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== 27 May 2018 - Discord 2 ==
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==11 Nov 2018 - Discord 2 ==
  
Thanks for the questions —
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Economics of token creation - raven ends up being exactly the same issuance schedule as Bitcoin but with this perpetual drain on total supply in the form of whatever is burned.
Lots to unpack
 
  
A lot of common questions can be answered and bunched together — but this is best explained by backing up a second with overall ideas and philosophy— then trying to be more specific & answering anything else I can
+
That-/ and the fact that it’s real 100% pow coins getting burned - that means RVN assets have sort of a neat double POW / a real asset (energy) has been burned to allow assets to exist
  
1) basic roots first
+
This gives them value.  Not much, it’s tiny.  But it does exist and that’s very different than other projects and very fascinating.
At its core every effort with this project has been to the cypherpunk roots expressed by the cypherpunk manifesto — I’ve been really lucky to learn from some of the best cypherpunks in the world -  as someone who’s studied value and assets and securities my whole life I find the shared incentives in open source to be the most important development in human interactions in perhaps hundreds of years - it’s as significant as the creation of trusts or corporations
 
I’ve also been lucky enough to have been in economics for a long time — what Bitcoin did was combine an amazing open source project with FOSS values and the epitome of cypherpunk values — AND combined with ECONOMIC incentives and a new form of money (that actually works!) AND a new invention called the blockchain — it’s completely amazing
 
So an effort was made with this project to follow those values ; as simple as they are / working toward decentralization, leaderless, hardened technology :  a very secure blockchain with lots of mining nodes and a wide and diverse community- working to be as open as possible and to have consensus based on solid rules on a strong network of informed and diversely motivated participants
 
  
----
 
  
This is part of what’s amazing about the technology of blockchains : it’s power comes from the people and flows back to the people -  the people who participate give a network its strength — and this network is VERY strong -/ I saw Tron and RavenDev the other day and they estimated— get this - that it would take 45,000 of the TOP END gpus to turn hostile on the existing network OR someone would have to buy 90,000 of the top end gpus to attack the coin
 
[The questions with comparisons to verge are laughable and not sensible - verge did not have a 51% attack but it also had a massive security flaw in that it used MULTIPLE algos - not one algo like Raven (Ravencoin algo X16R cycles through 16 algos bur is still ONE algo only mineable by the same type of computer configuration)
 
Bitcoin Gold was also attacked but this is doable by ASICS - raven is not (so far)
 
  
Does that mean raven doesn’t have risks?  Hell no!  This is GAME OF THRONES my friends - to have a blockchain have ANY use it MUST. Be secure - we have to guard against everything and be constantly vigilant to the slightest threat - no matter how unlikely.   A security flaw completely ruins a project is not an environment to rush things or spend time marketing or fundraising -  it’s not about features first security later or this mentality of “just throw our project on Eth cause everyone else does”.   No way.  For security to work it’s got to be a strong network that’s really hard to co-opt or change.  That means no powerful people as much as possible and it means not having central points of failure.
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==09 Nov 2018 - Discord 2 ==
 +
 
 +
Talking your own book is exactly ethical and legal— especially if disclosed.  It’s one of the purest form of ethical interaction in commerce.
 +
Some had to not only risk public reputation to support this coin but also give miners over $ of my capital to get the coins we own.  So a miner could have dumped on us and I’d be the one conned.
 +
Someone being well known or ostk backing some dev is also not relevant. Oprah or Andreas could mention this coin for five seconds and instantly have more influence than paper authors. If Greg Maxwell came and said something was a security risk, people would listen etc etc.  that’s how a real open source project works.
 +
In a fair launch like this it’s almost impossible to have one party have the upper hand. That’s not marketing talk or something to pump ravens structure — that’s just the truth.
 +
Projects with a fair & open launch are literally a gift to the users — anything created from those projects is created by fair work to the people.   It’s absolutely incomparable to something that raised money.
 +
 
 +
Nothing wrong with raising money by the way  but it’s utterly and completely different from giving away something for free.    It’s decentralized versus centralized.  Permissioned versus free.
 +
 
 +
It’s the very core of our industry. A foundational core of what open source / decentralized/ cypherpunk networks can be.
 +
 
 +
Now ravencoin may be stupid, a bad idea, it may fail, it may break, it may have unforeseen problems or it might just be outpaced by any of a dozen projects trying to do the same.  All those are potentially valid debates. —- but there’s just no reasonable way to say this project wasn’t fair.  It’s provable on the blockchain that this was the most widely participated in and fastest growing network in history.
 +
 
 +
One may think raven is a weak project but it’s fairness is completely undeniable— if someone doesn’t believe that then they either don’t understand or believe in crypto or they don’t fully understand how this project works.
 +
 
 +
By the way:: we need to spread that far and widePeople should understand that this is their project — anyone can build on it
 +
 
 +
All this work we’ve done:: it’s free!  All the code, the network — all that’s been invested — it all belongs to all members of the community.  Anyone can use it and any one can benefit from this network.
 +
 
 +
Now for 500 RVN you can create a permanent asset backed by this absolutely massive amount of hashpower.  That asset can do all kinds of cool stuff.
 +
 
 +
This is amazing.  People don’t even see it yet.
 +
 
 +
The structure is a key part.  No leaders, no rulers, no centralized parties.  That’s best practices.  It’s harder.
 +
 
 +
 
 +
 
 +
==17 Oct 2018 - Discord 2 ==
 +
 
 +
New folks be sure to
 +
 
 +
1) download the latest wallet - recognize that this is YOUR project - it’s open source and NOT controlled by any specific people - you can build on this and use it without permission!
 +
 
 +
2) start mining — with a gpu you can get some coins to use and reserve names with but even if not then it still helps the network
 +
 
 +
3) running a full mining node helps strengthen the coin and helps everyone
 +
 
 +
4) download testnet NOW and mess with creating assets (!) this way you are ready for:
 +
 
 +
5) be ready to create real assets after mainnet launches on Oct 31 - you only get one shot at each asset name
 +
 
 +
6) register names you can use (if you register a brand name please consider giving it to the brand owner if they ask, this helps the network)
 +
 
 +
7) imho best early tokens will be game and experiments - fun things — this is still early stage and experimental — will be ready for things like securities once lots of testing in the live world — don’t take unwise financial risks - this is an experiment!- have fun and build something cool
 +
 
 +
== 05 Oct 2018 - Discord 2 ==
  
 +
The entire structure of ravencoin is VERY different from almost every other project — so it takes a lot of learning
 +
Thanks to all who participate
 
----
 
----
 +
the thing is that Ravencoin is a protocol not a company — this is why no partnerships -// not because they aren’t valuable but because they are not necessary
 +
Ravencoin doesn’t have partnerships with companies because 1) there’s no one to make such a partnership 2) the companies and devs wanting to build on this don’t need anyone’s permission - they can just build
  
Risks to raven include:
+
This is a good model — imho it’s the best model
51% attack:  ANY real pow coin has this risk - biggest risk to raven is that large Eth miners turned adversarial toward raven - fortunately most Eth miners appear motivated toward a fair network - however the fact that large GPU miners do exist is a risk
+
----
Centralized parties:  since it’s still in alpha / pre alpha — the only way to develop is to have some sort of vision and discuss ideas then put them into implementation — sometimes one person can do that - the evolution of this project has been as a team because the network was launched first to build on — that’s unusual but has worked very well — we already have this huge strong network while we were working on the design and code
+
Finding the right balance of how much to talk about this project is hard
 +
----
 +
Software is allowed to be centralized.
  
 +
When people say this isn’t it’s not because they are lying to pretend something — it’s because it’s accurate.
 
----
 
----
 +
The main misunderstanding seems to be that ravencoin is controlled or directed by Medici or tZero
 +
 +
It’s just not the case
 +
 +
This isn’t some claim that someone is trying to make to comply with some rule — its the actual truth.  Also there is no law that this would be relevant for — the idea that a company working on an open source project “makes it a security” is silly and it’s super insulting
 +
 +
Whether raven is centrally controlled or has corporate involvement / oversight / investment etc do not make it a security anyway — that entire line of thinking is based on faulty logic and not understanding now Ravencoin works or was issued
  
So anyway security is obviously of the utmost importance — it’s not just number one it’s number one and worth more than features #2 - 20
+
Ravencoin was released for free exactly like Litecoin because it was never sold it was not an offering
  
That means copying all we can from the most secure coin: Bitcoin
+
Even if it had one person as a ceo and even if that one person worked for Medici it would not matter —- still not a security
 +
----
 +
my time doesn’t belong to you.  Usually when people write articles and mention someone they get quotes from them and check for accuracy first —- I do what I can to give accurate info.
  
So - no premine, no ICO, fairly mined, no leader, we need to prioritize nodes (yes regular nodes!) and mining nodes
+
I waste hours on this and the only result is time wasted
 +
----
  
We of course copied the code of Bitcoin — this is because it’s the most secure by far.  
+
It doesn’t matter if something it centralized
 +
----
 +
That doesn’t make it a security
 +
----
 +
A coin being centralized or controlled by a company matters when the company or coin raises money - a project like Raven is completely different
 +
----
 +
there’s nothing whatsoever “hinging” on that that’s crazy talk.  
  
This is a mission critical coin and failure is not an option.  As a community if we ever EVER sacrifice anything which adds security risks we lose — the entire project would be worthlessNo feature, no person is worth risking security wherever possible
+
No reasonable or knowledgeable person I’ve heard of considers RVN a security.    If they do then :shrug:‍♂️ Litecoin and Bitcoin would be as wellIt’s insane
  
So that means keeping the code decentralized - encouraging other implementations, being extremely cautious with ALL hard forks  (even the planned one!)
+
... no — not at all.
  
