What are AngelShares?

AngelShares are a way to direct resources currently wasted on mining equipment and electricity and direct them into helping the crypto-equity industry grow.

How many AngelShares will there be?

10,000 AGS * 200 days = 2,000,000

What can I do with AngelShares?

AngelShares will get you a stake in all DACs created and sponsored by Invictus and other teams who use their code.

When does the AngelShares auction start?

January 1 2014: All donations sent to the AGS addresses before the new year will be included in the first day.

Are AngelShares transferrable?

No, they are non-transferrable.

Can I donate from a multi-address PTS/BTC wallet?

Yes, we have to tools to import all keys from your PTS and BTS wallets.

What time zone is the AngelShares auction on?

GMT

What happens when I send a donation?

Donations are logged in the public block chain to be referenced every time a new DAC is released. AngelShares are for longterm investments.

Can I send donations from an exchange?

No, you have to have control over your private keys for the addresses you donate from.

Will AGS be sent to me?

No. Shares are abstract in nature and not something transferrable.  They will result in your Private Keys being given balances in BTS when launched.   Every time we spend from the address we will document the purpose of the transfer.  We are working on that system now, until then we are not touching the funds.

How many confirmations does each transaction need to have before the day's deadline?

The timestamp in the block is all that matters.

How can I track the donations to the pools each day until launch?

PTS pool https://coinplorer.com/PTS/Addresses/PaNGELmZgzRQCKeEKM6ifgTqNkC4ceiAWw
BTC pool https://coinplorer.com/BTC/Addresses/1ANGELwQwWxMmbdaSWhWLqBEtPTkWb8uDc

What happens if only one person sends a donation?

If one person sent 1 donation, either AGS or BTC, and they were the only person to make a donation, they would receive the 5000 AGS for that day.

What happens if no one donates?

I don't know. It will probably never happen.

Who profits from AngelShares?

Everyone! 100% of the proceeds go to growing the crypto-equity industry. Zero percent  will be retained as profits by Invictus. Funds will be used to encourage new developers with salaries, grants, contracts, and bounties to build everything from small components to entire new DACs.  They will be used provide a free high-quality Developer's Toolkit giving DAC developers a huge head start.  They will be used for advertisements, conferences, promotions and give-aways to stimulate interest in the new industry and to provide opportunities for everyone to contribute.  They will be used for legal advocacy for the ecosystem in many jurisdictions.  Anything that we believe will grow the value of ProtoShares and all DACs that honor the contributions of ProtoShares and AngelShares holders.

What if I have a lot of cash or BTC to invest?

Contact Invictus

We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately.
     --Benjamin Franklin

Everyone holding ProtoShares is part of a movement to decentralize the web. If you haven't considered the ramifications of decentralizing the web, do so now. DACs know no boarders and yield to no authority. DACs will bring people from all over the world with similar interests,especially financial, together--true globalization. The decentralized web will deliver what the internet revolution promised to deliver but has yet to fulfill--true freedom. Until  now, we've all been traveling the web as ghosts, disembodied joyriders with no substance. Keyhotee promises to animate us, to make us whole. We will have a name, a reputation, a wallet and our wits. We will be solid. However, this is just the start. Although Keyhotee will make us three  dimensional, we will still be floating in cyberspace with no ground beneath our feet and no home. We need DACs.

The life blood of the DAC project is ProtoShares. It's the campfire everyone who believes in the movement can gather around. ProtoShares is also a honeypot. It attracts likeminded people and hopefully likeminded developers.

Invictus will go down in history for their contributions to the movement,no doubt, and they still have an important role, but currently it might be better if we started to think of them as any other DAC team. Our goal, as PTS holders, is to see to it that DACs are built. There are a lot of really good DAC ideas on the forum. But we have to ask ourselves, how are we going to help get these projects off the ground? Is it enough to just say to DAC builders, "We are community, join us!" or should we be trying to make ourselves look more attractive. How can we show new teams that we are a group of people who can help a project succeed and that we are indeed building the future of the web.

Like some of you, I am considering putting together a DAC team. And once you start looking through the eyes of a DAC team, you start to ask yourself, how is this community going to help me?

One way we can help, is to lay down a good plan for building DACs.

The strategies below are all ideas that new teams might or might not want to do. Note, I'm not asking the community if these ideas are good ideas or about legal considerations, I'm asking if we will support DAC builders who want to use these ideas. All the ideas below include the social promise of honoring the original ProtoShares.

New ProtoShares--Attracting miners
If a new team wants to release their own ProtoShares, good for either all their projects or for each DAC, will we support this? Will we support this if they wanted 90% of all shares of their DAC to be distributed in this way?


AngelShares--Funding Engine
DAC builders need to eat. Their families need to eat too. Will we support a team that wants to have AngelShares? Will we support them if they want 90% of their shares to come from AngelShares?

OurShares--Developer Rewards
It seems odd to tell the parents of a DAC that if they want a stake, they will need to use their food money to buy PTS or AngelShares. PTS holders and AngelShare holders should be happy that the team believes in what they are doing and do what they do for their own benefit as well as others. Will we support a team who wants to have OurShares? Will we support a team who wants to distribute their DAC's shares with 90% OurShares.

