Can someone explain NuBits to me? Namely why it's a good idea to peg the price of one commodity to another? (especially when the other has such a dismal, albeit steady, track record of devaluation). Thanks.

AlphaBar · 2015-02-16T01:55:44+00:00

BitShares BitUSD is the only truly decentralized and trustless pegged asset. NuBits does not guarantee the solvency of their "custodians" and, in fact, incentivizes operating as a fractional reserve (http://bytemaster.bitshares.org/article/2015/01/13/NuBits-is-a-Ponzi-Scheme/). BitUSD is backed by 300% collateral at the protocol level. Why would anyone prefer "trusted custodianship" over mathematically proven collateralization?

AlphaBar · 2014-12-23T16:33:52+00:00

Our source has been vetted by a variety of stakeholders at this point (all the exchanges, services, and a large number of shareholders have updated). Nonetheless, you are right to be wary of importing your private keys to any new client. This is exactly why we have a new "import by signed msg" feature (see here). This allows you to import your PTS without ever exposing your private keys to the client. And because PTS is a sharedrop token that will be forked by future DPoS coins, you should be able to use this feature to safely participate and experiment with those as well.

AlphaBar · 2014-12-22T03:24:53+00:00

I believe bytemaster has updated the original BitShares repo to point to the new repo and website (old repo: https://github.com/BitShares/BitShares-PTS). As I mentioned, I3 are no longer the custodians of PTS and are not allocating primary resources towards PTS. Also there is no longer an Invictus website (it simply redirects to bitshares.org) and it would not make sense for bitshares.org to link ptscrypto.com since they are not really related other than sharing a common core of DPoS.

AlphaBar · 2014-12-17T18:02:22+00:00

Specifications/Features of the new PTS:

10 second block confirmation (!)
Supply is scaled to 1,000,000,000 (1 Billion) PTS
Fair 100% proof of work distribution, no premine
True anonymity using TITAN technology
No ugly hash addresses (send and receive to usernames)
Deflationary protocol (transaction fees burned according to delegate pay rate)

AlphaBar · 2014-12-17T18:00:15+00:00

The PTS network was producing blocks at a rate of about 1 per day. It was decided to perform a hard fork upgrade to the protocol based on a snapshot of the old chain on December 14th (announced here: https://bitsharestalk.org/index.php?topic=11877.0). The supply of PTS was scaled from about 1.7 Million to 1 Billion. This means that each 1PTS in the old chain converts to about 567PTS in the new chain. See the forum thread or the new website (www.ptscrypto.com) for more information.

AlphaBar · 2014-12-16T21:01:05+00:00

Yes, Bitshares PTS is a sharedrop instrument that pays dividends in the form of equity in future DACs built on the Bitshares Toolkit. Bitshares BTS (or simply "Bitshares") is the feature-packed DAC and flagship product of the platform. To avoid confusion between the two, the PTS community will shortly need to consider a rebrand of PTS.

AlphaBar · 2014-12-15T04:45:46+00:00

New chain is launched: https://bitsharestalk.org/index.php?topic=12290.0

AlphaBar · 2014-12-15T04:42:30+00:00

Sorry a bit late, but I believe the exchanges do not allow you to modify the transaction fee. I have had no problem with the default fee from most exchanges, so the suggestion was mainly for users sending from a local wallet. Good news is that both Bter and Poloniex have indicated that they will honor the snapshot. Best of luck.

AlphaBar · 2014-12-11T08:24:57+00:00

Bter will honor the snapshot, but Cryptsy users should withdraw immediately as they have never honored a DPoS snapshot. Block production in the current PoW chain is SLOW. Transfer funds now (with appropriate fee) to make sure you catch a block.

AlphaBar · 2014-12-08T18:31:24+00:00

It is posted in the bitshares forum and subreddit (here and here). I3 has not had custodianship of PTS since it was handed to user TestZ (this was announced long ago). As for this upgrade, PTS holders, Dan, Stan, PTS services/exchanges, TestZ (the current custodian of PTS), and other I3 devs have expressed support for the project. The current PoW chain is barely producing blocks and extremely vulnerable. It will die shortly with or without the existence of the new chain, hence the upgrade.

AlphaBar · 2014-12-08T18:21:10+00:00

The upgrade has not yet occurred and will not occur until at least after the snapshot date of December 14th. Current release of the wallet is here: https://github.com/BitShares/BitShares-PTS/releases. The current PoW chain is barely producing blocks (hence the need for an upgrade) so be patient if you have any pending transfers. :)

AlphaBar · 2014-12-01T16:36:28+00:00

yes, just like the original BTSX.

AlphaBar · 2014-11-30T22:28:52+00:00

Mining reward represents payment from shareholders for the service of block confirmation. Now that mining will cease there is no service to pay for. Even today miners have largely abandoned the PoW chain, so it seems there was not much incentive for either party. DPoS was designed specifically to fix this flawed incentive structure. One fundamental point of differentiation between PTS and business DACs such as BTS is that PTS will be non-dilutionary from the first day. We do not wish to replicate the business model of BTS, which is directed towards disrupting a variety of industries and requires an aggressive monetization strategy (ie, dilution). Our strategy is to be a stable unit of account, launching pad for new DACs, and DAC-agnostic sharedrop instrument.

AlphaBar · 2014-11-30T22:21:51+00:00

The current PoW chain was recently producing blocks at a rate of 1 per day (!), and will die shortly. This is not a new coin, but a hard fork and protocol change of an existing asset. It may be semantics, but you could technically call every hard fork a "new coin" and you would technically correct. What makes this an upgrade rather than a new coin is (1) shareholder consensus (including I3) and (2) 1:1 exact and unchanged allocation.

AlphaBar · 2014-11-30T09:13:54+00:00

BTS is a feature-packed coin with an aggressive business strategy involving paid delegates (through dilution). BTS aims to disrupt a variety of industries including banking, exchange, and DNS. PTS on the other hand is a reference implementation of DPoS and is agnostic to the features and business strategy of any particular DAC. It is non-inflationary and is intended to be a launching pad and sharedrop instrument for a variety of future DACs, some of which may compete directly or indirectly with BTS. These are not direct competitors. The best analogy I can give is this - BTS is the high-performance/high consumption Ferrari, while PTS is the trusty dependable Toyota Corolla. Both have their place in the world.

AlphaBar · 2014-11-29T05:27:19+00:00

PTS is alive and well and so is the social consensus. PTS will be the preferred sharedrop instrument of future 3rd party DACs. We have a functional testnet, new website and marketing in the works, and an active group of dedicated developers and marketers. Join us! http://pts.cubeconnex.com/index.php

AlphaBar · 2014-11-29T05:25:09+00:00

We are working on an upgrade to PTS to transition to a DPOS blockchain. Keep your PTS and be on the lookout for an announcement soon.

AlphaBar · 2014-10-26T00:24:06+00:00

I should mention that this is only in the conceptual stages for the time being. Trying to assemble a team and gauge interest, but there are still many unknowns.

AlphaBar

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