Sunday, December 29, 2013

NXT Alias based URL Shortener!

Source: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=345619.msg4206072#msg4206072
Decided to take a break from node-mania and wrote a little app to use nxt aliases as shortened URLs. Take a peak at http://22k.io.

You can use tiny URLs like http://22k.io/UR_ALIAS. Just create an alias and set a proper HTTP or HTTPS uri.

For example....

This thread:  http://22k.io/bigassnxtthread
Download latest nxt: http://22k.io/downloadnrs
A public node: http://22k.io/publicnode
The goog: http://22k.io/google

Please play around with it and let me know if it works for you. I think this is a great way to use Aliases and draw attention to NXT (once I add some fancy txt to the home page). The site needs a little polish but I figured I'd let y'all go ahead and play with it. I'm working on some more fun alias tricks too.

Thanks!

Friday, December 27, 2013

Dev wanted + planned Nxt features

In continuation of the announcement that we r looking for more Nxt core devs, there are features we r planning to implement till block 525960 (in alphabetical order):

- Alias System (done)
- Arbitrary Messages (partially)
- Asset Exchange (done)
- Distributed Computing (concept not ready)
- Distributed Storage
- Instant Transactions (requires peer review)
- Mixing Service (concept not ready)
- Multisignatures
- Service Providers
- Shrinking
- Smart Contracts (concept not ready)
- Transparent Mining (partially)
- Two-phase Payments
- Voting System
- some non-revealed features

Monday, December 23, 2013

Why would Cryddit buy Nxt?

Source: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=364239.msg4108341#msg4108341

I've been considering buying some NXT, because I believe in the proof-of-stake model and I can see how it is pretty easy to develop the other mentioned features on top of it.  Also because the value would jump dramatically after release if the source code turns out to be okay. But I absolutely cannot run the client, because it has these four major strokes against it....

First, it's closed-source.  Closed-source, in itself, doesn't scream 'scam.'  But closed-source means you have to trust the developer, or trust people who've audited the code, because you can't trust source code you can't see.

Second, the developer is anonymous.  Anonymous developer, in itself, doesn't scream 'scam.'  But it means you have to trust the source code, or people who've audited the code, because you can't trust a developer whom you can't serve a subpeona on.

Third, the people who've audited the code have no history, no reputation, no known qualifications.  That in itself doesn't scream 'scam', but it means you have to trust the developer or trust the source code, because you can't trust auditors whom you don't know to be qualified.

Fourth, it's financial software.  Financial software in itself doesn't scream 'scam' but it does mean you absolutely cannot run it without completely trusting it because if you do otherwise then sooner or later a scam will take your entire life savings and/or livelihood.

So, if I acquire Nxt prior to the source code being released and audited by people I have reasons to trust, it's going to be on a 'burner box' -- install the OS, put it on its own subnet with no connections to other local machines, run the software long enough to generate a key, do the transfer,  and then save the wallet to a USB key marked 'DANGEROUS' with red nail polish, so you won't ever put it into anything except another 'burner box'.  Then shut it down and wipe the hard drive. It makes it kind of a pain in the ass to deal with.

Monday, December 16, 2013

Why Market Capitalization is a bad Metric for Bitcoin

Writen by: Romyen, https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=373282.msg3993938#msg3993938 Prior posts have suggested that the term market capitalization as applied to bitcoin be replaced with monetary base (M0) but that is just a semantical distinction. Market capitalization serves as a poor metric for bitcoin or any other virtual currency for a more fundamental reason, that can be seen by looking at altcoin rankings alongside bitcoin http://coinmarketcap.com There is a new coin called Next Coin or Nxt which might be a scam like some other altcoins, but that isn't my point. 1 billion coins were pre-minted (mining isn't the correct term because the developer claims that a proof-of-stake algorithm generates new coins) and are being sold of in small quantities to gullible buyers. At the time of writing 1 coin is "worth" $ 0.012 giving a market capitalization of about 12 million dollars. I chose Nxt as an example because it reduces the concept of market capitalization to an absurdity. Bitcoin, like gold, is hoarded more than spent. However, bitcoin differs from gold because it can be cloned or modified in an altcoin, but you can't invent a better precious metal to compete with gold. Bitcoin bases its value upon a protocol rather than physical presence, and the network effect. Bitcoin differs from fiat in that the developer doesn't need to rely on an army and submissive population to enforce the value of his coin. My point is that metrics used to describe fiat or precious metals don't work well for cryptocurrencies. I think that a new set of metrics need to be developed, probably by statistically characterizing the blockchain. I don't have the answer to this problem, and I'm wondering if anyone is working on it.

Friday, December 13, 2013

NXT is looking for volunteers

Nxt is starting to be bigger and bigger... There are many people who want to help, who want to earn NXT for their help and some kind people who want to pay for that help. But it wasn't centralized. Until now. Here is the gdoc (I created it, but you are free to improve it, edit it, upgrade it, but please do not delete it, only if it's about you...).

