SPR Master Node Apps

This thread is intended to be a business use case summary for Master Nodes and ServiceNodes

Use cases are built around the concept of imagineering, which is about letting the imagination soar and then engineering ideas back down to earth.

SPR is seeking to develop master node applications. This will be a work in progress SWOT analysis review of the different services master nodes can operate.......

If there is a particularly valuable use case that develops and gets demonstrated in SPR, I bet Darkcoin will consider adding it Wink

Spreadcoin: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1045373.0
DASH: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=421615.0

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# WORK IN PROGRESS #
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The Development of a World First: Decentralized Commercial App Store

Executive Summary

Satoshi Nakamoto set out to invent electronic cash, as demonstrated by the title of his Bitcoin paper:

However, as Bitcoin transactions can be:

* linked together and traced through the block chain;
* people can be traced to their Bitcoin transactions if they reveal information linking them to their Bitcoin addresses; and
* third parties are able to track Bitcoin spending to IP addresses

..then Bitcoin as it currently stands cannot be considered electronic cash, as cash is not traceable to any individual.

What Bitcoin has done is to build on the concept of decentralized applications by making the decentralized concept trustless. This is achieve through proof of work, commonly known in the digital currency space as 'mining'. Mining is explained simply in this short video by Bitcoin expert Andreas Antonopoulos.

https://youtu.be/lIgjogLipvk?t=34m7s

To solve the lack of anonymity with Bitcoin, the lead developer of DASH, Evan Duffield, built onto of the idea of users mixing their currencies together and created a decentralized mixing network of servers. These are called masternodes and they handle the process of making it impossible to tell where funds originated from.

This is what the DASH (previously called Darkcoin) masternode network looks like:

The side effect of creating the masternode network to anonymize users funds is the creation of a network of computers that provide services for mixing currencies, but they are still computers. Because of this, the computers can do almost anything any computer can do but they do it in a decentralized way.

However, as DASH wanted to focus on developing its currency capabilities, the lead developer decided to deffer any development work on additional services that could be run on the masternode network.

Spreadcoin has taken the concept of masternodes and created its own version, called ServiceNodes, with the aim of focusing on developing a decentralized applications store running off the servicenodes.

The cyrpto space has been primarily focused on leveraging blockchain technology and creating currency centric offerings. The Spread network aims to expand away from currency centric products and into providing a wide variety of financial services.

To achieve critical mass, the project is aiming to create tools for third parties to create these financial services and run their services on the Spread network.

Build your Apps to run on ServiceNodes

http://www.coindesk.com/state-of-bitcoin-q1-2015-record-investment-buoys-ecosystem/

There are endless opportunities with ServiceNodes.

voted ended June 2015

Here are a few examples that have been identified. If you have your own vision, you can create your own services and run them off the ServiceNode network.

1. Escrow
2. P2P Gaming, e.g. people betting against each other
3. Spread betting, e.g. stock market gambling
4. Sidechains with stockmarkets
5. ChangeTip savings
6. White Label reward schemes
7. Micro pay as you need it and use it insurance
8. Rights holders royalty payments e.g. online pay per view
9. Torrent distribution and linking services
10. Long-term savings / pensions
11. Charity sponsorship / collection services
12. Mapping the net and creating search engines on the SPR network
13. Proof of Purchase trusted reviews for products, hotels, restaurants, etc.
14. 'Near me services' from taxi's to local handyman services, to real estate agents
15. Classified list of local private dancers, or any sort of classified listings
16. Micro loans based off p2p lending linked to trust rating scores

Decentralized Node Alliance (DNA)

The majority of projects rely on open source code from which they build.

As more and more projects introduce masternodes, based off the creation of Evan Duffield, there is the possibility of continual improvement. However, there are also those that would seek to profit from others work by creating scams.

We would like to create a node alliance for projects using masternodes that contribute to the advancement of crypto in an ethical and responsible way.

Projects that play fair are automatically considered members of the decentralized node alliance.

