anonymous at this point. I can assure you they are very capable developers that Co-founded technology startups in the past. They specialize in Mobile, Software Development, Programming, System Architecture, Computer Networks, Front-End Development and Security.

All three of us are fascinated with bitcoin and blockchain technology for a long time and want to make our "mark" in this innovative field. We started working on Gems in March 2014 and really think it can be a game changer in making bitcoin and crypto currency more simply accessible to the masses and to be the first project to successfully take blockchain technology and its advantages to the social network world.  

[peled1986]

ok.. so when will be the official lunch ?... by the way. so i am going to receive free gems every time i invite someone right?. and is the person i invited to join also going to receive some free gems ? maybe doing that will attract more people to join. also. is this only for android and ios device?

Info about the "The Invitation System", "Active Users", "Daily airdrop" and "Contribution Score" will be explained in the White Paper.

[provenceday]

watch this now.

[Doron404]

Great to see innovation!
Definitely watching!
Can't wait for the public sell. 

[a447513372]

   very nice idea and active dev

[UrsaMajorisBeta]

I would suggest BTER. It's a solid exchage and it currently trades XCP and NXT assets. You can request them to burn the remaining coins, too.

[MsCollec]

Bittrex doesn't add mastercoin/Counterparty based coin. It will slowly die since most exchange will not add it.

[Frizork]

I dont like the colours, is homo
blue, green... are better

[devphp]

I dont like the colours, is homo
blue, green... are better

Real men don't worry about colors and design, they only look at functionality

[peled1986]

Bittrex doesn't add mastercoin/Counterparty based coin. It will slowly die since most exchange will not add it.

counterparty and bittrex devs are working together to get xcp and counterparty assets listed. (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=395761.msg8469632#msg8469632)

It's also worth to note that Bter and Poloniex (that all ready support Counterparty based coins) have hundreds of btc volume every day.

[peled1986]

how will you keep the project funded after the initial ICO?  If the company is owned by the users then how will there be revenue to support the team behind the app?

I absolutely love this project and think the public will be behind your product 100%

Gems + btc from Public Sell will fund the network R&D and operation costs.