It also means being cautious to make sure the chain and tx count can be downloaded etc
+
Ridiculous
  
 +
This all stems from people who don’t understand securities
 
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----
 +
There’s tons of info out there
 +
Not sure why people assume a conspiracy
 +
There’s no one “at the top”  There’s no one “worried”
  
Another benefit is the ethos of Bitcoin which is all about security first — cypherpunks don’t give a __ if Lightning Network takes three years or ten years or never — we are not risking our f—ing Bitcoin for ANYTHING — not because some clown says nodes aren’t important — not to make it cheaper to buy a sandwich or anything else — SECURITY RISKS ARE NEVER AN OPTION — yes you need a chain that is useful - but it’s always security first
+
It’s REALLLY key to understand that this is an open source, decentralized project —- there is no person or people or corporation running it  
  
So what’s all this have to do with the questions? The philosophy and ethos are important
+
There is no conspiracy etc
Think of this as a little sibling of Bitcoin - but being that this is Game of Thrones(!) and crazy tech that sibling has damn good chance of dying — this coin could easily be killed off or die just like 500 shitcoins and this could easily end up worth zero.
+
People just work in their own interests
 +
----
 +
>>>>Ravencoin is not an entity at all <<<<
 +
----
 +
What matters is whether ravencoin can and does work
 +
 
 +
----
 +
Crap projects have an interest in promoting “partnerships” and stuff — actual protocols don’t
 +
----
 +
''(In reference (I think) to Medici / Overstock / RVN)'' I’ve said 100 times that they aren’t related — even made videos about it
 +
----
 +
Rvn is better than ever - amazing - one of the strongest projects ever
 +
----
 +
Because raven isn’t like that and isn’t a corporate project with “deals” and “agreements” / joint ventures and that kind of ico crap
 +
----
 +
Medici donates dev time
 +
Which is great
  
Sorry if that sounds scary or harsh - but that’s reality.
 
If you are in one of the hundreds of centralized money raising projects such as ICOs people might tell you what you want to hear but that doesn’t make it true - this space is indeed Game of Thrones - a person might stab you or sleep with you or pretend to be an employee to get your private keys, soldiers and cops may raid your friends homes just for using this tech in certain oppressive regimes — there is an army of highly skilled hackers like dire wolves outside your door - any one of them would gleefully empty all your crypto without a second thought — a few of them would kill your mom - straight up — if you’ve got more than 2 Bitcoin in networth — that’s a scary and sad fact - but a fact it is
 
So if someone is telling you their coin is going to survive they are probably the first one whose going to get slaughtered when the white walkers come — you know the guy listening to the High Sparrow may fly high for a while — but eventually you know his heads getting chopped also — at least you hope this -
 
(ICO promoters are the high sparrow, his followers the gullible buyers - chop heads is bad projects going under)
 
  
but after all this is game of thrones — sometimes the good guys die and the bad guys win — so anyone who tells you otherwise is stupid or lying.
+
But people assume much more of a corporate tie
  
So - yeah - Security is important
 
  
That informs the whole rest of the conversation
+
Which is a shame
 +
----
 +
Not a gift from MV
  
This is why there is not a structured messaging and a line between the open source project and any business activities
 
  
So hopefully that answers a lot of questions: anything related to decisions or processes with centralization or a security risk are avoided
+
MV gifts some dev
 +
----
 +
Big difference
 +
----
 +
There’s an impression that tZero and raven fit together in some special way or work together or that one platform is being designed for the other
 +
----
 +
''(In reference to an article speculating on the connection between various OSTK / MV projects and RVN)'' thanks!  I’m not a fan of the screen shot from discord — I’ve tried to make clear many times that the projects really are not related — that screen shot taken on its own and out of the context of its convo seems like I’m winking and being coy or something imho
 +
Basically it was in reply to people who think the opposite: which is that tZero has nothing to do with rvn and will never list it because they are competitors or something
 +
Neither is true
  
— this also is a good time to answer
+
It’s really not a corporate coin -/ existed before anyone at tZero heard of it and before I joined the board
2).  Questions about tZero
 
Lots of questions about this — a few important points
 
- The coin is about WAY more than a company and even way more than tokenized securities — it’s for ALL assets: game tokens, all kinds of things which could be invented etc
 
- within the one narrow use case of tokenized securities many of us who are most active in design architecture and development also coincidentally happen to be involved in the tokenized securities world
 
- so this informs a lot of options and also I happen to talk about this a lot and it’s associated with raven
 
- clearly raven is a natural fit for tZero and the projects are complimentary- it’s natural that the two fit together - hopefully tZero lists raven and if raven works for token securities then they’d be a fit for tZero
 
Definitely these decisions are made separately - this is why tZero launched on ERC20 and will almost certainly support multiple protocols
 
So - though there is overlap, and common supporters, there is no coordination between these projects on development (not that this would be a bad thing or conflict of interest even if there was — we all have an interest in making both projects work) since they they are complimentary they will hopefully work together
 
  
 +
There’s no team of folks at tZero working on raven and it defiantly wasn’t designed by tZero or created for some tZero purpose
 +
----
 +
Yes but ostk owns a mess of stuff and there’s no major direction from ostk to any portfolio cos to support ravencoin
 
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 +
TZero and ravencoin are much less related than people assume
  
3/3  so this all comes to the third major category of question: economics
 
  
This one is informed by the whole thin on cypherpunks and security I said above:
 
  
Security first
 
As part of that the design and dev team knows that the coin must have value to be secure and work
 
  
The community knows this and hopefully puts every effort toward security and action and decisions like securing the network
 
(If you want to help the network security: Turn on more nodes now!!  Mine on every PC
 
you have and tell everyone you can to do the same)
 
  
So that’s economics:  Why will the coin have value?
 
Motivational part:  Because we are an army of Ravens and crows on the wall — we are the Nights Watch and together we have incentive to make this work - together like an army of pecking Birds we will chip away with our GPUs and stick together as a community and make his work!  Ra ra yay!!
 
  
The truth: A zombie apocalypse might kill us even if we are as honest kind and worthy as Ned Stark
+
== 23 Sept 2018 - Baltic Honeybadger 2018 Bitcoin conference ==
 +
Title: Global Ledgers: Scaling & Capacity for Legacy Securities Systems in the Age of Atomic Swaps
  
How much will it be worth?  Hell if I know.
+
Conference: Baltic Honeybadger 2018 Bitcoin conference, Riga, Sep 22-23
  
Let’s enjoy the game
+
Bruce talks about the history of securities, it's current problems, and block chain.
  
/ end
+
Talk at: https://youtu.be/D2WXxgZ8h-0?t=1h48m23s
  
 +
Slides at: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1043833386257854464.html
  
 
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 +
Bruce Fenton (Discord):
 +
 +
I didn’t mention Raven because as soon as you mention a specific product at certain events people stop listening and are closed minded
 +
 +
Also so many people don’t even understand tokenized securities that it’s best to explain that first
 +
 +
Once they understand this concept then Rvn makes more sense
 +
 +
== 12 Sept 2018 - Telegram ==
 +
 +
 +
Bruce Fenton:
 +
Because this is protocol development not something like an ICO scam
 +
 +
Ravencoin is a protocol — that’s it — it’s software
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 +
There is NO ONE to “make announcements” or “sign partnerships”
 +
 +
It’s open source - for all community members to contribute how they wish — this is a VERY VERY different model than centralized projects who did ICOs etc
 +
 +
If you are expecting centralized sales, marketing, announcements — that will never happen with this project and people should know that
  
== 26 May 2018 - Discord 2 ==
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What the project does do is focus on building secure and useful software— anyone can contribute and decide if they want to run that software
  
<name> polymath should definitely put their services on the Ravencoin network
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== 25 Aug 2018 - Discord 2 ==
  
It’s not hard - they can use solidity through RSK which would make the whole polymath platform work on Raven
+
consensus works in open source by open discussion over what code to run
  
 
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<name> right now suppose it cost $90 million to do a 51% attack on ravencoin—  that means it’s not cost effective to attack
+
Everyone should contribute to the discussion
 +
 
 +
There is no division between devs and non devs - there is no special authority who bestows the title “developer” - it’s just based on what code people run and who decides to run what they choose
 +
 
 +
So we don’t say “just do what the devs say” because there are no specific “devs” with any official role - just people who have done a lot of work and implemented the vision in the paper
 +
 
 +
Anyone can be a dev
 +
 
 +
Anyone on this page can write code
  
However if Apple issued a token for all their stock on the Ravencoin network then that’s worth $500 billion —- so now it becomes worth it for someone to spend that $90 million to attack the network so they can double spend Apple
+
And call themselves a dev
  
Does that clarify?
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No one has authority over any other
  
So we have to hope that value if the token and economics and all mining aligned to give enough security
+
We the users and holders have the authority by deciding what code to run
  
As the network grows it’s of course more secure and the ratios are not as much a problem
+
So if you say “trust the devs” the first question one needs to ask is “who? / which devs”
  
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+
The way to flush that out is by discussion
  
<name> first step is to figure out what a 51% attack would cost
+
Open and free discussion
Next is to figure value of assets on the network
 
  
Once it passes a certain point (like Bitcoin) a 51% attack becomes so logically challenging that the value doesn’t matter as much
+
There’s also no special authority for any other person - no ceo or founder or master node or author or dev has special power or authority
  
 
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I’d say deflationary when looking at long term supply
+
But main point is that this is open source — there is no authority
 +
 
 +
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It’s identical to Bitcoin so whatever people say Bitcoin is which is usually referred to as deflationary
+
We don’t want to ever discourage discussion especially over security related issues
  
 
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<name> tZero and raven are separate / this isn’t corporate project but the goal and mission has a lot of synergies so it would be natural to have the projects work together
+
All this project is is a group of people choosing to run code based on what they think Ravencoin means and what code is effective for that definition — every person has the right to discuss what they think that vision is or means
If raven is successful then it will be a part of a lot of major exchanges
 
  
 
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Optimism is great but these types of projects are experimental and many things can cause them to fail
+
The term hoi polloi is funny but it’s the antithesis of what open source is about — there is no “commoners” or higher class of people
  
ICOs, scams and centralized projects have a strong motivation to blow smoke and make it seem they will definitely succeed - doesn’t mean they will
+
There’s no special category called developers
<name> for sure - but that seems slightly different
 
  
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+
It’s not ideal to say that people should defer to devs — that’s got a lot of issues I can explain  —
 +
 
 +
what if a new dev joins tomorrow and creates the code to change the supply to 5 trillion with an insta mine of 1 trillion to himself and burning all addresses bringing in R5?
  
