Forums have been at the crux of how we share information and conduct discussions for over 2 decades now. From the beginning,its been a simple platform that allows basic functions : sharing text, sending PM’s and occasionally uploading media content. However, with the arrival of blockchain, one would expect the system to evolve. To somehow be able to transfer value on the blockchain, maybe login with a wallet id and engage in business and discussions while being able to access the wallet right through the forum. However, in spite of all the progress we’ve made in the crypto-sphere over the years, we are yet to see how the blockchain and forums can be brought together.

User experiences are dispersed across exchanges,wallets and a laundry list of services. Why is it that forums have to be so mundane when they can be redeveloped to bring together the best of both worlds ? Why is it that plugins have to be developed to be able to tip a user whose posts actually helped you ? Probably because no one attempted to combine the blockchain and a forum in an intuitive manner.

The way discussions are held in the community today is completely decentralized. Ideas are dispersed across skype chats, slack discussions and the deepweb. Who knows what kind of treasure trove is lost on a daily basis between the piles of chat logs. This also creates a system where people have to run through multiple systems to keep on with what’s going on in the industry. The new system will be a central home-base of sorts that allows users to keep a check on the progress of projects, and socialize at the same time.


ULTRA is our attempt to bring a change to that. We believe, it is possible to bring the blockchain and a forum together and create a sustainable business around it. We believe, it is about damn time, someone took a system that is over 2 decades old and made it appealing enough to the masses.


The key aspect to successfully combining multiple communities that in themselves are successful due to micro niches and other factors, is to integrate the features that draw the users without sacrificing the experience for something completely unique and foreign, to this end the data structure can not take place entirely on the blockchain, it will have to function much like a centralized forum system with chat logs and other functions being passed between database servers for failover, that being said - user information such as identity could be placed on the blockchain so even outside of the system, it can be accessed.

Privacy is an aspect that draws all users to congregate in more secure systems, to that end the goal of this system will be to make everything from chats, to personal information optional and stored in an encrypted manner such as that the administrators can not access it without permission from the user.  Private groups and direct messages will naturally never be stored, and integrated voice features will use an encrypted method.

Core features

Hybrid Logins

We believe it is time we combined user names with blockchain identities. The core login aspect would be made on the blockchain. In order to login to a system, a user will be made to login to his wallet, thereby giving him instant access to his funds in the system. The money will be stored on the blockchain, with the servers having zero access to funds. This would work as an open authorization on the blockchain.



Tipping

The function would allow users to tip those creating threads of valuable information, thereby creating incentive for users to post content with depth and quality. In the current model of the forum, connecting an external tipping service has become impossible due to outdated systems. We believe a tipping system can be connected right onto the forum, with the ability to see the statistics of amount tipped, received and other details right on the forum without need for external services.




Moderation techniques

Communities could be moderated by means of moderators that are voted into power in real time using the nxt vote feature. This could also be used to upvote and downvote threads in real time, thereby creating a user regulated system that allows for the propagation of information that appeals to the end user and  helps avoid spam of unnecessary services by miscreants. 




Social integration

The new forum will be targeted at the new stream of users that come searching about Nxt as some of the core projects explode. The concern is to make an intuitive interface for people to explore what nxt offers in an easy to access fashion. The idea is to make them feel accommodated as they come searching about us. While there will be traditional forms of login and a method to access the forum with the wallet , there will also be something along the lines of a “hybrid” login. This feature allows a user to combine the wallet id, with his social id.  The possibilities of what this could offer to the forum are countless. Imagine being able to tip directly to someone’s twitter account from the forum. Thereby ushering in a new age of virality to the community.


Current systems suffer from several key problems, such as the restriction of information due to lack of knowledge, for example a user may be too intimidated to pursue knowledge about NXT due to supernet being somewhat tough to access and understand. ULTRA is, among other things, an attempt to break down the intimidating barriers and large requirements of knowledge that come with using crypto-currency, while simultaneously allowing the advanced users to have a central location to connect and explore projects and niche communities that otherwise would be separated by an immense gulf of required understanding and expertise.

Other possible areas this system could expand to could include freelance and smart contract systems, to allow linking crypto developers together and let them start, crowdfund, manage and promote projects all in the same place. Current forums and chat systems make this process extremely impersonal, no one can decide on a contract or what project management suite to use, which svn or git service to use, the problems are endless when connecting professionals with entrepreneurs who need them.