Decentralized Escrow

I never knew Escrow was so big or so profitable.

JPMorgan do a roaring trade in Escrow:

http://www.mmmtechlaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/2010-MA-Holdback-Escrow-Report2.pdf-Adobe-Acrobat-Professional2.pdf

This market is not worth $billions each year. Its worth $billions each day.

The most popular transactions, given what JPMorgan do, are below $1m and the average life of an escrow is 18months. We need to be adding interest and fees to the escrow service so the servicenodes can earn revenue from multiple sources from the same transaction. This necessarily means adding a time lock option on the escrow service, similar to the CheckLockTimeVerify proposal by Peter Todd.

https://github.com/bitcoin/bips/blob/master/bip-0065.mediawiki

Talk about money for old rope.

Provided you can get a licence to run Escrow in your country, you could run your own Escrow service and ServiceNodes could be turning over $100m/month. That's $1,200 / month in fees and interest for each servicenode.

Compiling ServiceNodes in my small brain, I get an output which includes this option:

There is nothing to say that ServiceNodes could not be configured around a franchise model Wink

I tried to set-up a franchise type business last year with a couple of people from DRK, but my service contracts prevented me from doing so. But this is a great alternative that gets around that.

Let's use an example.

Escrow services can run off ServiceNodes. But in some countries you need a licence to operate the escrow service. Instead of this being a problem, we can turn it into an opportunity.

To operate an Escrow service, running off the ServiceNodes, you need to buy a franchise off the network. This will cover you for your local area. In the USA alone there are 19,300 nationally recognised incorporated places. So, if you just use that number and not factor in being able to x5 to allow for locations with tightly packed populations, the network can sell a minimum of 19,300 Escrow franchise opportunities.

Lets say you need $5,000 to licence an Escrow franchise, the USA market could be worth $1bn in Franchise fees. If you can get 1% of that, you are still talking about $10m.

Factor in the global market, and you can see the franchise market being worth $10bn-$20bn.

The thing about the escrow model running off ServiceNodes is that I don't think you need a licence to run a franchise. Why? Because using multi-sig the two parties to the transaction never hand over the money to the ServiceNode network. Nor can the network take ownership of the funds at any point. It's just a decentralized independent third party service to ensure both parties to a deal play fair or by the rules.

This is a far superior model than the existing Escrow service.

Torrents

Increasingly, if you try to use a torrent service, then your internet service provider can block you. Also, seeders of torrent files can be unreliable and or contain viruses.

Torrent clients contain data that have information about something you might want to download.

If you find a file you want by using a torrent service, then there is a chance you won't be able to get the target file that the torrent is referencing.

By finding the torrent file and sending a request to a download link service, someone else is finding the file the torrent client is referencing, then making it available to you as a regular web download (no torrent client needed). This is more reliable but it can be a paid for service.

So, if you want a file and you have found it using a torrent client - get the torrent details, send it to master nodes. Others will match your request and generate a url download link. You pay a fee for the more reliable service.

By using master nodes, the url link can be served up with an encrypted url download and master nodes can help to decentralize and anonymize the url download provider.

I've posted info about crypto torrent projects here:

https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=932096.0

Black Jack Spread Bet

Online gambling has historically been one of the most popular applications for Bitcoin. Here we have a possible game that could run off Master Nodes:

Spread Black Jack.

Instead of betting on 21 or the one that gets closest to 21- why not do a spread bet around 21?

Someone has already made a Black Jack game to run on SPR master nodes. It should be relatively painless to add the ability to place bets based on each point away from 21, either way.

Let's see if this works:

* 21 =win, winner collects the pot, plus $1 (or whatever they wage on the spread) from everyone who lost, but the loser pays $1 x the number of points away from 21.

Lets say loser gets:

* 18. Winner collects 3*$1
* 15. Winner collects 6*$1
* 24. Winner collects 3*$1 x 2 (for the bust)

Applies to all losers. So the winner could win the pot, plus a spread from every loser - where every loser has their own spread loss.