Any SEC questions are better directed to the company site
+
Would you say “stay in your lane, don’t discuss forks”?  Of course not - it’s not what the coin is
  
Same for specifics on the token offering
+
It’s super relevant and key to discuss things like hard forks — any hard fork changes the consensus mechanism and the rules which everyone on the network previously agreed to
  
I’m a board member not a company exec -/ I can speak about the big picture mission, goal the team etc on tZero
+
So it’s really a big responsibility for every user to know and care what all code changes are
  
 
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If your wondering if raven will be listed on tZero crytpo or the asset layer will be used for securities tokens which trade on the exchange -  both are very likely
+
There’s also a HUGE difference between non technical people discussing technical matters and overall DESIGN matters
  
 
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<name> “utility” tokens are typically centralized closed source scam coins and ICOs which use the word “utility” to pretend they have use so they are not a security
+
You won’t see me talking specific code almost ever — it’s not my area of expertise
 +
 
 +
But overall economics, functionality and design is an area of expertise I have for this coin — Andy one can develop expertise and have opinions on the direction — anyone can choose to listen or not - and run what they want based on a combo of vision and capabilities and functions with the specific code
 +
 
 +
----
  
Ravencoin is an open source decentralized coin without an ICO which is definitely not a security so doesn’t need to pretend it has utility — but actually does have utility and use
+
Well this is why consensus is so important
  
The chain is extremely strong - the code is ridiculously secure and the asset layer adds real, not pretend use cases
+
Just something to plan for — for the future
<name> the security of raven is better than Eth and it can handle scaling better - the protocol also allows voting and basic one way messaging and lots of other features described in the white paper
 
  
 
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If so it won’t be raven for sure - that’s not the purpose
 
  
Raven is extremely likely to trade on tZero and so are raven tokens
+
We can all continually improve the quality of review of code changes
 +
 
 +
Bitcoin
  
<name> people who say “this can be done with a database” are absolutely wrong on this topic and frankly don’t know what on earth they are talking about - it can’t be done on a dbase— I’ve made tons of videos explaining this
+
Bitcoin system has worked best and that’s what Ravencoin is developed after
  
 
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<name> think of it like Kraken — it’s an exchange with lots of tokens — difference with tZero is that they will be securities tokens
+
Bitcoin has made many leaps forward on this - there are lots of contributors and discussions
  
 
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----
  
There might be some regulatory issues going direct but plan is to have usd / fiat as well as crypto - worse case (I think) it will be two separate sections of the exchange (like grad and Coinbase)
+
@name — well one thing is that there isn’t and shouldn’t be much of a line between “devs” and “the community” —- devs ARE the community and the community is devs in this project — there is no separate wall
 +
 
  
 
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----
  
If people are wondering if tZero will support and list raven:
+
You don’t need to just “speak with a Bitcoin dev” you can BE a Bitcoin dev by simply submitting code
 +
 
 +
Secret sauce of Bitcoin is no leaders
  
The ceo is a raven holder
+
No authority
  
I’m a board member
+
Consensus
  
Tron’s an advisor
+
Same with Ravencoin-
  
The owner of tZero is the largest raven supporter
+
----
  
A majority of employees own and support raven
+
The system is working well as it is — I don’t see any problems at all — just giving thoughts on best practices and ideas for the future — there are several things we learned from this hard fork which can be improved on next time - mainly around communicating
  
The missions are exactly aligned
+
----
  
 +
There’s some bad habits from ICOS where people come in to protocol projects looking for leaders or thinking a central authority makes all decisions
  
... so yes, there is a good chance it will be listed
+
----
 +
It’s wise to plan for contentious forks
  
 
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It doesn’t work that way — this isn’t a corporate project — there is a separation.
+
It’s wise to plan for contentious forks
  
Raven is it’s own open source project
+
----
  
People involved wear overlapping but also separate and distinct hats
+
And have healthy debate over all changes
  
 
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No it’s perfect
+
Forks also present a risk — every code change presents a possibility of unforeseen consequences
 +
 
 +
== 14 Aug 2018 - Telegram ==
 +
 
 +
Chatturga:
 +
The v2.0.3 binaries are available to download on the ravencoin github.  Assuming that everything continues to run smoothly, and no significant bugs need to be addressed, this is the version that will activate DGW and BIP9/RIP2 consensus voting for the asset layer.  The devs recommend updating to this version soon (before block 338778), with a particular emphasis toward pool owners and exchanges.  I'll reach out to those people at the end of the day since the devs want to do a bit more testing.
 +
 
 +
https://github.com/RavenProject/Ravencoin/releases/tag/v2.0.3
  
I hope to issue assets on Raven
+
== 05 Aug 2018 - Telegram ==
 +
'' Tron ''
  
Securities tokens
+
Tron:
 +
Ravencoin is a protocol platform for assets and will work with anybody's infrastructure.  Additional requirements can always be added by exchanges, or issuers, but are not native to the asset protocol.
  
 
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The people supporting the open source project of Ravencoin support a protocol which allows secure and easy creation of tokens — that’s it.
+
Tron:
It’s more than pow vs pos — it’s about what the best platform is
+
You’re absolutely right.  We are watching the issue closely.  To put it in perspective though, our block times have been roughly 1.5x the speed of BTC during the worst of it.  We have already switched to DGW on testnet and Ravencoin is slated to move to DGW on mainnet at the end of October.  Our primary concern is not the code, that’s already done.  Our primary concern is not allowing the chain to split. A chain split would cause far more damage and confusion than 5 minute blocks.  The diff swings are a result of being profitable, then not, then profitable again, in an undamped oscillation.  DGW will fix it, but it requires a hard fork where everyone must upgrade the software.  This carries some risk.
  
 
----
 
----
  
Not sure yet - probably strong - I love Monero and fluffy is a good friend and also supports rvn - I’m of the mind that any good quality project is welcome — securities alone is a $10 trillion market
+
Tron:
 +
x16r is the hashing algorithm, and is different than the difficulty adjustment algorithm.  It will still be x16r.  The difficulty adjustment tries to make it so it is 1 minute blocks no matter how many cpus/gpus are mining.  Currently it adjusts by looking back 2016 blocks and making a percentage adjustment to bring it inline.  There is a 4x limit, which we are close to hitting.  It isn’t good but it shouldn’t get much worse.
  
 
----
 
----
  
It’s a race multiple projects can win — there is room for a dozen projects like raven or Eth
+
Tron:
 +
RVN will still be RVN.  The problem is that anyone that doesn’t upgrade when the algo switches over, will be on a different chain.  Imagine the problems if CryptoBridge doesn’t upgrade, or Cryptopia, etc. and they have a different view.  A hard fork is just a software upgrade, but it is really important that certain nodes upgrade.  We have a managed upgrade already scheduled for the end of Oct that lets everyone decide on their own whether to upgrade and when enough mining nodes have upgraded, it seamlessly switches over at a set percentage.
  
 
----
 
----
  
It’s not so much about a currency — but what platform makes it work
+
Tron:
And whichever ones work sort of become defacto currencies
+
No, shorter block times aren’t the problem.  Rentable hashpower, and multipools which auto-redirect hashpower to the most profitable coin makes it more difficult to calibrate.  That’s what changed.
 +
 
 +
----
  
 +
Tron:
 +
The longest chain is the winner.  We just need to make sure it is crystal clear which one that is.  If we have 1/2 mining power on one chain and 1/2 on another, it gets murky.  If that ever happens, just don’t transfer RVN during that time and you’ll be fine.  And, if you’re mining, make sure you’re on the longest chain.
  
== 23 May 2018 - Discord 2 ==
+
----
  
Clearly there is huge overlap of interest, mission and people who support tZero and who support Ravencoin — its a natural fit and convos around tZero and raven often overlap
+
Tron:
I’m on the board of tZero, Tron is an advisor and pretty much the whole management holds raven including the chair and overstock who owns one of the largest holdings
+
DGW will go a long way towards that.  We actually want increased hashing, we just don’t want it coming and going in multi-day intervals.
  
 
----
 
----
Yes so expect a big change on GitHub in 2 weeks
 
The code so far will be released in alpha version
 
After further coding and work it will be ready to deploy on test Net within 2-3 months
 
  
this will Place the fully functional and live asset layer after that
+
Tron:
 +
I don’t think miners using a pool will need to change anything.  Just make sure the pool you’re using has upgraded whenever the software is upgraded.  Make sure you’re using the latest version to view/store/transfer your RVN.
  
 
----
 
----
  
The alpha of asset layer code will be published for early review within two weeks
+
Tron:
 +
My understanding is that there was a Pull Request for RVN on Ledger.  I don’t know if/when that will make it into production.
 +
 
 +
----
  
 +
Tron:
 +
Yes, unix (linux), Mac, and Windows.  We need to make sure the client cross-compiles for all of them.
  
== 20 May 2018 - Discord 2 ==
+
----
  
There is no official “raven team” this is open source and anyone can develop anything on it
+
Tron:
 +
Yeah, there were some awful asset names.  I imagine that some of the web explorers and asset marketplaces will want to run names through a filter.
  