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AgAGADgnQcrtdHRrV3V3Z1lzOXVEMWtqdElUaEtqV1E#gid=0

There is a To-do list - where anyone can add what he thinks that is important.

There is NXT Team Sheet - a very important, so we can cooperate in groups. Until there will be some kind of organization, we can at least make some groups - and people can cooperate within those groups - graphics/videos/merketing...

We are looking for developers!

Sheet Donation - there are people who want to pay for some developoments, etc...

We are also looking for some leaders, coordinators - NiftyNikel should have some experience, Klee for also nominated to be a "Bounty bank" somewhere...

Why this all? Look at this:

http://www.peercointalk.org/index.php?PHPSESSID=3iccpqejbv79gl0bo8iom554a7&topic=1093.msg9360#msg9360

Without a huge marketing, without a huge effort from developers, people who can write about myths (trolls can kill the currency because of the premined thing) - without this all Nxt won't be able to reach Bitcoin one day..

Monday, December 9, 2013

The list of NXT Giveaways - get NXT for free or propagation!

1. Bitcointalk:


2. Nextcoin.org


3. Nxtalk.org


Or buy NXT here:

Transparent mining, or What makes Nxt a 2nd generation currency

Written by: Come-from-Beyond
source: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=364218.0

I want u to pay attention to a paper titled Decentralised Currencies Are Probably Impossible But Let’s At Least Make Them Efficient.

The author writes:
Quote
To match this to the notion of “decentralised” (i.e. lacking central authority), the consensus group must be, at least, all participants in the currency. This does not present any real problem when that group is known. For example, it would be possible to define the group as “all people currently in the United States”– where the currency would be something akin to the US Dollar. Assuming the majority decide to behave honestly (as seems likely, after all, that is what happens now), then they should have no difficulty in forming consensus on who has how much money at what time. However, the most general notion of decentralisation does not admit such re-strictions. After all, in some sense, placing any such restriction simply pushes the central authority back a layer: instead of controlling the currency, the authority controls membership of the consensus group. A system like this must allow any entity to participate, and to join and leave the scheme at will. And here lies the problem. If you can never know who is in the scheme (bear in mind that knowing who is in is also a consensus problem!), then you can never get agreement.

In Nxt this problem doesn't arise coz all participants (miners) r known. This is a side-effect of 100% proof-of-stake currency. So, let's move to the most interesting part...

As u may know, Bitcoin et al. can be attacked by an entity that possesses 51% of hashing power. 2 main scenarios r possible:
1. Part of the miners leave the "legit" branch of the blockchain and start mining their own branch.
2. Someone buys/produces mining equipment and starts mining secret branch.

The 2nd scenario can't be applied to Nxt, coz no NXTs exist outside the network. Let's look closer at the 1st scenario.

Yesterday the average base target was ~700%. This means that only 1/7 of all stakeholders were generating blocks, we can't say if the rest 6/7 were hit by bus or trying to fork Nxt blockchain. This is in the current Nxt implementation. BCNext is satisfied with the results shown during last 2 weeks and now is going to adjust the mining algo a little bit to make it transparent.

What does this transparency mean? It means that anyone can predict (with very high probability) who and when will generate next block(s). And this gives us superior advantages:
1. Transactions can be sent directly to the miner who will mine the next block (if he decides to reveal his location on the Internet), thus saving traffic and coming much closer to VISA/MasterCard processing volumes.
2. Blocks can be generated in advance and sent to most of the miners before they become valid (timestamp validation), thus greatly reducing rate of orphaned blocks.
3. Due to ability to predict timestamps of future blocks (rate of blocks) it becomes possible to set appropriate fees to assure quick confirmations for important transactions (without paying too much for inclusion into a block).

And the most important feature:
The network can detect which miners don't take part in block generation and act accordingly.

The last point deserves to be described with more details.

Imagine someone is going to do a "51%" attack against Nxt and he owns 90% of all coins. The adversary must stop generating blocks for legit branch coz he won't be able to compete against 100% mining power with his 90%. So he decides to "skip" his turn to generate a block. The rest 10% of the network detects this and penalizes the adversary by setting his mining power to 0 and distributing it among other miners. Now the network is back to 100% power coz everyone got 10-fold increase. The adversary can mine other branch in a secret place but it won't be able to replace the legit branch. Of course, the 2nd branch will have 100% "hashing" power tied to it as well, coz the attacker will get his 90% bumped to 100% but this can be counteracted by some mechanisms of advanced consensus (still not revealed).

As a 100% PoS currency Nxt is protected against a government wealthy entity that could buy/produce a lot of ASICs, with the transparent mining it's protected even against someone buying most of the coins.