Highest score just wins the pot and the spread bet is just applied when the winner gets 21.

Master nodes provide an escrow type service for the spread bets and the users are aware if players have funds in escrow to play a spread bet game.

The maximum spread bet loss, to determine minimum funds that must be in escrow, can be calculated in advance.

Coins101: As far as I know, this is my original idea. I only release it for royalty free use and implementation on Spreadcoin or Darkcoin master nodes. Should any commercial organization wish to implement this idea, you must first agree to make the game available with Spreadcoins and Darkcoins. In addition, you agree to pay 2% of revenue in the following proportions - 1% to be paid to Spreadcoin master node operators, and 1% to Darkcoin master node operators. If no master nodes are available, the royalty payment must be made to an address I provide, from which the funds will be issued to recognized master node development work.

White Label Wallets

There are businesses that could adopt SPR to reward customers, like a form of loyalty scheme.

Give customers SPR (their White Label version), then customers can spend that money back with the retailer when they have accumulated enough to buy what they want.

I first thought that this could work in 2014 and a wine retailer thought it would be something they would adopt.

Service Nodes could possible extend that to give businesses the opportunity to link the rewards with specific products, making the rewards very affordable to them, but still giving good value to customers.

http://cointelegraph.com/news/113797/7-eleven-mexico-launches-virtual-currency-big-coins

Pensions

I have been looking at the issue of pensions and bitcoin for a while now.

The main issues I have found are:

* index linking to maintain the value of a pension; and
* having restricted access to funds in order for them to qualify for pension tax and contribution top-up status by governments and employers.

Bitcoin in its infancy will have volatility. As one gets older, one would want more certainty in order to plan for the years when there is no income other than from pensions.

What Bitcoin needs to do is cross the divide to stockmarkets.

Once this divide is crossed, a Bitcoin pension fund can be index linked to an ETF which smooths out the risks of investing in specific stocks and uncertain currency markets, of any shape or nature, but still provides a return.

My approach to the issue was to use Peter Todd's future lock to prove an individual can't access their bitcoins until a future date that qualifies as a pension accessibility date for tax and pension contribution status.

However, between the current period and the future accessibility period, those Bitcoin funds would need to be invested in an ETF, with dividends either being exchanged back for Bitcoin or reinvested into the ETF.

When the pension approaches the unlock date, the ETF investments could be wound down with proceeds being converted back to Bitcoin. If Bitcoin should fail by the time they reach retirement, the ETF can be liquidated into fiat.

This approach doesn't necessarily mean the that beneficiary has to rely on a company to invest their Bitcoin in an ETF. They can do their own investing and the time lock, in addition to the blockchain, could be used as proof of accessibility but within the pension qualification rules.

The main issue to doing all this was the mechanism. That is where decentralised nodes with services running come in to play. The services they can run include multi-sig and escrow.

The enabling mechanism then becomes an escrow to your future self, and a multi-sig party that can lock the funds in trust until a future date but allow them to move to a stockmaket brokerage account (your own or managed). The ETF execution orders can then also be handled by the same client which gives instructions to move funds between the ETF and specific Bitcoin addresses that are locked until a future date, else to Fiat.

Actually, what got me started down this line of thinking of using multiple services to link to a pension pot was a way to encourage those under 20-30 to use a Bitcoin change tip to send small daily amounts to a pension pot that they couldn't touch.

An average of $5/day in change over 50 years, when invested via an ETF, can yield between $90k to $200k, in BTC.

ServiceNodes can then have an income of 0.2% annually for 50 years, or more. That makes then long-term investments. That means they could be used as pension investments Tongue

Development Community

@ April 2015, the SPR development team includes:

Devs
Georgem
gjhiggins
elbandi
Gladimor
A-Russo
MrSpread (MIA)

Technical & Occasional
e1ghtSpace
chrysophylax
Chup
thelonecrouton

Support and project development contributors
Minerpage
njs811
defunctec
Coins101
AnotherNode
Stonehedge

SWOT

Work in Progress