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Messages - biophil

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826
BitShares AGS / Re: Due diligence questions?
« on: March 05, 2014, 07:45:18 pm »
Quote from: AgeraS on March 04, 2014, 11:43:53 pm
For due diligence purposes, are all of following correct, please correct where wrong?

  • The only difference between AGS and PTS is PTS can be traded.

To very briefly address this one: not quite.

Invictus has made no commitment to honor AGS and PTS equally, only that they're each going to get at least 10% of each new DAC. There's nothing to stop them from awarding 40% to AGS and 10% to PTS.

On the other hand, if non-invictus DAC developers have no access to AGS funds, they have no explicit incentive to honor AGS. If you want to read a big argument about this, see this topic: https://bitsharestalk.org/index.php?topic=2924.0

827
BitShares AGS / Re: AGS Security
« on: March 05, 2014, 07:40:30 pm »
I'm not sure there's an easy fix for this problem. Invictus can't put AGS on a blockchain until after the donation period ends (July?) because they committed not to. Another solution would be to allow people some secure method of moving their donations to a new address, so to speak - changing their donation address.

But that's not a solution at all! How would it work? If I control the private key of my donation address, I can securely and permanently associate my donations with a new address. But if my private key is compromised, the attacker can securely and permanently take control of my donations.

Maybe I'm thinking about it too simplistically, but it seems like it's just a hard problem that people are going to have to deal with.

828
Marketplace / Re: 150PTS - Comprehensive FAQ for new site [ACTIVE]
« on: March 05, 2014, 03:30:14 pm »
Quote from: jernau on March 05, 2014, 03:17:37 pm
@MrJeans:

That FAQ reads well, but I don't think it's good for the 'complete newbie'. For example, I don't think a newbie would know what these terms mean:

"lending into existence" , "short and long positions", "collateral", "market pegging", "prediction markets"

To be honest, these words were big barriers for my understanding of what I3 wants to do. In my opinion, these jargon words are not helpful without definitions.

I think the best FAQ would be something the average person would understand completely without having to refer to another document.

 +5%

I heartily agree. I believe a good FAQ should have at most 3-sentence answers to questions. The FAQ should give me the briefest, simplest possible answer to my questions, and then give me a link to MrJeans's in-depth explanations for more information.

MrJeans, check out https://github.com/nmushegian/invictus-FAQ/blob/master/FAQ.md for the work we've already started on a terse FAQ. Those should be the kinds of questions and answers the FAQ should have. There are a bunch of unanswered questions still on the github version, you address many of these in your post; maybe you can work on filling in the blanks we already have.

At least, if I were I3, that's what I would want my FAQ to look like. I'd love for the Marketing Director to weigh in on which approach he prefers.

829
Marketplace / Re: 150PTS - Comprehensive FAQ for new site [ACTIVE]
« on: March 05, 2014, 01:56:03 pm »
Quote from: betax on March 05, 2014, 10:29:14 am
Quote from: ruletheworld on March 05, 2014, 12:55:14 am
I'd like to help out here too. It seems like the message is too complex (for many reasons) and needs to be filtered down to attract a wider audience. Toast, if you're interested, please reach out to collaborate.
(As a reference, here's an old FAQ article on Bitshares: http://btcgeek.com/bitshares-guide/)

That is a great article, extremely informative, gives different perspectives positions of investments, this is exactly what we need. Once people understand on how they can make money, then they will move to the next step, "How do acquire BitShares?", wallet setup, trading etc. Then when that is understood, they will get interested in other DACs, and how to invest on them. PTS / AGS.

Up until now the focus has been on PTS / AGS, I believe now should be BitShares and then PTS / AGS.