So, what does make Nxt a really next-gen currency? Not those nice features like decentralized exchange, or decentralized DNS, or decentralized app store. The transparent mining algo does, and this is only the 1st part of BCNext's plan...

Tuesday, December 3, 2013

Do not send bitcoins to scammers!

10 days after releasing first NXTs we have got our first scammer. A thief at the forum nextcoin.org stole 1 BTC from a poor guy mcjavar from bitcointalk. Mcjavar thougt that he is buying NXT from one famous guy from bitcointalk, but no, it was only a thief who used his nickname... If you want to support mcjavar, here is his NXT wallet :) NXT: 7704473502402320783

Beware of hackers too!

Let's make a list of all NXT thieves:

1. Hacking thief who was stealing some accounts and then transferring:

innocent accounts:
http://87.230.14.1/nxt/nxt.cgi?action=3000&acc=4024502032626639504 - NXT acc 4024502032626639504 - Chang Hum - was robbed by 2 accounts that belong to one hacker:
222816499517535106 - money were returned
17716754118323415513 - money were not returned

But if I follow money from 222816499517535106, I get to this chain of transactions:

http://87.230.14.1/nxt/nxt.cgi?action=3000&acc=222816499517535106
http://87.230.14.1/nxt/nxt.cgi?action=3000&acc=17716754118323415513
http://87.230.14.1/nxt/nxt.cgi?action=3000&acc=4024502032626639504
http://87.230.14.1/nxt/nxt.cgi?action=3000&acc=10073307918468481679
http://87.230.14.1/nxt/nxt.cgi?action=3000&acc=3037417148332301448
http://87.230.14.1/nxt/nxt.cgi?action=3000&acc=3791936988034107349
http://87.230.14.1/nxt/nxt.cgi?action=3000&acc=2119227607764707387
http://87.230.14.1/nxt/nxt.cgi?action=3000&acc=9142102975367944096
http://87.230.14.1/nxt/nxt.cgi?action=3000&acc=6962315662697070407
http://87.230.14.1/nxt/nxt.cgi?action=3000&acc=17716754118323415513
http://87.230.14.1/nxt/nxt.cgi?action=3000&acc=1084248667600428894
http://87.230.14.1/nxt/nxt.cgi?action=3000&acc=13730205250232571510
http://87.230.14.1/nxt/nxt.cgi?action=3000&acc=3937699229213236762
http://87.230.14.1/nxt/nxt.cgi?action=3000&acc=15825363546145396108
http://87.230.14.1/nxt/nxt.cgi?action=3000&acc=5023257426183395799
http://87.230.14.1/nxt/nxt.cgi?action=3000&acc=7098332376750340259
http://87.230.14.1/nxt/nxt.cgi?action=3000&acc=14838485484929949365
http://87.230.14.1/nxt/nxt.cgi?action=3000&acc=12916008064048837079 - donated to Genesis (http://87.230.14.1/nxt/nxt.cgi?action=3000&acc=1739068987193023818)
http://87.230.14.1/nxt/nxt.cgi?action=3000&acc=2401730748874927467 - donated to Genesis


last owners of Nxt or diversions:
http://87.230.14.1/nxt/nxt.cgi?action=3000&acc=4427320429393039971 (a slot machine)
http://87.230.14.1/nxt/nxt.cgi?action=3000&acc=14107066005962297320
http://87.230.14.1/nxt/nxt.cgi?action=3000&acc=12898636000396314855 (cunicula's account, he received 500 Nxt from hacker's account: 2401730748874927467)
http://87.230.14.1/nxt/nxt.cgi?action=3000&acc=8271073041682744103

2. coinseller2014

Scammer coinseller2014 stole 0.1 BTC from wesley and didn't pay him 25.000 NXT:
http://87.230.14.1/nxt/nxt.cgi?action=3000&acc=2043614891389818346
http://pho.to/4GLEF

note: coinseller2014 was a new user of bitcointalk with 12 posts. Always check if you aren't trading with scamming newbie.

Monday, December 2, 2013

10 things you need to know about Nextcoin

1) For mining you need only computer with internet connection. It is not based on how fast your computer is.

2) The more Nxt you have, the more Nxt you get by mining. Miners get Nxt from transaction fees.

3) If you want to mine, you need to get/buy some Nxt coins. Then you must wait (24 hours?) until that transaction gets 1440 confirmations.

4) There are and always will be 1.000.000.000 Nxt coins. No inflation caused by mining here.

5) Nxt is a brand new crypto currency, it's not based on Bitcoin (etc), it's simpler, faster, cheaper, healthier, better!

6) All Nxt coins were owned by original fundators.

7) There will be marketplace, messages and also colored coins (other alternative coins) included in the Nxt client.

8) Minimum transfer fee is 1 Nxt.

9) Now you can send, receive and mine Nxt. Other featers are expected on 3rd January 2014.

10) For now if you loose your password, you loose all your Nxt coins.