It’s important to remember the reason users connect; information. To this end, one of the main goals of ULTRA will be to organize users into their respective niches, suggesting connections that allow them to expand their social horizon and explore opportunities they had not considered. the creation of groups, subgroups, teams, committees and all sorts of other groups should be allowed and enabled through the system to enhance a user's ability to congregate, explore and decide things together. 

Once past the primary development phase, a mobile application will need to be made, and a heavy campaign should be made to bring other crypto communities onto ULTRA - there should be no reason why the majority of the features can not be used with other blockchains, though some clearly will not work, NXT should always be the central blockchain we use for storing data and secure information. Ideally, a user could come in and manage their bitcoin wallet, tip with bitcoins and earn bitcoins for posting on a forum or participating in a group chat, all because they chose the option bitcoin instead of NXT.

ULTRA should look to expand its offerings on every front and partner with every possible technology driven market niche, things like allowing users to pay for a lyft car with their ULTRA wallet or sign a contract with the ULTRA app should be not only possible but easily integrated into our daily world once adoption is mainstream, the possibilities for ULTRA as both an identity verification system and payment processor are endless because of the trustless environment.

As development expands, ULTRA could be made to take over the roles of many market, advertising, social and business functions to allow a central location for people to meet and discuss, not just about one currency or one niche, but all of them in any array of subject - we envision a system that has the power of facebook with the privacy you have always dreamed of and the powerful features from every system you have ever used, ULTRA aims the first place you look for all the important information that makes your world go round.
Other possible features:


Portfolio management

Users could have their account listing and their portfolio displayed in real time. Users could also look up at the portfolio held by other members of the community in real time, adding more transparency to the ecosystem.


Asset Exchange

We believe it is time we quit with the asset exchange  listing on external sites or wallets. Why not have asset listings and transactions made right within the forum ? If asset listings could be made right from the forum then the need for an external login would be removed thereby adding to the user experience. Think of what secureae offers right within the forum itself.


DB Decentralization

Given the high amount of downtime faced by services like BCT it becomes incredibly important for users to be able to access the forum in a secure fashion even if one or two fo the servers goes down. By basing the service on the cloud and using dns failover and db synchronization techniques a high level of uptime could be maintained. while the server will still be in a central location, security will be managed by cloud services and failover can ensure that users never truly see the system down.




Just some of the things, I think we should evolve into.
Am happy getting this dev’ed through a fund raiser or something.

Hey guys,

Been bouncing the concept at Nxt forum.
Wanted to know what bitshares guys thought of this.
I am not sure something similiar is being built for Bitshares.


P.s - Am only bouncing a concept here, checking if there's sufficient interest.

Am at the brink of releasing a UIA for this. 

Hey guys,

Am thinking of setting up a crowd-funder for this.
Open to suggestions in regards to the same.

Nxt and Bitshares have been vocal about interest and we're looking to tap on both in the most effective fashion.

Regards

You have a massive opportunity here - if you are able to front the cost of a gambling licence in whichever jurisdiction is the most cost effective, you stand ready to create a platform for blockchain based gambling.

You could create an API which handles the provably fair aspect of the system (and where the bet is struck, crucially) to allow multiple other 3rd party projects to integrate with you, under the umbrella of your licence. In exchange for these services, you take a cut of their profits.

There is nothing like this in the crypto space at the moment, this would be a novel project.

The amount of positive responses we've had so far is humbling.
Yes, there's nothing like this in the crypto-space so far. Currently, with our user reach we are already one of the biggest gaming oriented start-ups  in the crypto-sphere. By focusing on profitability and scale head on through diversification of revenue streams we intend to further strengthen our position.  I have had a number of people willing to support the initiative in the coming weeks and am contemplating how to go about raising funds, ensuring its used effectively and delivering on our promises. Will post updates as I talk to the team

Appreciate the interest.

Stakeholders should note pp. 14:

Quote

Benefits to Potential Backers

Since one of the USP’s of the business is an active and strong integration of crypto­currencies into the heart of the project, we’ve been analyzing and learning what a wide number of crypto­currencies could add as value to the business for the past few months. On the basis of our research we found synergies in a collaboration with Nxt’s Asset Exchange as a potential source for funds, Play shares as a potential market to advertise this to and Bitshares as the go­to solution for quickly confirmable, cheap transactions. Given the string of recent announcements from the Bitshares team, we believe a collaboration with Bitshares makes the most sense, as the product offerings stand to be substantially higher and better.
At the core of any business collaboration is a synergy that benefits all parties involved. While we’re actively looking for ways to fund this from communities,in exchange we offer to push the technology offered by the backer to the masses via our string of websites. Since any betting platform would see thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of transactions on a daily basis, utilizing something like Bitshares allows the network to have a large number of early adopters. By creating a “gaming economy”, we bring not only users to the system, but also potential customers for a wide number of services currently being developed in the ecosystem.
With an active integration into the business, any coin supporting the project gets to leverage the increased circulation of their coin, thereby inducing demand into the markets. This would further elevate the price of the coin, shed positive light on the creation and help attract other businesses. As a team, the company is happy to work closely with external devs in pro­actively integrating coin features to create a seamless experience for those that are interested.