It is a great article, but not a good starting point for a FAQ. It's too verbose. :)

I started actually writing the FAQ this morning and there's a pull request waiting. Everything on the github repo so far seemed way too in-depth for a FAQ, so I created a FAQ outline and added a bunch of questions and answers. Many questions don't have answers yet, either because I don't know them or didn't have time to craft terse, yet informative ones. :)

830
General Discussion / Re: NoirShares Launch in 8 hours, don't panic.
« on: March 04, 2014, 04:56:44 pm »
Quote from: barwizi on March 04, 2014, 04:45:19 pm
Quote from: biophil on March 04, 2014, 04:22:28 pm
So, according to my balance in your list, this snapshot was way back in the middle of January? I thought there was one a couple weeks ago...

are you sure you are on the right chain? NRS started mid Feb

That's what I thought... I'm not sure what you mean by the "right chain." What I mean is that I checked my PTS address PvNagRsyAzMmDn2wL83oopoc8XAmrsrnEk in the google doc you just listed, and it showed a balance of 4.99. You can see on https://coinplorer.com/PTS/Addresses/PvNagRsyAzMmDn2wL83oopoc8XAmrsrnEk that Mid-Feb, the balance was about 111.

So your list shows my PTS balance as it was from January 13-16.

831
General Discussion / Re: NoirShares Launch in 8 hours, don't panic.
« on: March 04, 2014, 04:22:28 pm »
So, according to my balance in your list, this snapshot was way back in the middle of January? I thought there was one a couple weeks ago...

832
General Discussion / Re: Scamattempt @bitcointalk: [ANN]BitFund:Descendant of BitShares
« on: March 03, 2014, 03:55:57 pm »
Someone recently did this with NXT; they created something called NEM and did this fair egalitarian distribution. If you're going to feed the trolls, feed them this: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=422129.0

Maybe "bitfund" was this same group, or maybe it's a copycat of a copycat. Why should we care? Isn't imitation the sincerest form of flattery? :)

833
General Discussion / Re: BitUSD as collateral
« on: March 03, 2014, 02:43:50 pm »
One thing that could cause trouble with this is that at any time, if you hold BitUSD, you're subject to having your BitUSD automatically replaced with XTS, because margin calls can happen at any time. If I'm shorting BitGLD using BitUSD as collateral, my BitUSD could be replaced with XTS with no warning. There's nothing inherently wrong with that - collateral is collateral. But it adds some complexity that might not be good.

I'm not saying it can't be done, just trying to talk through the issues.

834
BitShares AGS / Re: 1 AGS worth more than 1 PTS
« on: March 01, 2014, 09:35:35 pm »
Quote from: bytemaster on March 01, 2014, 09:28:18 pm
Quote
Hey! You're not supposed to flippantly write off the entire point of my post by highlighting my imprecise choice of words..

Well it is clear that the forum and text communication doesn't convey that I meant that in the most light-hearted way possible.   I did that because like you I try to avoid making logical fallacies or contradicting myself and yet I frequently choose words poorly ;)    I hope I went on to address the rest of your point so you cannot quite say that a flippantly wrote of the entire point.

Yeah, this conversation would probably work better over a beer. I hereby retract my allegations of flippancy. :)

Quote from: bytemaster on March 01, 2014, 09:28:18 pm
I just thought that it was ironic that you must be highly suspicious of yourself ;)   Probably a good policy to have.

I'm a big believer in that policy. I tend to get myself into trouble when I take my opinions too seriously. :)

835
BitShares AGS / Re: 1 AGS worth more than 1 PTS
« on: March 01, 2014, 09:22:11 pm »
Quote from: bytemaster on March 01, 2014, 08:50:04 pm
Quote from: biophil
What the Fed gives us
Take the concept of an elastic money supply. One of the reasons the modern world runs on an elastic money supply rather than on a fixed money supply (such as a rigid gold standard) is that it is a powerful tool for the government to enforce a stable purchasing power for a currency. Stable purchasing power is a good thing for a currency to have! It provides a real economic benefit if people can expect things to cost the same next month as they do now.

So much for...

Quote from: biophil
I'm highly suspicious of anyone who denounces something as categorically bad if someone else praises it as categorically good.

Hey! You're not supposed to flippantly write off the entire point of my post by highlighting my imprecise choice of words... There's no reason my philosophy on this point can't be self-referential! I think it's well worth calling my own value judgements into question.

