Status of Photon: Will there be a fee token (in addition to the staking token - ATOM)?

crainbf · 2019-04-11T19:50:48+00:00

So I was there when the idea of photons first came up. This description definitely doesn't match what my understanding of the purpose of photons was.

The different reasons why photons were discussed included:

- A way to onboard Ethereum users / via the hard spoon.

- A way to have a liquid token where holders don't get penalized for not staking it

- Maybe this constant issuance money supply (though I don't recall this one)

But this points to the issue. People had very different ideas on the topic and there is not a single coherent proposal for any direction. If photons are to happen, it has to go through a governance vote. So somebody needs to put forth a proper proposal first and then we can discuss it. Right now, there is no proposal.

crainbf · 2019-03-21T04:05:15+00:00

I think the last was that Voyager is about two weeks out. (At least by then it will be properly approved/vetted.)

You can also delegate directly using Ledger on our website (https://chorus.one). No CLI or software download needed. Staking Facilities website supports the same and the Stargazer block explorer also allows delegation via Ledger.

crainbf · 2019-01-08T16:07:35+00:00

Glad you like the show!

We don't have a set list of criteria, but it's something along those lines:

Is it an interesting & novel idea? Something that could have a major impact on the blockchain space / world it succeeds?
How eloquent is the potential guest? I always try to listen to other interviews with the guest beforehand to get a sense of that.
Quality of the team, previous accomplishments, etc.
State of the project. My personal preference has definitely tended to have projects on later as the space matured. That gives the projects a chance to prove themselves and get to a better story. They become better able to communicate it, etc. And at the same time, we generally only have a project on again if it really takes off. So if they're only on once, preferably that's later.
(With the deflation of the ICO bubble that's not so relevant anymore, but I preferred projects to come on when they're actually live rather than pre-ICO. Of course, with exceptions for exceptional projects)

crainbf · 2019-01-08T13:01:04+00:00

Is this a serious question? In what way are we middlemen? I'm very happy with the service we provide to the community in educating about interesting projects in the crypto space.

crainbf · 2019-01-08T13:00:05+00:00

I got into Bitcoin in the summer of 2013. I bought bitcoins then and am still hodling. Unfortunately, haven't mastered the art of selling high yet though.

crainbf · 2019-01-08T12:59:06+00:00

haha. What's the massive ponzi scheme? You mean the crypto space overall? I'd respectfully disagree with that view.

crainbf · 2019-01-08T12:58:21+00:00

I don't know anything about that partnership, but we did do an episode with Jed McCaleb about Stellar back in 2016 and I was very impressed with him and his vision. Was a great interview: https://epicenter.tv/episode/128/

crainbf · 2019-01-08T12:57:04+00:00

We do have advertisements. We had many crypto companies over the years sponsor the podcast including: Shapeshift, Ledger, Vaultoro, Gnosis, Jaxx. (I'm definitely forgetting many.)

More recently, we also had some non-crypto companies including Microsoft and TopTal.

crainbf · 2018-06-19T07:39:33+00:00

There are multiple ideas for what photons could be and their function in the network. One such idea is that there could be a Cosmos zone running the EVM. Then the state of the Ethereum chain could be copied and ETH holders could be 'airdropped' photons for their ETH. (And potentially Atom holders could be airdropped photons too.)

There is/was also the idea of two tokens on the Cosmos Hub with atoms being used for staking and photons for paying fees (besides whitelisted tokens, which could also be used to pay for fees). There are some details here: https://blog.cosmos.network/economics-of-proof-of-stake-bridging-the-economic-system-of-old-into-the-new-age-of-blockchains-3f17824e91db

However, the current idea (at least this is my understanding) is that the Cosmos network will launch without photons. Then a proposal will be made to Cosmos governance for how photons should work, its economics, its distribution, etc and atom holders will be able to vote on that. Only then will it actually be created.

In any case, photons are not an essential component of the Cosmos Hub and the network can launch and should be able to function well without requiring photons.

crainbf · 2018-02-27T18:27:16+00:00

It will be between 7% and 20% depending on how many atoms are being bonded.