We've  had a steady record of working with external devs. We have in-house devs, but while working with externally developed tech, we find it optimal to collaborate with the creators themselves.  With 2.0'S launch, yes a large chunk of the features mentioned will be of benefit to the platform.

Over the last few months we’ve been mentioning a “secret” project to a number of associates. We’ve been researching ways to revamp our cash-flow and create businesses that don’t solely create profit for us, but also add value to the ecosystems we’re involved with. Post vetting a large number of “potential” opportunities, we’d short listed a couple things to enable us to evolve into a gaming conglomerate. During this period, we’ve also been involved in the creation of an exchange, a tipping platform, helping fellow coin devs with their projects and experimenting with a laundry list of operations to see what works best for us. Today, we’re happy to announce the brief on our new project. Freebieservers.com is expanding to E-sports with its new venture.



We’re building a legal betting platform for gaming leagues. We believe Esports stands to grow substantially over the coming years and combining the power of crypto with it enables us to create cultural shifts amongst our target demographic, while ensuring profitability and scale.  The new betting platform stands to do 6 million dollars a month in revenue once at scale and work within a multi-billion dollar industry with very little competition.



Currently, most league pool sizes run into the millions of dollars with spectators easily crossing 2-3 million for major matches. In addition, smaller matches have thousands of viewers via a public stream. These are enthusiastic gamers with relatively high buying power looking for added sources of entertainment. By developing a betting platform targetted at them, we believe we can run this in the current market scenario in profit. For profit figures from  an existing competitor, refer to the document shared below



Given the nature of the business, we’ll be working with a compliance officer and a legal firm to ensure the smooth functioning of the business. We’ll be avoiding a US registration and looking at offshore solutions to make the same happen. 




FS has and will continue to be the foundation stone for our growth. The reason why we believe in diversification now, is due to a repeat growth pattern we’ve seen at FS. Since we’re launching new projects aimed at gamers, FS will act as the marketing front for the new projects, thereby funneliing a larger user base for the new projects. In exchange, FS key source of revenue will be advertising spents from the other projects on FS, thereby creating a synergy that helps sustain the business. 



Over 1.2 million USD worth items pass through betting in a single week. By having these transactions occur on the blockchain, a currency backing the project stands to see substantial volume and demand. In December 2014, we’d proven our hypothesis that gamers stand to garner interest in crypto by bringing in 10000+ Wallet sign ups for Nxt with a partnership with Mynxt.info . We believe any crypto partaking in a collaboraiton stands to see atleast a 100,000 added transactions every week and scale up from there.



We’re raising a total of 120 Bitcoins for the project. The money will be split between marketing and development funds. This should help us release our MVP. The time frame for delivery of the project will be 60 days post raising of funds. We’re happy to work with an escrow / Audit for the development of the project. We are trying to avoid an equity based deal due to the nature of the project, but it is an option on the table.


Business plan and other details :  https://www.dropbox.com/s/vfp02mud3np625q/ExecutiveSummary.pdf?dl=0






Note : We are currently looking at Bitshares and Nxt as a potential backer for the project.

Quote from: profitofthegods on June 09, 2015, 03:05:09 pm

I don't disagree with most of that, and those are great example uses. I'm not really sure if you're disagreeing with what I said or just the comparison with Paypal, but you acknowledge that the referral program provides an incentive to merchants as well as the reduced fees compared to what some are paying now, but seem to be saying merchants still need some additional financial incentive on top of that? I think that's enough of an incentive, and I think customers also need an incentive.

I'm only disagreeing with the PayPal comparison. I don't think any cryptocurrency will appeal to "normal" users until much later. It's like computers in the 80s. They started off with niche uses and increasingly became more mainstream with time. Cryptocurrency will follow a similar pattern.

I think the best use case is always going to be countries with high inflation or instability of some sort (bail ins). These people literally want an alternative to keeping cash under a mattress. A referral program can go a long way in getting adoption started in places like this.

I think the  entire paypal comparison is flawed because Paypal had given 10 usd to every user that signed up on the platform. Is bitshares doing so ?