I apologize for saying things that make me sound generous towards the Fed. I'm not trying to persuade you that you're wrong, because I think you have many valid points! So what am I trying to do... Not sure, I just like talking about how most people aren't completely wrong. The concept that (almost) nobody is completely wrong is one of the cornerstones of my worldview. I'm not even going to try to justify why I think it's relevant to the discussion in this forum (hint: it probably isn't relevant); I realize that I'm rapidly going way off topic.

So where does that leave us? please refer to the last thing I said in my previous post:
Quote from: biophil on March 01, 2014, 08:21:22 pm
Having said that, I support Invictus and the goals of BitShares XT because they look like we may have finally reached a moment in history when technology will allow us to build a fair, deterministic financial system. And that makes the engineer/economist in me smile.

Bytemaster, I think you and I share that strongly in common. :)

836
General Discussion / Re: GET YOUR BTS XT Wallet Here!
« on: March 01, 2014, 08:40:06 pm »
Quote from: Captain_Picard on March 01, 2014, 08:10:26 pm
Thanks for the replies...

I am not trying to criticize anyone here, I am trying to explain this experience from a newbie investor's perspective so people know what we are thinking and seeing as this process evolves and hopefully learn from it.

I am fully comfortable with the idea of speculating on the future potential of an idea, and not looking to make a quick overnight buck, however I am not the only person confused with what has now happened post-snapshot.

I guess my understanding was that after the snapshot PTS would become BTS so the old PTS would basically be worthless/removed after being replaced with BTS - this would be very clear and easy to understand.  But what we have now to me is somewhat confusing to both existing investors and potential investors and confusion is not desirable if you are running what amounts to an investment fund.

If someone wants to invest in PTS now (post snapshot), what should they do or why would they invest?  They've missed the benefit of getting in "pre-snapshot" but are unable to buy any new "post snapshot" BTS because they are not available on any exchange nor are there any wallets to store them.   What should a new investor do from this point, should they buy "post snapshot" PTS on an exchange at the now deflated price without knowing how/when those be converted into BTS or wait until BTS is "ready"? 

Trust me, I think invictus has a lot more potential than Dogecoin or we would not be having this conversation, but the point I am trying to get across is that simple and direct communication and marketing is KEY to getting something off the ground and attracting investors and right now in this regard Doge is doing a far better job than Invictus.

I believe in the Invictus vision and maybe I am in the minority camp of being confused but you guys need help if you want to attract sophisticated investors who are accustomed to more traditional and simplified investor communications.   I am guessing this is not your highest priority while everything is still being built but if you need a marketing/communications person, let me know if I can help.

The commenter who clarified the use of the term "third party" helps a lot, I think?

Let me clarify another point: PTS do not "convert" to BTS; PTS pays a dividend of BTS. The Feb 28 snapshot was the ex-dividend date for BitShares X. Own PTS on Feb 28, you're entitled to a proportional number of BitShares X when it launches. But the whole thing is designed with the idea that BitShares X (Invictus's brand name for the decentralized bank and exchange product) is not the only DAC that Invictus will ever develop. If you own PTS today, those PTS will entitle you to shares in future Invictus projects, each with their own snapshot dates.

I sympathize with you and your confusion. I've been skulking around this forum for a month now and am just finally starting to figure all these things out. I agree that Invictus badly needs to figure out how to communicate this stuff well. They do have some kind of marketing director, but I don't know how he spends his time. My guess is that part of the problem is that they're in typical startup "running around with their heads cut off" mode and they aren't completely aware that their marketing is just awful.

In defense of Invictus, one of their competitors (sort of - people are awfully particular around here about the word "competitor") is called Counterparty. If you want to see some confusing investor relations, head over to forums.counterparty.co and try to figure out how to even install their software. They make Invictus look like Google.  :)

837
BitShares AGS / Re: 1 AGS worth more than 1 PTS
« on: March 01, 2014, 08:21:22 pm »
Quote from: bytemaster on March 01, 2014, 07:37:28 pm
In my opinion the entire concept of insider trading is ridiculous and based upon envy-based motives.  Anyone buying something they do not understand fully is gambling and not investing.   There is no *objective* line on what constitutes 'insider' vs 'outsider' and the reality is that every market participant has different insider information and by trading on their information they send price signals to everyone else in the market.    Suppose a competitor discovered a flaw in our system and thus took an opportunity to sell all of their position prior to publishing the flaw, isn't that *INSIDER* trading?   