There’s no “official” group who can or would reach out to corporations and it wouldn’t make sense to do so in the name of an open source idea
+
----
  
The way Ravencoin works is much better than a centralized ICO : anyone can build anything on it — so someone reading now can decide to make a business that helps companies list - advisors could help companies list on Raven like they do with Eth etc — its much stronger that way and more likely to lead to wider use
+
Tron:
 +
There’s going to be lots of interesting opportunities.  I think someone will build a marketplace for asset names.
  
 
----
 
----
  
I think exchanges will increasingly add tokens and once they are regulated will add securities tokens - it’s likely going to be too large a market to ignore
+
Tron:
 +
There’s really only one chain.  The problem is that when you change the diff algo, then the version of the software using the old algo sees only old algo blocks as valid, and software using the algo only sees new algo blocks as valid.  The “real” one SHOULD be the new algo chain, but there’s no BOSS that says you can’t run older software.  So it is really up the users to upgrade and all agree to use the newer software.  I can’t compel anyone to upgrade, but it would make economic sense for everyone to use the new software.    We can write software that doesn’t change the algorithm until it sees that most miners have upgraded because we can put a version number in the blocks and count the mined blocks.  That’s what BIP9 does — Google it if you’re interested in how it works.
  
 
----
 
----
  
Tokens should be able to be issued on Raven in 6 months and what happens after this is up to the markets and the community
+
We’re hiring like crazy.  Most of our hires are for tZero, Medici, and Bitsy.  If you’re a great developer, you should apply.  Bruce is in NH and he visits Utah and we visit him in NH.
  
 
----
 
----
  
Well there are no promises — looking at it as an investment is very risky
+
Tron:
 +
Yes.  I don’t know how trademark rules would apply.  I fought two trademark battles where I felt I was in the right.  I won one, and folded the other against a giant “perfect” word processing company.
  
 +
----
  
== 11 May 2018 - Twitter ==
+
Tron:
 +
There is support for that.  I’m not in favor of that, in general, but it did make sense for our asset hard fork.
  
Honary twitter post - [[Replacing-a-ledger-with-a-better-one|Replacing a ledger with a better one]]
+
----
  
== 6 May 2018 - Telegram ==
+
Tron:
''(Talking about fair launch)''
+
I hope not, because I think it would devalue RVN, but it is certainly a possibility.  Interestingly enough, anyone who had RVN before that fork would have RVN and RVC, but I still think it would would be a net negative overall.
  
Bruce Fenton:
+
----
That’s false — the network had 4500 miners by the time of the BitcoinTalk announcement
 
  
This whole idea that something is only fair once it’s posted on every forum on the Internet is preposterous -/ this is open source and a community effort — anyone who wanted to post on Bitcoin Talk could - I personally didn’t post because I wasn’t aware of the Ann section and find BitcoinTalk in general to be a very low quality forum
+
Tron:
 +
Sometimes it is cheaper to mine, and sometimes it is cheaper to buy.  Right now it is cheaper to buy — until the diff adjusts.  I wrote a paper on how the two are interlinked.  https://letstalkbitcoin.com/blog/post/bitcoin-value-and-mining-difficulty
  
The accusations that this was somehow shady are doubly preposterous to anyone who actually understands math. 
+
----
  
There were 70 miners within a day and 1200 within 4 days or so —- if you claim that me or anyone else purposely delayed the announcement in one stupid forum for financial gain that’s utterly ludicrous.
+
Tron:
 +
Bruce and I agree that it doesn’t need shilling.  Eventually, we’ll need to let more people know it exists and that it is a platform they can build on, but that isn’t even true until the end of October when assets activate on mainnet.
  
Work out the numbers:  less than 1/3 of a percent of the coins were mined in that period — do you really think that me and the devs and Patrick Byrne and all the other people who put years of time and millions of dollars into this sat on the sidelines plotting so we could get a mining advantage on 9 days worth of coins worth less than $2k at the time?
+
----
  
This about it it. Follow the money and motivation
+
Tron:
 +
If there’s a Raven Classic, it probably wont have asset support.
  
It’s a stupid accusation
 
 
----
 
----
Bruce Fenton:
+
 
It wasn’t fair to non English speakers either
+
Tron:
----
+
Yes, we would like RVN to continue to be viable cash.  We hope it gets used for rewards (paying all holders of your token in RVN), and for on-chain atomic swaps (paying for assets with RVN where the trade happens all at once).
Bruce Fenton:
+
 
Or people without computers
 
 
----
 
----
Bruce Fenton:
 
The launch was announced MONTHS ahead of time - posted on medium, posted on twitter — announced at four major public events and posted publicly
 
  
THIS is why it grew so fast obviously if 4500 people mined then that means far more than that found out about it
+
Tron:
 +
I’m not 100% sure.  It seems like we’re in a bear market similar to 2014-2015.  Some of it is being sold to buy into RVN, EOS, and ADA, or into ICOs which are still going strong outside the US.
  
== 5 May 2018 - Discord 2==
+
----
 +
Tron:
 +
I agree - kinda dumb.  It is a completely arbitrary line.  Enforce rules against outright fraud, but let everyone invest their money any way they choose.
  
[[The road ahead]]
+
----
  
== 2 May 2018 - Discord 2 ==
+
Tron:
Do you think we could raise a 1 million RVN bounty for someone to get RSK / Solidity working on the Ravencoin chain?
+
I think there will be sites listing assets for sale.  We’ve put  “forsale” and “forsale_price” keys in the metadata spec for this reason.  Brokers could scan the chain and the meta data to build a website for exchanging asset names.
  
It would be a great complement to the upcoming code changes
+
----
  
== 27 Apr 2018 - Telegram ==
+
Tron:
 +
https://github.com/RavenProject/Ravencoin/blob/master/assets/asset_metadata_spec.md
  
Bruce Fenton:
+
----
One benefit to exchanges is that Ravencoin is not a security — its one of the very few fairly mined coins with no ICO.
 
  
== 27 Apr 2018 - Discord 2 ==
+
Tron:
Money isn’t a problem for this project - it’s well funded
+
I will share the scripts to allow anyone to register any names they want.  I’m excited to see what gets registered.
  
== 20 Apr 2018 - Discord 2 ==
+
----
''(Talking about a Twitter [https://twitter.com/brucefenton/status/987340686327345152?s=19 live stream])''
+
Tron:
 +
Sending assets will require a small RVN fee.  I’d love to get rid of the fee, but it opens up too many attacks that don’t cost anything.
  
I used Bitcoin (and Counterparty) as an example because it’s simple and lets people learn without being distracted by other issues.
+
----
  
For people to believe in Ravencoin they first have to believe that this is possibleThis demo shows that you can indeed tokenize a security.
+
Tron:
 +
It’s been wonderful chatting with all of you.  Thanks for your support of RVNI’m working on some python scripts that’ll let you create batches of assets (with associated meta data) from a Google spreadsheet or csv.  I’ll make them available next week for everyone to play with.  It’ll make it easier for anyone wanting to register multiple assets.
  
Using Bitcoin eliminates many objections from Bitcoin maximalists.  If I did the demo with Rvn then people likely go off topic on the algo or assume raven itself is an ICO or something like that. 
 
  
This way it’s simple and proves the basic concept.
+
== 03 Aug 2018 - Telegram ==
  
Once people get that securities CAN be tokenized then we can educate them about why this specific solution might work and what advantages and disadvantages it has. 
+
''Some interesting posts from tron on telegram''
  
Ravencoin is based partly on Counterparty and uses the codebase of Bitcoin — will add more features and eliminate some of the drawbacks Counterparty has.
+
Tron:
 +
http://raven-blockchain.info/ext/getmoneysupply is stalled on an old block.  Needs to be switched to: https://ravencoin.network/api/supply
  
== 16 Apr 2018 - Discord 2 ==
 
Potential Loss of private keys is a massive drawback of crypto -- but it's the same for Bitcoin or any digital asset -- people will need to have systems to secure keys or will want to trust 3rd parties to manage them for them
 
 
----
 
----
asset creators will be able to control how many tokens are
+
'' referring to testnet launch''
 +
Tron:
 +
Thanks.  We had a few glitches that we're fixing, but overall it seems to be performing as expected.
 +
 
 
----
 
----
I'm not sure how much of a policy they have just that the whole company is very supportive of Ravencoin -- so lots of family and friends of Overstock and Medici are early and strong supporters
+
 
 +
Tron:
 +
Brace yourself.  The limits of free speech are being tested.  FREEDOM!!!
 +
 
 
----
 
----
Medici employees devs and allows employees to work on this
+
 
 +
Tron:
 +
In the qt, go to Help->Debug, then the console tab, and type listassets
 +
 
 
----
 
----
Overstock owns Medici which I am on the board of
+
 
 +
Tron:
 +
I'd be interested in knowing which ones it doesn't fulfill.  It is portable, fungible, divisible, durable, transferable, and limited.  USD is 5 of those 6.
 +
 
 
----
 
----
Yes it's true the ceo of Overstock is a huge  supporter -- no doubt about it.
 
  
== 15 Apr 2018 - Discord 2 ==
+
Tron:
 +
Michael Any wallet, explorer, exhange, etc. can use the .png.  It likely will not be built into the reference client because we don't want to be downloading and showing the types of images that could be added.  If you've looked at the list of assets created on testnet, you'll understand our concern.
  
Biggest roadblocks is adoption and unforeseen technical hurdles - so biggest things a non dev can do is master the story and share it far and wide -- tell friends, tell devs, get people involved.  
+
----
 +
'' referring to facilitating adoption''
 +
Tron:
 +
Adoption - ease of use, cross platform (Windows, Mac, Linux, iOs, Android) , and secure.
  
This can change the world -- people need to be freed ton control their own wealth and that means not just cash but stocks as well.  This technology can do it.
 