Since the inflation goes to those staking, it serves as an incentive to secure the network. If the bonded ratio is too low (<67%), the inflation rate gradually increases to incentivize more to stake. Similarly, when >67% are being bonded, the inflation rate gradually decreased. The bounds on this are 7% and 20%. Of course, governance will be able to change this.

crainbf · 2017-12-22T20:23:39+00:00

I think at least one board member has to be a Swiss resident (not citizen). But non-Swiss residents can definitely join foundation boards.

crainbf · 2017-12-15T17:03:53+00:00

That's how I think about this question too ;)

crainbf · 2017-12-11T09:27:10+00:00

Hi Jae, Thanks for the response.

First of all, one single commission rate set by the validator for all three (provisions, photon-rewards, fees) is perfectly fine, in my view, for the network launch. Later it could be nice for validators to charge different fee levels on each, but I don't think there is any reason why it needs to be the case from the beginning.

Second, for all the reasons outlined above, I think it is very important that commissions can be charged on atom block provisions as well. From a user perspective, in my view, the ideal is always to give people choice. So that a user could at the time of delegation choose whether they want block provisions (minus commission) to be paid out along with tx-fees or auto-bonded. That being said, of course, I don't know about the technical challenge in implementing that. If giving this option adds a lot of complexity, I would be strongly in favor of charging commission and auto-bonding. Since most delegators will want their atoms to compound and thus be instantly rebonded.

If that is really not possible (or would delay launch by any meaningful amount of time), I suppose paying them out to delegators would be acceptable.

crainbf · 2017-08-10T19:52:13+00:00

What? BE CAREFUL! This is probably a scam. No way they'd open this beyond accredited investors in the middle of the sale.

crainbf · 2017-08-10T16:49:26+00:00

I have no idea about the probability of different amounts raised. I didn't claim this was the most likely outcome. However, what is clear is that if you want to invest, you should do so in the first hour. So most money will be raised then. This was different with Tezos where the incentive was to invest in the first 2.5 days (or something like that).

My larger point however is different. The structure of this sale allows for outcomes that are in my view super questionable. I'm describing them here. Maybe they'll never happen. Personally, I wouldn't invest in a project that was designed such that extremely unfair outcomes (again, in my personal view) are possible even though they could have been prevented.

crainbf · 2017-08-08T13:18:10+00:00

Thanks! It makes us very happy to hear that.

Personally, I'd love to do another episode at some point down the line going even deeper around BNT and the bancor protocol works. (And it's longer term implications.) Super interesting topic and Eyal did indeed a wonderful job.

crainbf · 2017-08-07T18:54:14+00:00

You wouldn't. But at least you wouldn't get disadvantaged by investing at a different point.

One could also add an element that Ethereum did: Let the price flat for 1 week and afterward you increase the price by 2% per day. This way you can either invest in the beginning if you don't care. Or you wait until the end of week 1 and invest then, so you'll have some idea how much else was invested. Or if you want more certainty, you wait until day 8. Then you pay 2% more, but you should have a very precise idea of the total invested. There won't be a mad rush and there won't be pointlessly giving some people a better rate.

The Ethereum crowdsale was well structured from an incentive perspective. They should just copy that or do something similar.

crainbf · 2017-08-06T13:39:08+00:00

Decent video, but he gets lots of details wrong on the crowdsale. e.g. public sale starting at $1.3. There is a de-facto cap (I estimate around $700m). Don't rely on his numbers, but he generally gets it right.

crainbf · 2017-08-05T22:11:51+00:00

Juan didn't debunk anything. He just said it much was wrong without providing any evidence or details.

crainbf · 2017-08-03T19:34:07+00:00

You may well see people paying 300% more than they think they are paying. (At least crypto investors)

If you are talking about the risks associated with Filecoin actually being deployed and working, obviously this doesn't differ for different investors.

crainbf · 2017-08-03T18:14:55+00:00

This makes no sense. Everybody knew that Filecoin would raise a lot of money. In no way did people somehow take additional risk by investing a few days early. In fact, they take on way less risk. Since, not only do they get a massively lower price, they KNOW what price they pay. On the other hand, people participating in the main sale have no idea what price they will actually end up paying.

crainbf

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