I try to take an agnostic view on these kinds of things. I'm highly suspicious of anyone who denounces something as categorically bad if someone else praises it as categorically good. Is one side in the debate ever completely wrong?

Unless you believe in some sort of financial-liberal-amoral-elite-conspiracy against the honest people of the world (mind you, I'm not saying that bytemaster doesn't believe in this  ;)), the modern political-financial system arose for actual reasons. At least some of those reasons were actually good.

What the Fed gives us
Take the concept of an elastic money supply. One of the reasons the modern world runs on an elastic money supply rather than on a fixed money supply (such as a rigid gold standard) is that it is a powerful tool for the government to enforce a stable purchasing power for a currency. Stable purchasing power is a good thing for a currency to have! It provides a real economic benefit if people can expect things to cost the same next month as they do now.

What the Fed takes away
Unfortunately, the only way that an elastic money supply can achieve the goal of purchasing power stability is to run a continuous, low level of inflation. Continuous inflation provides short-term purchasing power stability at the expense of long-term savings stability (there are other costs as well, such as the marriage of banking power with military power - this is not meant to be an exhaustive analysis of our modern situation).

Why I'm agnostic
The moral of the story is that you can't get something for nothing. Bytemaster and Friedman and company claim that the benefits of purchasing power stability aren't worth the price; but the fact remains that the modern economic system didn't come out of nowhere: at some point in history, someone thought the benefits outweighed the costs. Why would I subscribe to one or the other? I am smart enough to prosper in a world that's designed by either side of the argument, so on a personal level I don't really care which system we use. Having said that, I support Invictus and the goals of BitShares XT because they look like we may have finally reached a moment in history when technology will allow us to build a fair, deterministic financial system. And that makes the engineer/economist in me smile.

Ok, I think this thread has been sufficiently hijacked... I'll shut up now.

838
General Discussion / Re: GET YOUR BTS XT Wallet Here!
« on: March 01, 2014, 07:22:50 pm »
Quote from: Captain_Picard on March 01, 2014, 06:22:23 pm
So our current holdings of PTS are not worth anything in its former version "PTS" but there is no wallet ready to enable those funds to be transferred to the new version of BTS XT, which means we just have to sit on our hands and wait until (hopefully) a third party comes along and produces a wallet?

Another important thing to recognize is that Invictus themselves have huge PTS holdings that also just lost 50% of their value to the "limbo" that you speak of. They can't recoup this value until BitShares XT is launched, which gives them a very strong incentive ($1,000,000+) to complete the BitShares XT software as quickly as possible.

You seem worried about the "3rd party" thing as well, but that's just because Invictus is very particular about the usage of "develop" and "launch": Invictus makes big claims that they will not actually be the ones who launch BitShares XT, but that's misleading because they are the ones who develop the software. They'll develop it, and then some anonymous person who lives somewhere with a permissive government will actually click the button that "launches" it. Invictus says this because they think it'll keep them out of legal trouble in the US.

839
MemoryCoin / Re: Team 8 targets at CMO
« on: March 01, 2014, 06:44:55 pm »
You have my vote! I like itsik, but I also think China's the real future for this kind of thing, so having a Chinese CMO makes a lot of sense.

840
BitShares PTS / Re: Suggestion to prevent huge price swings in PTS
« on: March 01, 2014, 05:24:19 pm »
I have an honest question: Why are people so scared of PTS price swings? Yesterday's price drop was evidence that the market values BitShares XT; it reflects the fact that PTS after Feb 28 are literally worth less than PTS pre-Feb 28 because they don't entitle the bearer to BitShares X. Why is that scary?

I think the benefits of transparency (e.g., Invictus making public announcements of shapshot dates) far outweigh the benefits of a more stable price of PTS. Can you imagine the criticism Invictus would receive if we all wake up one morning and they announce that there was a snapshot yesterday? People who wanted in to that venture would feel cheated, people who didn't want in (i.e., wanted to sell pre-snapshot to reinvest at a lower price post-snapshot) would feel cheated; who exactly would benefit from this scenario?

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