 
----
 
----
Some advantages of tokenized securities I just posted on twitter
+
 
Anyone really interested in this project should definitely read up on how DTCC and Cede and co works
+
Tron:
 +
We hope assets will be tradable on decentralized exchanges.  I think this will happen organically as soon as some real projects are using the tokens.
 +
 
 
----
 
----
Oskt/ medic / tZero is often misunderstood
 
  
Ostk owns Medici /- I am on the board of Medici --- Medici is a big supporter of this project  
+
Tron:
 +
Medici has investments in about 14 different companies.  I expect some of them will be able to use RVN, but RVN is not being developed in support of any particular project.  It has larger ambitions to be a platform for asset issuance with multi-OS support and much easier to use than ERC20.
  
TZero is mutually acquainted but a separate thing -
+
----
 +
Tron:
 +
Verhoven RVN should be a currency.  We want it to have a value because phase 3 will allow paying token holders in RVN.  Imagine a project that's profitable where the early supporters are rewarded (with RVN) based on the percentage of tokens they hold.
  
 
----
 
----
Ravencoin is Bitcoin but with commits approved based on preference of the blockchain serving as the rails for assets instead of cash or digital gold.
+
 
 +
Tron:
 +
I'm not allowed to talk about tZero stuff.
  
 
----
 
----
Well no one should be anything but proud to be involved in this.  There are very few projects which are fairly launched and fairly mined.  We all got together and built something pretty cool very quickly
+
 
 +
Tron:
 +
I had experience with Counterparty, Mastercoin, colored coins, and open assets which had similar capabilities on top of Bitcoin.  It was secure, but clunky because some bitcoin had to be sent with every asset, and the fees became prohibitively high last year.  We've been able to fix these issues because we can make adjustments that the core Bitcoin developers can't make.
 +
 
 
----
 
----
The common question of why we need this is because we think this way might work - that's all really
+
 
yes there will be a Ravencoin annual meeting
+
Tron:
Mid October
+
The ideas behind the project and using the blockchain for tokenizing assets came from Bruce Fenton, as well as the project name and logo.
 +
 
 
----
 
----
A blockchain can change the way gaming worksThis seems silly to people who focus on monetary aspects like Bitcoin --- but it's an entirely different thing. In game economies are real and have real value - these virtual items will have even more value if they become platform independent.  This benefits the creators and sellers of these game assets as well --  one drawback is potential speculation -- game developers should note that adding liquidity adds profit speculators who can harm game dynamics (bots, farmers, for profit players) -- this could be dealt with several ways
+
Tron:
 +
I'm in talks with the leadership and developers on that projectWe've agreed that Ravencoin is great once they're tokenizing the land. First stages are about recording ownership and Ravencoin doesn't fit that use case as well.
 +
 
 
----
 
----
Crypto is a great equalizer.  With a project like this anyone can participate and code is judged on merit alone.
 
  
I bet a lot of devs will end up being anon
+
Tron:
 +
I've talked to lots of companies about their projects on RVN.  Two game companies, one tokenized real-estate company, and a VC company that wants to do tokenized Reg A+ offerings.
 +
 
 +
----
  
== 12 Apr 2018 - Discord 2 ==
+
Tron:
 +
I created a crypto accounting system called CoinCPA -- look for the podcasts from 2014.  I was an early employee of Tzero.  I'm a Tzero advisor.  I worked for crypto company out of Hong Kong.  I've helped Spera, and Bitsy which are portfolio companies of Medici Ventures.
  
Idea:  take the concepts from the paper and recent interviews w Tron etc and make them into a really well done PowerPoint / keynote
+
----
  
This would be open source and could be used by any community member to explain the project and concepts
+
Tron:
 +
I do have some coins.  If anything bad happens to the Ravencoin chain, it will affect me personally.
  
First really key step is the text and outline to assure accuracy above all else. 
+
----
  
Once that part is set and the text is good we can put it into a good format, add graphics and simple explanatory animations
+
Tron:
 +
It's exciting.  I'm a huge fan of everything that's happening in the crypto space.  I think the Ravencoin community is the best!  I feel honored and blessed to be a part of the project.  I really want it to succeed.
  
Can also have a FAQ section
+
----
  
I'd be happy to help anyone on this -- we should be able to use a section of github to place the explanatory text so it can be edited and updated over time
+
'' in reference to some significant purchases seen recently on cb ''
 +
Tron:
 +
I can say for certain it isn't me.  It really don't think it's Patrick.  I don't think it's Bruce, but I don't know that.
  
 +
==31 July 2018 - Discord 2 ==
  
== 12 Apr 2018 - Discord 2 ==
+
Reminder:  careful using testnet and wallets etc - someone WILL lose money because they get confused, send real coins to the wrong place only use if you know what you are doing :smiley:
  
It's possible that this community has built the largest and strongest decentralized network anyone has ever built in such a short time.
+
----
 +
I propose that we as a community voluntarily white hat any major names like Google -/ hopefully if the real Google wants to use it the community member will give it to them at cost — but that’s optional of course
 +
----
 +
There isn’t any way to pre-reserve or verify names
 +
----
 +
But we can cooperate to register good ones
 +
----
  
Does anyone know another which compares?  In terms of miners, nodes & other community metrics we have grown very fast.  Very few coins have a stronger network -- both Bitcoin and Eth took years to reach what you built in less than 100 days.  All 100% organic with no marketing and no central control.  It's incredible.    The future is bright.
+
No first dibs :smiley:
 
----
 
----
No one can beat the power of an open source community.
+
White hats racing against squatters
  
== 8 Apr 2018 - Discord 2 ==
 
Ideally lots of companies and people will build on top of this protocol
 
 
----
 
----
Partnerships have some challenges
+
Testnet will give people a chance to see what has been built and will also allow more contributors to easily contribute and do security testing because the code is published and everyone can be on the same page
  
There isn't a way to make partnerships between the idea called Ravencoin & any organization because there isn't any organization or person able to make a partnership or speak on behalf of Ravencoin or sign agreements etc. 
+
Testnet also allows 2nd and third layer developers to see how the protocol works and build and test apps
  
It's a true open source project with no leaders or central control.
+
Since the network was built first with ravencoin we already have a massive head start when mainnet is launched (versus if the network genesis and the asset layer were launched together)
  
This makes things like partnerships impossible in the sense of how they are done by centralized coins. 
+
This means that since racencoin already has tons of users, community members and interested parties the usability of the asset layer capabilities increases
  
Ravencoin dev is like Bitcoin: there is no way for "Bitcoin" to sign a partnership-- even Bitcoin Core (which isn't really a thing) can't sign anything.
+
There are a lot of us in the community who can test and build on this protocol
  
In Ravencoin everyone owns it and everyone can act as an individual and sign what they want.
+
So - when mainnet launches :rocket: there will be a lot of people ready to jumpstart that network and build on it  
  
Ravencoin is a community project entirely built and controlled by the community the only "central" items are the name itself and all that represents is an idea that the community generally is behind. 
+
I predict a lot of asset names reserved right away (it will be like domain registration races / land grab)
  
The bad news with this structure is that it is weird, chaotic, hard to understand and hard to get used to... especially for people new to open source.
+
When mainnet is launched people will be able to immediately create real assets which will be verified by the ravencoin blockchain
  
"No leaders" sounds like some sort of new age techno babble -- but it's true -- for a real decentralized open source project like this there really is no central structure that can enter into deals etc.
 
  
This type of structure is so unusual these days that most people who got into crypto within the last 2 years have never seen a real open source project.
+
== 29 July 2018 - Discord 2 ==
  
The good news is that this structure enables everyone an equal playing field in building.  No one is working to enrich some select group who received awards or raised money.    Everyone who wants to participate can in whatever way they want
+
We had mini raven sculptures hidden all around the Satoshi Roundtable
  
== 7 Apr 2018 - Telegram ==
+
== 14 July 2018 - Discord 2 ==
Tron:
 
Two more devs added to the team this week.  One more next week.
 
  
== 5 Apr 2018 - Telegram ==
+
Ravencoin as a real open source & fair launched project will never have the captive marketing budget of an ICO — but those projects will never have the tech depth or scalability that the Ravencoin protocol has.
  
Bruce Fenton:
 
The scheduled hard fork upgrade will be around 7-8 months from now -- depends how long coding and testing take and how many people contribute to development and testing.
 
This hard fork will make the code changes which will allow the issuance of tokens
 
 
----
 
----
Bruce Fenton:
+
Icos as we know them will not be as big as securities tokens
This project is open source so there is no one to pay for any marketing type of services.  If you read the papers and believe in the project then you can build businesses on this or drive your own economic interests
+
 
 +
== 12 July 2018 - Discord 2 ==
 +
 
 +
The dlr is a different thing - it’s a specific tool to help crypto interface with existing wall st touting systems
 +
 
 +
Aside from this Tzero is also an exchange which will trade security tokens
 +
 
 +
==11 July 2018 - Discord 2 ==
 +
 
 +
Just one solid exchange would be very relevant
  
== 5 Apr 2018 - Discord 2 ==
 
It's great for people who want to do more  -- if you are a hard working C++ dev you could end up having a massive effect on the code.
 
 
----
 
----
Someone asked if Ravencoin could "support ___effort"
 
  
The answer to every one of these questions is the same -- no because "Ravencoin" is not a centralized entity able to issue press releases or sign agreements or "support" anything --- it's just the name of the idea and code that a community is mining, developing or discussing.
+
Rvn took a path more like BTC or ltc
Individual people are all that can act in a decentralized open source system -- nothing is fully decentralized but this is the aim we strive for.
+
 
Ravencoin has no ability to support actions or do anything because it's not an entity  -- it's the name of an idea and code that the miners, developers and other community members generally agree on the purpose and structure of.
 
