\[Kickstart\] Link - The File Sharing Blockchain Protocol
-
For those of you who have been following the discussion over [url=http://forum.feathercoin.com/index.php/topic,5558.0.html]here[/url], you know that I’ve started working on a new protocol that allows peer to peer file sharing via the blockchain. It’s already reached a point where the idea is ready to be tested out on the blockchain itself, and the next step is to start work on a client to automate the process.
At this point I’d like to start soliciting donations in order to help rapidly advance the project.
Why should you donate?
This protocol has the potential to drastically increase the value of the blockchain. When the blockchain doubles as a ledger of account, and a distributed database of serchable p2p torrents (think a Pirate Bay that can’t be taken down), it’s possible that the valuation of Feathercoin will rise significantly. (It’s also entirely possible it will crash it to zero,. Anything is possible in this world.)
FTC already has value on exchanges, and publishing message via the Link protocol requires you to destroy coins, so this means there’s an inherit cost in doing so. If people are willing to pay that cost, they remove that currency from the supply of coins permanently. This means that using Link to publish torrents in the blockchain is both costly, and deflationary to the rest of FTC, all while increasing the number of full nodes that are running in order to retrieve what’s being published.
This may well and truly be a game changer for whatever coin adopts it. Imagine a coin that was traded on an exchange, and carried with it all the new torrents that were being released, all while draining the currency supply out of the available pool. Do you think that has value?
By donating to this project, you’re participating in a social experiment; An experiment designed to change how information is shared in a way that makes it tough to censor and impossible to corrupt.
Donaters will also receive recognition in the credits, as well as get early access to client betas and testing builds.
Now people have brought up the topic of blockchain bloat (bloatchain?), and while I’m sensitive to this, my calculations tell me 2 things:
#1. A standard transaction containing a torrent will be of typically small transaction size. Every consideration has been made for compression and space optimization in the protocol, allowing for very small amounts of information to be encoded very efficiently. Link transaction, on the whole, don’t have to be very large at all and most will be WELL under 1k. It looks like you can get away with adding about 50-60 bytes per transaction to do something really meaningful, and the rest is normal input-output-change address overhead.
#2. The act of posting a Link sequence destroys the coins, meaning that those coins can NEVER generate another transaction, where as normal spends are, in theory, capable of generating an infinite number of spends in the future. This means that you’re taking a tiny hit up front, and those coins will never add to the size of the blockchain again.
I’m not convinced that this qualifies as bloat. If the transaction overhead well outpaces the actual data size, AND the result is a (even more) deflationary currency which has an increasing number of coins which won’t be spent again and won’t be adding any more to the blockchain size, then this seems like something that would actually be desirable. If the user is willing to pay the fee and burn the coins, there’s really not a lot you can do about this, and the free market will determine the correct price. Trying to stop or discourage this behavior may actually be considered harmful or controlling. Since there’s nothing you can do to stop this behavior, I see no reason to not experiment with it and see what happens.
So, what will the coins be used for?
Well for one, I’m going to need to test it. In fact I expect to need to test it a lot, and for that, I’m going to need a lot of coins to burn.
I also might need a pizza. But mostly testing.
So… who wants to see what happens when you make a blockchain more valuable than it already is?
-
Help my simple mind please.
1. How much linkage would 1 FTC grant you ( since im a moron and dont know how much blockchain that takes up )
2. Wouldnt there be longterm implications if FTC deflated? Making it expensive to buy links?
3. How would you add this information? A wallet like interface?
btw. a small donation that a miner can is incoming. Im sure you thought of all this already and have answers for it all. I have some programming skills but mainly in the codes you hate. My fiance is also a graphic artist and im sure she would love to help as well.
-
I’ve been following the discussion over there and you can count me in. I’m looking forward to see this project come together and watch the ripples it’s going to make throughout the crypto communities. I’ve got some mining hardware on the way…
-
I’ve been following this discussion closely all the way from the original “What’s the point of Feathercoin” post. I have to be honest. I don’t really understand it all, and I consider myself to be a techie! It would be really interesting to see what the client actually does though.
I think one point needs to be made here: Most other forums would have destroyed the OP who asked the original question (and he would have been banned without a doubt). He basically said that Feathercoin was almost irrelevant. Instead of taking him apart the dev team appear to have come up with what could be a game changer. I’m more than impressed by this. Some people may be cynical when they hear that Feathercoin is all about ‘the community’. I really think this development is an amazing proof of the reality of that statement.
At the risk of being branded a slimey sycophant, I just have to say well done guys! It’s truly inspirational.
I’m more than happy to donate. What’s required? I’m not rich in FTC but I’ll do what I can.
:) -
I had another thought. If you, Kevlar, or anyone else were to set up a p2pool for FTC with a 1% pool fee that went directly toward funding this protocol, I would use it and encourage others to do the same. It could be a good way to get steady support for the project. Also, I will donate 1 FTC for any T shirt I sell on the marketplace. It’s not much, but it’s a start.
