Altcoin.Center status update & funding request

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Dear altcoin community, first of all please accept my apologies for the brief absence. I've been under a huge stress load resulting from several factors: complete work overload, some personal issues, and most importantly the continuous and very acute financial worries. This post is a brief update of what has been going on over here during the last few weeks, what Altcoin.Center will be doing from now on and how you the community can help to make it happen. Some time ago I was approached by a customer who wanted us first to compile a Mac version of a coin generator based coin, and later on a handful of other things, including a whole new coin, block explorers etc. By that time (i.e. couple of months ago) we were outsourcing virtually all coding and compiling, excluding anything that had to do with servers. Everything was ok but far from perfect. Our subcontractor did decent job with coding and compiling, but if, for example, the customer wanted modifications to be made later on, we had to pay for every new adjustment plus compiling the new wallets from the updated source. Our pricing was also very low back then, meaning that we ended up making negative profit. We are running on a *very* limited budget so the situation was unbearable. The only reasonable thing to do was to set up Windows and Mac compiling environment at our own offices, and train our staff to handle both forking, fixing & compiling in house. So we did that - from zero to finished in two weeks time. Since we were now working directly with the code ourselves, we soon noticed that the coin creator based coin our subcontractor had compiled the wallets for, as well as two forks based on that initial code, had if not exactly bugs then at least serious problems in the code. We informed our customer about the situation, emphasizing that it is important to make sure everything is done properly to avoid creating another crapcoin that will be hated by the community right from the start. We very clearly expressed that the code will need fixing, that everything should be tested and planned, and that huge premines are not a good idea. However we provided what we had promised: wallets and/or services (block explorers, mining pools and seed node services) - for a discount way over 50%. We worked 24/7 for several weeks to be able to provide quality products and services. In the end the customer ended up blaming us for the errors in the code, claiming all their funds to be returned. The sum, around 500 EUR in total, has of course already been used to pay the running costs of our offices, connections, electricity etc. "Of course" because as I said, we are running on an extremely small (read: non-existent) budget, still at a startup-phase in which basically no money comes in no matter how great the resources and potentials at hand are. So now we are looking for ways to make the money we need to return the payment to our customer, while still wondering how to pay the next office rent and other running costs. The staff has received no salary at any point, and we've been working full time for over a year already. Some of us live at the office to reduce all costs to absolute minimum. The point of the above is not to complain about anything, but to simply inform you the people about what's going on and why things appear to be in a standstill. This small negative episode is just one tiny fraction of the big picture that is very positive indeed. To throw in couple of examples of what we have been able to accomplish despite the extremely acute lack of both manpower and financial resources: We've set up a very secure and stable hosting environment, we've set up the crypto shop (https://cryptoshop.altcoin.center/), we're providing a DDoS protected seed node service free of charge for ~20 altcoins, we've taken over and maintaining a handful of coins abandoned by their original developers, we've initiated several co-operation projects between altcoins well established companies and introduced cryptos to people such as Charlo Greene (if you don't know her, google her), we've successfully affected policy makers and companies in Finland and abroad to start accepting and using Bitcoin and other crypto currencies, and so forth. Perhaps most importantly, we've initiated the creation of a foundation that will help raise and stabilize the value of several altcoins through the use of reserves of natural resources. The foundation will take care of maintaining the reserves, making sure all the regulations will be followed. The regulations will be carved up through an open process with the whole crypto currency community. Now the funny part here is that "we" equals yours truly. I'm the sole person running this whole show, taking care of everything: from designing the infrastructure to actually installing and configuring server hardware and software - I even do all