That sounds unusual or idealistic or phony to many - I get it, but it's actually the best way to develop
 
 
----
 
----
The main code is on a great track -- one huge area of opportunity is getting volunteer devs to work on second layer projects
 
  
RSK would be an awesome on
+
I think an exchange will happen
LN another
+
 
These don't need permission from anyone for someone to work on -/ devs can all communicate
 
 
----
 
----
We need RSK & Solidity devs -- that capability can be worked on alongside the planned upgrade fork -- it would add a lot of capabilities to this protocol
 
  
== 4 Apr 2018 - Discord 2 ==
+
There actually is a lot of raven marketing - it’s all pretty much done by volunteer community members bits be trippin etc
 +
 
 +
----
  
Ravencoin's only marketing department is the community-- competing against a sea of scamcoins & ICOs w/ billions in ad budgets we are in an open source canoe canoe together. 
+
I think Tzero hasn’t announced exactly how they will make listing decisions — there will be lots of factors
  
The protocol can't do press releases or similar BS --however it IS great to get the word out on what the tech & science is.
+
Rvn could be appealing to any exchange because it has high interest and volume and is not a security and also its code base is based on Bitcoin so well understood
  
There isn't anything to sell- imho it's a big mistake to discuss price so early which is why I never do.
+
Rvn is an especially natural fit for exchanges focusing on securities tokens
  
But it DOES make a lot of sense to share this info and explain it to people- more people will learn about it & contribute.
+
== 11 July 2018 - Discord 2 ==
  
The metrics of this are entirely different from something like an ICO- with Ravencoin we don't share info to sell something but we can share for the sake of computer science.
+
From @Chatturga
  
The white paper isn't a marketing document designed to get money from people it's an actual real white paper: a technical scientific document open for peer reviewThe purpose of the document is to create discussion, generate criticism; identify security & functionality holes and to invite contributors.  That's it.  There is zero mention of price.  Imho this is a much better way to build great tech.  If you build great tech it may have value.
+
Hello, everyone.  I bring exciting news about the asset layer! Assuming that everything goes smoothly, the binaries to test the asset layer on testnet will be available for download on July 30th.  Additionally, the target date for mainnet release has been tentatively set for October 31stThese dates give the community time to find any issues and for PR's to be processed - with October 31st also being the 1 year anniversary of the first Medium article about Ravencoin.
  
The diversity & strength of the community & dev is a good example of how open source can be more effective than corporate projects.
+
== 3 July 2018 - Discord 2 ==
  
This protocol & idea is worth sharing --  there's such a sea of scams and ICOs out there that a "white paper" seems like a sales document because the term has been stolen by scammers to be used for marketing documents.  That's not ideal  -- it reduces discussion of a technical computer science paper
+
Have I mentioned that this is Game of Thrones?
  
Perhaps one thing we can do is share the concepts in this paper and the main bullet points / ideas behind it -- this identifies a lot of use cases:
+
GAME OF THRONES!
  
Game tokens for items you can move from game to game, securities tokens with dividends, message services etc etc -- all of this is new tech creating new possibilities & solutions.  
+
This space is very treacherous and risky - there is a ton of uncertainty.
  
Sharing ideas gets even more great community members & contributors
+
A coin claiming they will “beat Bitcoin” is not credible — neither is it credible to say Bitcoin has a 100% chance of being both global money and the rails for all tokens with zero exceptions.
----
 
so the devs are a combination of people - most are in Utah because Medici a while back allowed employees to work on open source & this project became popularly locally in SLC --  so Tron Black @Tron (who came up with most of the tech ideas), Jesse Empey @RavencoinDev and @cade  are in SLC -- most of the mining devs tend to live around NH because that's where we did the first meetups & announcements
 
  
== 4 Apr 2018 - Telegram ==
+
There are a few possible outcomes:
Bruce Fenton:
 
This project is open source so there is no one to pay for any marketing type of services.  If you read the papers and believe in the project then you can build businesses on this or drive your own economic interests
 
----
 
Bruce Fenton:
 
The scheduled hard fork upgrade will be around 7-8 months from now -- depends how long coding and testing take and how many people contribute to development and testing.
 
  
This hard fork will make the code changes which will allow the issuance of tokens
+
1) Bitcoin becomes the only chain, all projects become sidechains on Bitcoin - RVN and ALL other coins/ projects die completely
 +
(possible but unlikely / not certain enough to bet on 100%)
  
== 4 Apr 2018 - Discord 2 ==
+
2) Bitcoin dies, other coin or coins / projects serve that need (unlikely)
@everyone Volunteers wanted:  Volunteer to serve as liaison to exchanges.  Ravencoin is receiving a LOT of requests and interest from exchanges.  Unfortunately most request that an "official" representative contact them. Since this is decentralized and open source there is no official and there is no one "authorized" to deal with exchanges.
 
  
If someone from the community wants to volunteer to serve this role they can.
+
3) Bitcoin becomes important money and important chain for tokens but other projects survive and serve large or niche markets
Should be knowledgeable about tech/ dev and exchanges and able to help exchanges with tech issues, integration etc.
+
3a Raven is one of these survivors
 +
3b it isn’t
 +
(This is the most likely scenario imho of the 3 — even if I felt an 80% chance of option 1 then it would still be prudent to support other coins in case BTC fails or in case any can develop a niche which serves one area better than BTC)
  
== 3 Apr 2018 - Discord 2 ==
+
-----
Note on exchanges:  since this project is open source there is no central party to speak with exchanges.  ICOs and centralized corporate coins typically have marketers and others who serve this role. 
 
  
Since this coin had no premine or set aside the economics are different as there is no insider looking to dump presale coins or something because they don't exist.
+
So if option 3 occurred and raven survived then it could be used in even a “small” niche of the possibly deca trillion dollar token market and end up being very important.
  
All exchange activity so far has been community driven.  There is no official party with an authority to deal with exchanges-/ that doesn't mean no one has the power --- it means everyone has the power.  This project belongs 100% to the community-- it was created by a community and remains that.  
+
Cross chain atomic swaps and lots of other things will make cooperation between projects make sense — LTC is a good example - the project has never tried to be at odds with Bitcoin.
  
So anyone wishing to list this coin or do any other economic activity - go for it.  The project literally belongs to you as much as anyone if you are reading this.
+
Bitcoin was always going to do tokens — that a HQ co like Blockstream is working on this is exciting and validated the entire idea.
----
+
Just a month ago all the best “experts” were saying that tokens couldn’t be put on Bitcoin or a fork of Bitcoin — this is specifically why I always used Bitcoin not raven in the periscope video examples on security tokens.
Securities tokens with multiple share classes
 
  
Game items that can be removed from a game and printed onto a paper wallet
+
When we did these demos everyone laughed — well now the smartest devs in the space are doing what we’ve been working on for a while as well (Blockstream has worked on this a long time too)
  
Activist tokens which can be divisible and with built in messaging - so you can split a coin in to 10 and give it to 10 friends who will all receive whatever message
+
It will be great if both Bitcoin and Raven serve markets in tokens successfully - there are certainly plenty of ways that can work — I also think other projects like ada and eos will have a good chance of surviving and several platforms  will thrive for different reasons.
  
The possibilities are endless
+
Anyway — being that this is Game of Thrones and in the grand timeline of global money and blockchains - we are early in season 1 ... it’s a good time to be supportive of all projects and focus on building great tech rather than “beating” someone.
 +
Also — most importantly — Blockstream is NOT a competitor of Raven - Blockstream is a company with investors and some top devs and products etc. - Ravencoin is an idea and some code / software which generates a scare digital asset.
  
== 2 Apr 2018 - Discord 2 ==
+
So back to the Blockstream announcement
Discord channels, like other aspects of Ravencoin, don't have a centralized authority or controller.
 
  
ICOs, scam-coins and centralized corporate coins have controlled and managed chat channels run by paid marketing employees.
+
...If this is Game of Thrones here we are over at Raven Tower okay — and Adam Back is like the Maester from Fort Block — he just moved in and says he wants to fight white walkers with the weapon he’s been working on —
  
Ravencoin is different. It's not run by a central team or person who tells people what to say or so.  
+
Okay I could go on :joy:...
  
Anyone can set up a chat, there is no "official" anything other than the Git and website.  
+
But seriously, Blockstream is not an enemy to this project - that’s absurd - they are awesome people and high quality cypherpunks and some of the smartest people in the industry.  
  
If a majority of the community prefers one admin / mod style they can migrate to any banned.  If various groups from who have competing ideas or preferences then multiple groups can form.
+
The “competitor” isn’t Blockstream it’s Bitcoin (for tokens!) — obviously Bitcoin is the strongest chain and it’s very unlikely raven would replace it — that was never the goal, point or idea (at least from my personal POV or imho)- the better competitor is ETH who actually has serious weaknesses.  
----
 
Many people are so used to centralized scam coins that they don't know what to think when they see a real open source coin.
 
  
The internet is messy.  The opposite of control is chaos.  So some chaos is inevitable.  But it doesn't affect the protocol in any way.
+
Goal as I’ve always personally seen it is to work on this specific use case on a PROTOCOL level to see if it develops advantages overall — it has had some since day one
----
 
This is as intended
 
----
 
It will all even out and work well
 
----
 
Have faith in the wisdom of crowds
 
----
 
Does Bitcoin have an official chat?
 
----
 
It's hard to have no one in charge and seems chaotic to not have control.  Many corporate coins have antiseptic and controlled chats which regularly censor criticism.
 
----
 
the only thing official is the code and website.
 
  
The roadmap and white paper is an implementation that a group of devs supports --
+
Just build good stuff and keep focusing
----
 
Yes -- but KYC/ AML isn't part of the protocol
 
----
 
Ravencoin will allow easy creation of assets such as tokens
 
----
 
Anyone can post a new ANN
 
----
 
There's no "core" really
 
----
 
you seem to think I have some special powers -- it's your coin as much as it is mjne.
 