GiveawayShares--Marketing
If a team wants to attract people outside the crypto community by giving away shares, will we support this?

BountyShares--Work/Community Building/Early Adopter Rewards
Will we support a team who distributes shares for work done on the project?

LotteryShares--Fun/Marketing
Will we support a team who sets up a way to randomly distribute shares in a DAC?


Post Release Mining
Will we support a team that wants their DAC shares to be mined after its release? Would we support a team who wanted to distribute 90% of the shares in this way?

The future of DACs
Two days ago Bytemaster introduced to us an idea to create Angel Shares. AngelShares is what I'm calling a development engine. It's extremely powerful. It would allow resources currently wasted to be pumped into development. Right now, Invictus is on the bleeding edge of a new frontier opened up by Bitcoin. But things are happening quickly and people are flooding into this new space looking for opportunities. The BitShare project risks falling behind.

How the development engine works
It's not much different from renting an ASIC miner to mine Bitcoins. Instead, you rent the miner from Invictus. You rent the miner and then you receive shares directly to your wallet. Mining will be proportional to work as measured by the money invested. This money will be used to fuel the BitShares project.

ProtoShares
ProtoShares will continue be mined. However, because Invictus only has enough time to mine so many AngelShares before the release of Bitshares, this means ProtoShare holders will end up with more than 10% of the money supply. It could be up to 50% or more.


Mining
Invictus has made it clear for awhile that it was looking to move from Proof-of-Work to Proof-of-Stake. This means, the DACs no longer need to pay miners to work for it. This is why Bitshares will no longer be mined. Mined shares are a reward for the work miners do, or used to do. There is no reason to pay for that work. It would just be a waste of electricity. Also, it has become clear that Proof-of-Work has many weaknesses. In addition, mining eventually favours the rich. How many of us can build a factory to produce ASICs to mine Bitcoin? This has happened with Bitcoin and it threatens its survival. Companies are mining Bitcoin. With Proof-of-Work, the rich will win. With Proof-of-Stake, the rich have to come through us if they want in. And if they want in early, then they will only be supplying us with the tools to make us stronger.

Centralisation
Some have raised concerns about Invictus being a point of failure. Some of these concerns are valid and there are possible solutions to the problem. However, Invictus is already a central point of failure. It is unclear who would pick up the torch should something happen to Invictus. If there was capital fuelling the development of the project, then there would be a larger pool of people who could continue the project should anything happen to Invictus. I believe bringing on more developers to the project will actually help the community who is already overly reliant on Invictus.

Where does the money go
This question is still open for debate. Personally, I'm advocating for an expansion of bounties. There are many things that DACs need done. Wikis, FAQs, How-To guides, and much, much more. DACs need people! And of course the project can use funds to bring on more developers.

How is the money allocated
This is still open for debate. Personally, I'd like to see the core team hand down the tasks and then the community can decide on appropriate bounties and completion requirements.

Distribution of Wealth
Some have raised concerns about only people with money being able to participate in the AngelShares system. As shown above, tasks and work can be distributed and this work is paid for from the Angel funds. The DACs will always need people to do stuff. Unfortunately, this means that people who just wanted to use their computers to mine for shares won't be able to do that. It should be pointed out though, that it's already too late for people with personal computers to mine ProtoShares meaningfully, and that BitShares, even under the Proof-of-Work strategy, would have been GPU and ASIC proof and cloud-proof and pool-proof. There would have been no BitShare windfall for profiteers. Without the need for brute work, it's difficult to see how or why Invictus should just give away shares. Mastercoin and Ripple provide examples of different strategies that may help us decide how to proceed.

Summary
Invictus is a slow moving steam locomotive. With Angel Shares, Invictus could turn this project into a high speed train.

[UPDATE Decemeber 18]
{This is from the newsletter.}

We hold these truths to be self-evident
1. ProtoShareholders benefit from appreciation of their ProtoShares (PTS).
2. ProtoShares appreciate as more PTS DACs are announced by credible developers.
3. More PTS DACs would be announced if credible developers could find funding.
4. Sources of funding generally expect shares in the businesses they fund.
5. The mining lottery method of distributing shares dis-incentivizes such investment.
6. Investors divert their money from helping developers to unproductive mining activity.
7. A new model which incentivized investment would benefit developers and investors.
8. Consumers of DAC services would benefit from a well-funded support system.
9. Entrepreneurs and volunteers would benefit from bounties and funded piece-work.
10. Something-for-nothing participants, small or large, won’t care - they’ve already sold.

{Que23}
Now, It's my understanding that AngelShares will be tradable. This really changes everything if they are and takes away a lot of the worry about centralization. As soon as some of the competing DACs are ready to move forward, then we will have real competition within this space. Don't like BitShares? Don't think it's adding value to your ProtoShares? Then swap your Invictus Angelshares for some new developer's AngelShares. If one DAC can't get Angels to invest, then there's something wrong with the idea or the team. If a team of Developers starts doing things you don't like, swap out your DevXAngelShares for Invictus AngelShares. Better trade fast, because if they're really screwing up, then their AngelShares will go to zero and they will have a very hard time finding new investors. Competition! It solves so many problems.