the graphics and marketing material alone. I have business partners but they do not participate in the daily operations. I have had occasional help from couple of wonderful individuals, but 99,9% of everything is still handled by me alone. Without any exaggeration at all, I can say that I'm doing the work of at least ten people non-stop. The above briefly describes why "we" have been away for a while; there's been *so* much work that I have simply not had the time nor the energy to maintain normal level of communication. To be honest I more or less burnt myself out (once again) trying to handle an impossible amount of responsibilities. Now if you combine the fact that I'm doing everything by myself with the fact that I have no financial resources whatsoever, you'll get a better picture of what kind of not so hidden potential there is in this one man show. If I can get all this done with no budget at all, while simultaneously having to constantly worry about every single bill, not even being able to take care of my health or eat properly - just imagine what could happen if I could concentrate on actually working instead of worrying. As proud as I am for being able to do anything at all under these circumstances, the fact is that I can't go on like this any longer. I'm 40 already, battered by financial troubles and everything they cause, including having to live a totally solitary life far away on the countryside. The most basic necessities of life make it impossible for me to keep the show going without financial support. Keeping servers powered and online takes money. Many of the projects already on the way do have potential for significant or even huge financial success as well, but tapping to that potential can't happen with a zero / negative budget. It is very clear what is needed: funding. There are several profitable projects already underway and I have much more ready to get started basically any time. I have already invested tens of thousands into the project in the form of both my time as a very experienced system architect and an entrepreneur and the hardware; the servers alone are worth easily 10k-20k EUR. Current monthly costs of Altcoin.Center are as follows: * Office / server room rent: 340 EUR * Redundant fibre connection: 2 x 72 = 144 EUR * Electricity: ~222 EUR * Phone lines: ~111 EUR * Rented VPS servers: ~77 EUR ==> Total: ~894 EUR / month The hardware I already have allows me to provide, for example, many enough VPS servers that they alone would bring in 1000 - 3000 EUR a month. There are also several profit-generating services that can be started very easily any time. If you wonder "well why don't you just set the stuff up then and stop complaining", my answer is that I've been setting this system up for almost a year already, with background work ranging back two decades in the form of very thorough experience from server, system and software design as well as entrepreneurship, marketing etc. The amount of work it takes to get any decent service running smoothly and marketed is enormous, especially if one is not willing to make any compromises in the quality of the service in order to get it out as fast as possible. The service platform I've designed is extremely secure and stable; it can be used to run crypto banking services etc. All the key components are available already; servers, connections and skills to put it all together. The only thing that keeps me from progressing is the fact that when it comes to paying the bills, I can barely maintain the already existing services. I have go through so much extra work and stress because of that, that concentrating into anything has become extremely challenging. My ADD ("ADHD without the hyperactivity") dedicates to the problem nicely as well, especially since I do not have the money to buy the meds. Getting an operation like this running really is hard work that requires full concentration in order to succeed, and it has to be considered a small miracle that I've actually been able to get anything done at all considering the personal and the situational challenges. While I would love to be able to just do it all by myself, I'm humble and reasonable enough to admit that it is not possible. There's too much to do. I have the ideas and the skills to turn them into products and services, but without even just a very modest financial support from the community, I will not be able to get the gears running. I do not have the time nor the energy to start crafting up detailed calculations and presentations right now, and can only offer this brief summary of where the funds would be going to: * Finalizing the secure wallet/crypto hosting service; setting up racks (we have two full-sized ones with walls and doors), setting up the 10-unit HP blade server and the 3-unit SUN blade, connecting and configuring it all including a separate server-to-server LAN. * Setting up a secure communication system consisting of linked IRC and