----
 
Well if so then that's even more reason to not do it.  :smiley: the "core team" is anyone who wants to be.
 
  
This isn't hand waiving -- it's the structure of a real decentralized open source project.
+
If you want to attack someone ETH is a better target but even those folks are pretty cool — better to hope the rising tide lifts all boats!!
  
There are no leaders or authorities.  Only merit and individuals choosing who to follow and what code to run
+
-----
----
 
I choose to support this project because it's decentralized
 
----
 
There are 1000 corporate coins who have very neat and clean comms channels: everyone agrees, a few people decide on a message and the people are fed a line.
 
----
 
Anyone can create these tools
 
----
 
There is no central authority over Bitcoin comms
 
It's impossible
 
----
 
Ravencoin is YOUR coin.  It is the people's coin.  A real open source and decentralized project.
 
----
 
The decentralized nature enables this coin to do WAY more than a centralized corporate coin or ICO can do.
 
  
Look at the results!!
+
Yeah no one should care so much what I say — centralized authorities are bad
  
Look what you badasses have built in less than 3 months!
+
I love this coin and project and community — this is why I’ve given what I think is a fair share of free work to the project — but my activity shouldn’t be so relevant (and neither should anyone else’s)
  
NO ONE can duplicate this.  IBM has spent $4.5 billion on its internal blockchain and we beat them in EVERY metric that matters:  better code, stronger network, bigger community etc etc.
+
-----
  
Why?  Because people can smell authenticity a mile a way.  Then know that  the hundreds of scam coins don't actually belong to them.  This coin does.
+
I don’t see it as competition and even if so it would be silly to claim this chain is stronger than Bitcoin - imho far smarter way to look at things is the way LTC and to a lesser extent cardano does: we are all in the same ecosystem
  
Your efforts in Ravencoin are building what you wish - the strength of this project will not depend on 20 marketers or lawyers in some ivory tower office but the efforts of the thousands of people who've put in time, resources and sweat to build this this.
+
-----
  
With this grassroots decentralization we have some drawbacks but overall massive advantages.  
+
I’ve supported raven as best I can and will continue to — I’ve done about 15 speeches and a hundred tweets and 12 interviews and I’ve received death threats and nearly daily criticisms and accusations of being a scammer / pumper because of being such a vocal supporter — I’ve spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of my own money on support of raven — I’ve taken time from my family to fly to meet devs and I’ve spent hundreds of hours on everything from writing and research to design to chatting in forums or answering questions.
  
This is why we will prevail.
+
I receive zero pay and zero special coins or bonus for any work or commentary I do on Raven —
----
+
Every hour I spend on Raven is uncompensated and I have to skip other paying work to do -  
We are likely the fastest growing network in history of crypto.  We are also a top 10 of fairly mined coins in 3 months.
 
Decentralization works.
 
----
 
The wisdom of this crowd is stronger than any 100 people
 
----
 
Together we can do amazing things.  Wish not for leaders or control.  Instead make the changes you want and ask for help.
 
----
 
No one has any power that you don't also have.
 
If you want something to happen don't wait for permission.  You have it.  Just do it.
 
----
 
Tuesday will be a Roadmap and an expanded paper based on a combo of the original Medium article and the roadmap
 
----
 
there are drawbacks to a decentralized system like this -- but advantages as well.  No one does or should have control
 
----
 
some advantages Ravencoin will have to token issuers over Eth:
 
  
- more secure chain
+
If people think it’s not enough or can do better then by all means hopefully they can step up and be spokespeople also — I offered to help others do so a while ago & will make more ppt etc when I can
  
- more censorship resistant
+
-----
  
- more decentralized
+
Asset layer test net should be out in July
  
- simpler / more elegant
+
-----
  
- native in the protocol
+
Blockstream moving into this is great news for the overall ecosystem
  
- will allow dividends
+
-----
  
- will allow messaging
+
It’s a $40 trillion market
  
It's the next gen
+
-----
----
 
Ravencoin plans to integrate RSK --
 
  
Advantage is shorter block time and that it's native to the protocol -- but for smart contracts RSK will eneable solidity to work on the Ravencoin blockchain
+
Personally I see it as very different
----
 
ASIC resistance and a wider and more fair distribution is another advantage of Ravencoin.
 
  
By this time period in Bitcoin's history the coin had less than a dozen miners.  We have thousands
+
-----
This is one of the most widely distributed coins if not THE most
 
----
 
the protocol won't be ready to issue tokens on for 7-8 months or so.  But the network is already very strong and will have a lot of appeal
 
Securities tokens are one of the key use cases and reasons Ravencoin was created
 
  
Securities tokens are my main focus
+
Raven is open source
 +
If you want to compete with a company you can
 +
Or use the code and software how you choose
  
I think everything will be tokenized
+
== 2nd July 2018 - Discord 2 ==
----
 
I was a stockbroker for almost 20 years so have been interested in securities tokens since I came into Bitcoin 6 years ago
 
----
 
Especially interesting is small companies who can't now go public on old markets but will be able to using Ravencoin
 
  
And also conventional asset management
+
I have over 150,000 social media followers and announced Raven to over 2000 conference attendees at crypto conferences including Miami BTC and Texas Bitcoin Conference
----
+
It was posted by many others aside from me and retweeted and reposted by many others
Many exciting areas
 
----
 
SEC regs are misunderstood by almost everyone in the space
 
----
 
Things like lawyers  will be the market not part of the protocol
 
----
 
Ravencoin opens up not just new doors to securities but entirely new types of aligning interests.  For example co-ops
 
----
 
Ravencoin will enable users to issue STOs
 
----
 
Not a smart contract but native to the protocol
 
----
 
Sure real estate or any asset anyone wants
 
To issue
 
  
Game currency.  Securities.
+
We had 4500 miners within a week and the network grew so fast that solo mining and cpu rigs were obsolete within two weeks
  
Also unique assets
+
To claim that no one was on the network and that some secret miner dominated the mining is preposterous and easily provably false
----
 
yes with any offering issuers will still need a legal team and offering management (not from the protocol but the market)
 
----
 
not a SDK but native abilities within the protocol itself
 
----
 
So user will be able to issue:
 
100,000 token shares of Janes Startup
 
  
17 Platinum Swords of Power
+
In the very earliest days the network was widely distributed — the three largest miners (Overstock / Medici and three parties I don’t know who they are) each never reached more than 10-15% of hash power —- and that was only for a short few weeks or so in the earlier days
  
1 Mona Lisa Token
+
Since then the math can easily show that for anyone to have significant network power they would have to spend a significant amount on GPU rigs — the math & metrics behind this are trivial for anyone with a basic understanding of mining and crypto
  
Etc
+
It is simply impossible to have had a special advantage on the launch - all anyone could have possibly done is what early miners did:: take a big risk on early equipment-/
----
 
that's exactly something my company is working on
 
Chainstone Labs plans to be one of the first users of Ravencoin
 
----
 
You won't get dividends for holding rvn
 
It will be paid by token issuers to token holders
 
----
 
Rvn willl be burned for users to issue or name tokens
 
----
 
The assets will be on the rvn chain
 
----
 
The assets will be using Ravencoin chain as rails
 
<name removed> I founded Atlantic Financial, a Registered Investment advisor and also own chainstone labs
 
And Satoshi Roundtable
 
----
 
Right holders have to trust each issuer if they claim there is an asset backing it
 
----
 
No no
 
Only for physical assets
 
  
Real world
+
No one had any advantage whatsoever and there was absolutely no premine or set aside or insta mine at all
----
 
Virtual items like digital currency, utility and game currency or items would stay digital
 
----
 
Providers of legal and KYC services willl be able to easily integrate with rvn
 
----
 
Ravencoin doesn't compete with Polymath - it's a separate type of thing
 
----
 
Poly has said they are chain agnostic so can use rvn
 
----
 
Unlike Eth, Ravencoin was specifically built for the purpose of issuing tokens
 
----
 
Using RSK solidly Ravencoin will be able to do everything Eth can do
 
----
 
the published policy is to change the algo to break asics if they are created
 
----
 
no asics DECREASE security because they increase centralization
 
----
 
Asics make mining less distributed
 
----
 
actually they make a 51% attack easier because asics tend to concentrate mining in the hands of a small number of giant miners with data centers
 
  
Bitcoin can be 51% attacked by compromising 4 people or so.  Ravencoin you'd need to compromise an army of Ravens with their gpus
+
This is what is great about this tech - a blockchain is provable
 +
I guess at the ravencoin annual meeting we can ask early miners to raise hands
  
<name removed> users acquire rvn and use that to create assets or pay dividend
+
-----
----
 
once someone issues a token they can do what they want with it:  give it away, sell it, run an ICO or STO, put it in a game or whatever they choose
 
----
 
To be clear: the Ravencoin protocol will support RSK / solidity but ALSO have a native capability built in which makes it easier for many use cases
 
  
And has more capabilities like messaging and dividends
+
Blockstream is a company — raven is a protocol
----
 
<name removed> once someone issues a token they can do what they want with it:  give it away, sell it, run an ICO or STO, put it in a game or whatever they choose
 
----
 
To be clear: the Ravencoin protocol will support RSK / solidity but ALSO have a native capability built in which makes it easier for many use cases
 
  
And has more capabilities like messaging and dividends
+
We are not competing with Blockstream
  
 
== Older Posts ==
 
== Older Posts ==
 +
 +
[[Fenton Files: April 2018 - June 2018]]
 +
 
[[Fenton Files: start - March 2018]]
 
[[Fenton Files: start - March 2018]]

Latest revision as of 07:51, 11 November 2018


This page aims to capture some of the thoughts from Bruce Fenton and some of the core devs about RavenCoin, it's purpose and future. It's not comprehensive, just some of the interesting comments spotted on the community chats.

