Re: [free-software-melb] starting your own crypto currency

2014-05-17 Thread Brian May 
On 18 May 2014 00:37, Andrew McGlashan <
andrew.mcglas...@affinityvision.com.au> wrote:

> Mining any kind of cryptocurrency that is like BitCoin is pointless; if
> you don't have the /right/ ASIC, you get nowhere and if you use non ASIC
> gear, then it is very power hungry -- that goes strongly against your
> views on so called climate change.
>

Not sure how your answer relates to starting a new cryptocurrency.

In Bitcoin, the difficulty is automatically adjusted based on the rate
blocks are being produced. So if you are starting your own cryptocurrency,
and don't care about creating a distributed system, you would only have one
"miner"[1] you could make sure - by adjusting the various parameters - it
is very easy to create new blocks. In fact you could set it up that any
blocks created by your miner are automatically accepted, and the miner
produces a block based on a cron job.

Not sure why you would want to however. There are already too many
different Cryptocurrencies, most attempting to compete with Bitcoin, each
with different parameters that supposedly make it better then Bitcoin (but
this is not always the case).


Also see https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Testnet


Or is this a general complaint about Bitcoin? If so, see:
https://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Myths#Bitcoin_mining_is_a_waste_of_energy_and_harmful_for_ecology


Notes:
[1] I hate this terminology. The purpose point of "miners" is to create
sequential blocks in a non-deterministic and distributed manner. Creating
money is just a fortunate side effect.
-- 
Brian May 
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Re: [free-software-melb] starting your own crypto currency

2014-05-17 Thread Andrew McGlashan 
On 16/05/2014 6:51 PM, Russell Coker wrote:
> I'd like to start my own crypto currency.  What's the easiest way of doing 
> it?  
> I'd like to use an Android phone client for payments if possible, hopefully a 
> FOSS Android app at least.
> 
> The total value of currency released will be only a few hundred dollars.
> 
> Also I want to run the central bank and be the only issuer of currency.
> 
> Any suggestions?  I guess I could just buy half a bitcoin, but it might be 
> more fun to start my own.
> 

Mining any kind of cryptocurrency that is like BitCoin is pointless; if
you don't have the /right/ ASIC, you get nowhere and if you use non ASIC
gear, then it is very power hungry -- that goes strongly against your
views on so called climate change.

If you believe climate change is real, then you should not be mining
coins that have questionable benefit over the potential /costs/ ..

There are other ideas, such as proof of ownership over power hungry mining.

A.

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Re: [free-software-melb] starting your own crypto currency

2014-05-16 Thread Russell Coker 
On Fri, 16 May 2014 19:23:43 Matt Giuca wrote:
> The interesting thing about Bitcoin is that the ID of the genesis block is
> hard-coded into the client. Every bitcoin transaction must be verified on a
> chain that goes all the way back to the genesis block, or else it is
> ignored by all the clients.

One would hope that at least some of the client programs would take this as a 
parameter that can be changed.  Usually hoping that programmers do the right 
thing leads to disappointment, but it should be easy to change when source is 
available.

> What that means is that if you take the Bitcoin source code, generate a new
> genesis block, and modify the code to mention your new genesis block
> instead of the official Bitcoin one, you will have effectively created a
> new currency. Anybody who uses your modified client will be dealing in your
> currency, as their blocks will be incompatible with the main Bitcoin
> blocks. I believe this is how many of the alternative cryptocurrencies like
> Dogecoin work -- they are just Bitcoin with a different genesis block.
> 
> (I have never done it though.)

Sounds like fun.

> If you want to make different rules than Bitcoin, like you running the
> central bank, then you'll have some work ahead of you though.

My user base won't have the ability to develop their own bitcoin software in 
the near future, so I can rely on security by obscurity.  ;)

> Another cool looking technology I read about is
> Ethereum.
> This is a new cryptocurrency based on Bitcoin that is *programmable* --
> every transaction can include code* in a Turing-complete language, which in
> turn lets you build all kinds of things directly in the Ethereum block
> chain, like trust systems, gambling systems, and even microcurrencies. Not
> sure how realistic it is, but certainly fun to think about.

Yes, an interesting concept.  Thanks for the suggestions.

> *Yes, Bitcoin transactions can include code too, but it's much more limited.
> On Fri, May 16, 2014 at 6:51 PM, Russell Coker  wrote:
> > I'd like to start my own crypto currency.  What's the easiest way of doing
> > it?
> > I'd like to use an Android phone client for payments if possible,
> > hopefully a
> > FOSS Android app at least.
> > 
> > The total value of currency released will be only a few hundred dollars.
> > 
> > Also I want to run the central bank and be the only issuer of currency.
> > 
> > Any suggestions?  I guess I could just buy half a bitcoin, but it might be
> > more fun to start my own.
> > 
> > --
> > My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/
> > My Documents Bloghttp://doc.coker.com.au/
> > 
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> 
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-- 
My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/
My Documents Bloghttp://doc.coker.com.au/

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Re: [free-software-melb] starting your own crypto currency

2014-05-16 Thread Matt Giuca 
The interesting thing about Bitcoin is that the ID of the genesis block is
hard-coded into the client. Every bitcoin transaction must be verified on a
chain that goes all the way back to the genesis block, or else it is
ignored by all the clients.

What that means is that if you take the Bitcoin source code, generate a new
genesis block, and modify the code to mention your new genesis block
instead of the official Bitcoin one, you will have effectively created a
new currency. Anybody who uses your modified client will be dealing in your
currency, as their blocks will be incompatible with the main Bitcoin
blocks. I believe this is how many of the alternative cryptocurrencies like
Dogecoin work -- they are just Bitcoin with a different genesis block.

(I have never done it though.)

If you want to make different rules than Bitcoin, like you running the
central bank, then you'll have some work ahead of you though.

Another cool looking technology I read about is
Ethereum.
This is a new cryptocurrency based on Bitcoin that is *programmable* --
every transaction can include code* in a Turing-complete language, which in
turn lets you build all kinds of things directly in the Ethereum block
chain, like trust systems, gambling systems, and even microcurrencies. Not
sure how realistic it is, but certainly fun to think about.

*Yes, Bitcoin transactions can include code too, but it's much more limited.


On Fri, May 16, 2014 at 6:51 PM, Russell Coker  wrote:

> I'd like to start my own crypto currency.  What's the easiest way of doing
> it?
> I'd like to use an Android phone client for payments if possible,
> hopefully a
> FOSS Android app at least.
>
> The total value of currency released will be only a few hundred dollars.
>
> Also I want to run the central bank and be the only issuer of currency.
>
> Any suggestions?  I guess I could just buy half a bitcoin, but it might be
> more fun to start my own.
>
> --
> My Main Blog http://etbe.coker.com.au/
> My Documents Bloghttp://doc.coker.com.au/
>
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> Free-software-melb mailing list
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> http://lists.softwarefreedom.com.au/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/free-software-melb
>
>
> Free Software Melbourne home page: http://www.freesoftware.asn.au/melb/
>
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