XMPP, only available over secure tunnels; i.e. only over TLS etc. The system will have altcoin specific features such as status bots etc. It will be free for everyone to use. * Creating a modular multi currency wallet able to run any "standard" SHA256/Scrypt/younameit algorithm coin, simultaneously and with the capability to add or remove currencies any time without restarting the wallet. Open source of course, possibly packaged also as a non-open source version with additional anti-malware features. * Releasing fixed versions of selected already existing but more or less abandoned open source block explorers, mining pools and other community tools that have not been updated by their original developers for a while * Releasing fixed versions of a number of altcoin wallets that have been abandoned by their original developers and urgently need upgrading because they are using old versions of the OpenSSL library. Whenever possible, both Windows and Mac versions will be released. The coins to be updated include (but are not limited to) Sativa, TAKcoin, Continuum, Greenbacks, Ruscoin, Piratescoin and many more. * Expanding the seed node service. The current implementation is limited due to some technical factors. Better plans are ready for implementation now. The new version includes extras such as network forking detection. * Launching a new mining pool, WorldPool. Worldpool will have at least four DDoS protected entry nodes through which the traffic is tunneled to a very powerful central server. The system will have some quite unique features that are not technically new but implement the familiar stuff in new ways. For example, the pool will have an auto switching port that will shares and directs the mining power to which ever coins / block chains are in need of more hashrate. There is a lot more to come. Dear everyone, I need your help to make any of this happen. I'm in constant danger of being kicked out of this office with my servers. I have no apartment - I live and sleep here amongst the servers. Servers and high quality Internet connections are the singe resource I have lots of, in addition to my own skills. The servers are mostly HP and Sun, and the stack includes two very high quality blade servers. There's also access to a fibre connection with virtually unlimited capacity. So the infrastructure is good to say the least, and I'm available for this project 24/7 since I have nowhere else to be anyways. There will be a much more organized fund raiser as soon as I have the time / resources to create one. At the moment I'm under such a load that all I can do right now is simply ask your support with the promise that if any of the Altcoin.Center related projects ever takes off and provides profit, I will return you the sum that you have put in, plus a 3% interest. I do know and strongly emphasize that I can give no guarantee whatsoever whether or not the ideas will fly. What I can guarantee is that I will not be misusing the funds, nor disappearing anywhere with them. I'm a well known character not just on the forum but IRL as well; you can easily find me with Google, and my position is such that making any dump and run type of tricks would be totally destructive. I'm not of the harakiri type and intend to stay around for quite a while. I will be using a single Bitcoin address as the fundraiser address, so it will be easy for everyone to follow the funds. Since the money is needed to pay actual invoices, I find it not a good idea to raise the funds in other cryptos; I would have to trade them for BTC anyways, plus it would make tracking the numbers (who has invested and how much) slightly too complicated. The Altcoin.Center fundraiser address is 1HCrLBKYi4SKifBVEQRGCvPqfD1LWNeUy2 My PoD information: http://proofofdev.com/dope-dopecoin/ Facebook profile: https://facebook.com/jyrihovila E-mail addresses: info@altcoin.center, jyri@jyrihovila.fi, jyri.hovila@iki.fi Mobile: +358-46-8822157 Office: +358-2-4209069 Net history, articles etc: Google for Jyri Hovila Altcoin.Center PGP key: https://pgpkeys.mit.edu/pks/lookup?op=get&search=0xE1C97509FE78DC77 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v2 iQIcBAEBAgAGBQJVDl/NAAoJEOHJdQn+eNx3Y5wP/jKvbfNYmfHD4A7BXwV0Z+iv IMSmPc4OhPypLee5Bh/jztQzyCKXRoAlZSDIvXvFX1XJNZM2xSNd23Syf2Awb6SU sc6vQMtxcJ11jQjNp0p873ish6gBSt8GAkiJLCjlogDLau/hlpm3nDfxNAT8SY5e JxLD6yVBYe42Mi/6H27efPcZtivbSqEvV9Z1iUdwYsjdzpmQbG13PYf0wd8GVk2i Z5hmfDj/tiVT/Zb8inbIielxDSGL0s41DlC9l543OG8RsI5GMs5Gu1aKp2iucDDt VfUbHIEKWbwASpvPrV5OmVzirJL+9rF5Sg8xWgfZqsFZIxrtIZeuQLy44tznc8oi aUZa3LFn4Ecm2BFnweFeEmCSEg0ZxIEzBjvbXS9R0fKJScyqvWZ6IHZfPQbW+EUn Reny4A5SjOCs4/3YROLPiPfdw9enYWa6kj00GfcYtWnpNsxFh9dMg4sejuoInbNa MqXz/Ck2oAGTkzLv1iuJ2bBiorV02AT7Q6F9yq/LecuaHEFBnpslRBgEYWjflEKW EjgDieZ/kGXEOqc5vV3HNuRlhpshnVmo9Y0f0QJaxl7de+UizpgAvNxjpetAxsG6 MWqHgObYC4yk3IEB2BrPFzds6USkNCEUAN6TbK5Xwic7JO5ltP4DCWL42VA6RPH9 u0LwswW3lNEdlZ65KZi6 =cEdY -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----