-
[quote name=“MTRisner” post=“41664” timestamp=“1386519303”]
I had another thought. If you, Kevlar, or anyone else were to set up a p2pool for FTC with a 1% pool fee that went directly toward funding this protocol, I would use it and encourage others to do the same[/quote]
Nice idea
:D -
[quote name=“MTRisner” post=“41664” timestamp=“1386519303”]
I had another thought. If you, Kevlar, or anyone else were to set up a p2pool for FTC with a 1% pool fee that went directly toward funding this protocol, I would use it and encourage others to do the same. It could be a good way to get steady support for the project. Also, I will donate 1 FTC for any T shirt I sell on the marketplace. It’s not much, but it’s a start.
[/quote]Before we mass exodus over to a oh-boy-look-yet-another-pool, though, it might be better to see if there’s any believers in the project willing to push up and set aside an additional percentage on one of their pools so that there’s no crazy shifts in loyalty. -
[quote name=“HopeStillFlies” post=“41674” timestamp=“1386520567”]
[quote author=MTRisner link=topic=5663.msg41664#msg41664 date=1386519303]
I had another thought. If you, Kevlar, or anyone else were to set up a p2pool for FTC with a 1% pool fee that went directly toward funding this protocol, I would use it and encourage others to do the same. It could be a good way to get steady support for the project. Also, I will donate 1 FTC for any T shirt I sell on the marketplace. It’s not much, but it’s a start.
[/quote]Before we mass exodus over to a oh-boy-look-yet-another-pool, though, it might be better to see if there’s any believers in the project willing to push up and set aside an additional percentage on one of their pools so that there’s no crazy shifts in loyalty.
[/quote]Good point. How could I forget about politics? :D
-
This sounds like a really cool idea! Donated 3.95 FTC, I’m interested in seeing what this will become.
-
100 FTC for startsies.
omgt3hbarhasbeenraisedzomgwtf
-
I will donate some FTC to this soonish. I’m guessing we send donations to you Kevlar?
-
I’m in.
A thought …
[b]Link Mining for Link Protocol[/b]
What if on a certain day (or more) we all link our miners income together for a specific address(es) Kevlar designates? (for various coins?)
All proceeds from that days mining will go to the address(es) Kevlar specifies to help fund this project.
Edit : I missed the pool idea above, that would work too if anyone has the capability … otherwise just changing the payout address at any pool for a time period would be pretty easy.
-
[quote name=“angloblaxon” post=“41603” timestamp=“1386505301”]
Help my simple mind please.1. How much linkage would 1 FTC grant you ( since im a moron and dont know how much blockchain that takes up )
[/quote]Dude, some seriously GREAT questions!
Ready for the answer? I don’t know!!! That’s what your donations will be used to find out though.
The theoretical answer is 1 Satoshi for the first ~14 bytes, and 1 satoshi for each ~20 bytes thereafter up to the transaction size limit, but even that’s wrong because the client charges a higher fee when there’s a bunch of large transactions in the queue, and I don’t know if you can send a single satoshi to an address as part of a larger transaction. I’m gonna find out today though…
[quote]
2. Wouldnt there be longterm implications if FTC deflated? Making it expensive to buy links?
[/quote]Yes! Isn’t that interesting? I mean I go, “Woah…” every time I think about that, how the market will determine how much Linking costs! That’s one of the most interesting aspect to this I think.
[quote]
3. How would you add this information? A wallet like interface?
[/quote]For my ‘first pass’ at this, I will actually be using the QT wallet as a bootstrap since it has all the necessary functions needed. I just need to generate the Link encoded addresses, and do a send. For the actual “Link client”, yes. You’ll need to generate an address for spending, and send coins to that address I imagine.
Web interfaces sound pretty ideal for this too. I can envision Link Publishing sites already.
[quote]
btw. a small donation that a miner can is incoming.
[/quote]You are AWESOME! Thank you I’ll let you know how it’s used. :)
-
[quote name=“MTRisner” post=“41664” timestamp=“1386519303”]
I had another thought. If you, Kevlar, or anyone else were to set up a p2pool for FTC with a 1% pool fee that went directly toward funding this protocol, I would use it and encourage others to do the same. It could be a good way to get steady support for the project. Also, I will donate 1 FTC for any T shirt I sell on the marketplace. It’s not much, but it’s a start.
[/quote]That’s a very interesting idea! I’m not much for running pools, but maybe some enterprising individual could help out?
-
OMG thank you all SO much for your incredibly generous donations! I’ll be posting throughout the day with my progress after I get in a little SimCity (which I won on the forums last night!!! SO EXCITED!!!)
-
Kevlar, if you have a HoboNickel address I will donate a days mining for this project.
-
Sure!
EtVbP5g19AG37Zp1kodipkBTZdbm3Dxr9N
Do you want me to do a Link on the HBN network as well at some point in my testing? I can. Wouldn’t be hard.
-
To make good on my matching 100FTC, I just sent 50 more FTC to your donation address! After you get a working client ill send 50 more :D
-
You guys are awesome.
I’m encoding the magnet link Tuck suggested now (by hand). I hope to have it embedded in the blockchain sometime this evening, after which time I’ll demonstrate that it can be retrieved.
Once that’s done, it’ll be time to start writing some code! Should I do reading or publishing first?
-
I think reading would be a good idea to do first so people can see how it works with the magnet link that you are embedding into the blockchain.