Discord 1 refers to the original discord which has since been deleted by it's owner. Discord 2 refers to the 2nd discord that was set up by the community. Links on community page.

11 Nov 2018 - Discord 2

Economics of token creation - raven ends up being exactly the same issuance schedule as Bitcoin but with this perpetual drain on total supply in the form of whatever is burned.

That-/ and the fact that it’s real 100% pow coins getting burned - that means RVN assets have sort of a neat double POW / a real asset (energy) has been burned to allow assets to exist

This gives them value. Not much, it’s tiny. But it does exist and that’s very different than other projects and very fascinating.


09 Nov 2018 - Discord 2

Talking your own book is exactly ethical and legal— especially if disclosed. It’s one of the purest form of ethical interaction in commerce. Some had to not only risk public reputation to support this coin but also give miners over $ of my capital to get the coins we own. So a miner could have dumped on us and I’d be the one conned. Someone being well known or ostk backing some dev is also not relevant. Oprah or Andreas could mention this coin for five seconds and instantly have more influence than paper authors. If Greg Maxwell came and said something was a security risk, people would listen etc etc. that’s how a real open source project works. In a fair launch like this it’s almost impossible to have one party have the upper hand. That’s not marketing talk or something to pump ravens structure — that’s just the truth. Projects with a fair & open launch are literally a gift to the users — anything created from those projects is created by fair work to the people. It’s absolutely incomparable to something that raised money.

Nothing wrong with raising money by the way but it’s utterly and completely different from giving away something for free. It’s decentralized versus centralized. Permissioned versus free.

It’s the very core of our industry. A foundational core of what open source / decentralized/ cypherpunk networks can be.

Now ravencoin may be stupid, a bad idea, it may fail, it may break, it may have unforeseen problems or it might just be outpaced by any of a dozen projects trying to do the same. All those are potentially valid debates. —- but there’s just no reasonable way to say this project wasn’t fair. It’s provable on the blockchain that this was the most widely participated in and fastest growing network in history.

One may think raven is a weak project but it’s fairness is completely undeniable— if someone doesn’t believe that then they either don’t understand or believe in crypto or they don’t fully understand how this project works.

By the way:: we need to spread that far and wide. People should understand that this is their project — anyone can build on it

All this work we’ve done:: it’s free! All the code, the network — all that’s been invested — it all belongs to all members of the community. Anyone can use it and any one can benefit from this network.

Now for 500 RVN you can create a permanent asset backed by this absolutely massive amount of hashpower. That asset can do all kinds of cool stuff.

This is amazing. People don’t even see it yet.

The structure is a key part. No leaders, no rulers, no centralized parties. That’s best practices. It’s harder.


17 Oct 2018 - Discord 2

New folks be sure to

1) download the latest wallet - recognize that this is YOUR project - it’s open source and NOT controlled by any specific people - you can build on this and use it without permission!

2) start mining — with a gpu you can get some coins to use and reserve names with but even if not then it still helps the network

3) running a full mining node helps strengthen the coin and helps everyone

4) download testnet NOW and mess with creating assets (!) this way you are ready for:

5) be ready to create real assets after mainnet launches on Oct 31 - you only get one shot at each asset name

6) register names you can use (if you register a brand name please consider giving it to the brand owner if they ask, this helps the network)

7) imho best early tokens will be game and experiments - fun things — this is still early stage and experimental — will be ready for things like securities once lots of testing in the live world — don’t take unwise financial risks - this is an experiment!- have fun and build something cool

05 Oct 2018 - Discord 2

The entire structure of ravencoin is VERY different from almost every other project — so it takes a lot of learning Thanks to all who participate


the thing is that Ravencoin is a protocol not a company — this is why no partnerships -// not because they aren’t valuable but because they are not necessary Ravencoin doesn’t have partnerships with companies because 1) there’s no one to make such a partnership 2) the companies and devs wanting to build on this don’t need anyone’s permission - they can just build

This is a good model — imho it’s the best model


Finding the right balance of how much to talk about this project is hard


Software is allowed to be centralized.

When people say this isn’t it’s not because they are lying to pretend something — it’s because it’s accurate.


The main misunderstanding seems to be that ravencoin is controlled or directed by Medici or tZero

It’s just not the case

This isn’t some claim that someone is trying to make to comply with some rule — its the actual truth. Also there is no law that this would be relevant for — the idea that a company working on an open source project “makes it a security” is silly and it’s super insulting

Whether raven is centrally controlled or has corporate involvement / oversight / investment etc do not make it a security anyway — that entire line of thinking is based on faulty logic and not understanding now Ravencoin works or was issued

Ravencoin was released for free exactly like Litecoin — because it was never sold it was not an offering

Even if it had one person as a ceo and even if that one person worked for Medici it would not matter —- still not a security


my time doesn’t belong to you. Usually when people write articles and mention someone they get quotes from them and check for accuracy first —- I do what I can to give accurate info.

I waste hours on this and the only result is time wasted


It doesn’t matter if something it centralized


That doesn’t make it a security


A coin being centralized or controlled by a company matters when the company or coin raises money - a project like Raven is completely different


there’s nothing whatsoever “hinging” on that — that’s crazy talk.

No reasonable or knowledgeable person I’ve heard of considers RVN a security. If they do then :shrug:‍♂️ Litecoin and Bitcoin would be as well. It’s insane

... no — not at all.

Ridiculous

This all stems from people who don’t understand securities


There’s tons of info out there Not sure why people assume a conspiracy There’s no one “at the top” There’s no one “worried”

It’s REALLLY key to understand that this is an open source, decentralized project —- there is no person or people or corporation running it

There is no conspiracy etc People just work in their own interests


>>>>Ravencoin is not an entity at all <<<<


What matters is whether ravencoin can and does work


Crap projects have an interest in promoting “partnerships” and stuff — actual protocols don’t


(In reference (I think) to Medici / Overstock / RVN) I’ve said 100 times that they aren’t related — even made videos about it


Rvn is better than ever - amazing - one of the strongest projects ever


Because raven isn’t like that and isn’t a corporate project with “deals” and “agreements” / joint ventures and that kind of ico crap


Medici donates dev time Which is great


But people assume much more of a corporate tie


Which is a shame


Not a gift from MV


MV gifts some dev


Big difference


There’s an impression that tZero and raven fit together in some special way or work together or that one platform is being designed for the other


(In reference to an article speculating on the connection between various OSTK / MV projects and RVN) thanks! I’m not a fan of the screen shot from discord — I’ve tried to make clear many times that the projects really are not related — that screen shot taken on its own and out of the context of its convo seems like I’m winking and being coy or something imho Basically it was in reply to people who think the opposite: which is that tZero has nothing to do with rvn and will never list it because they are competitors or something Neither is true

It’s really not a corporate coin -/ existed before anyone at tZero heard of it and before I joined the board

There’s no team of folks at tZero working on raven and it defiantly wasn’t designed by tZero or created for some tZero purpose


Yes but ostk owns a mess of stuff and there’s no major direction from ostk to any portfolio cos to support ravencoin


TZero and ravencoin are much less related than people assume




23 Sept 2018 - Baltic Honeybadger 2018 Bitcoin conference

Title: Global Ledgers: Scaling & Capacity for Legacy Securities Systems in the Age of Atomic Swaps

Conference: Baltic Honeybadger 2018 Bitcoin conference, Riga, Sep 22-23

Bruce talks about the history of securities, it's current problems, and block chain.

Talk at: https://youtu.be/D2WXxgZ8h-0?t=1h48m23s

Slides at: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1043833386257854464.html


Bruce Fenton (Discord):

I didn’t mention Raven because as soon as you mention a specific product at certain events people stop listening and are closed minded

Also so many people don’t even understand tokenized securities that it’s best to explain that first

Once they understand this concept then Rvn makes more sense

12 Sept 2018 - Telegram

Bruce Fenton: Because this is protocol development not something like an ICO scam

Ravencoin is a protocol — that’s it — it’s software

There is NO ONE to “make announcements” or “sign partnerships”

It’s open source - for all community members to contribute how they wish — this is a VERY VERY different model than centralized projects who did ICOs etc

If you are expecting centralized sales, marketing, announcements — that will never happen with this project and people should know that

What the project does do is focus on building secure and useful software— anyone can contribute and decide if they want to run that software

25 Aug 2018 - Discord 2

consensus works in open source by open discussion over what code to run


Everyone should contribute to the discussion

There is no division between devs and non devs - there is no special authority who bestows the title “developer” - it’s just based on what code people run and who decides to run what they choose

So we don’t say “just do what the devs say” because there are no specific “devs” with any official role - just people who have done a lot of work and implemented the vision in the paper

Anyone can be a dev

Anyone on this page can write code

And call themselves a dev

No one has authority over any other

We the users and holders have the authority by deciding what code to run

So if you say “trust the devs” the first question one needs to ask is “who? / which devs”

The way to flush that out is by discussion

Open and free discussion

There’s also no special authority for any other person - no ceo or founder or master node or author or dev has special power or authority


But main point is that this is open source — there is no authority


We don’t want to ever discourage discussion — especially over security related issues


All this project is is a group of people choosing to run code based on what they think Ravencoin means and what code is effective for that definition — every person has the right to discuss what they think that vision is or means


The term hoi polloi is funny but it’s the antithesis of what open source is about — there is no “commoners” or higher class of people

There’s no special category called developers

It’s not ideal to say that people should defer to devs — that’s got a lot of issues I can explain —

what if a new dev joins tomorrow and creates the code to change the supply to 5 trillion with an insta mine of 1 trillion to himself and burning all addresses bringing in R5?

Would you say “stay in your lane, don’t discuss forks”? Of course not - it’s not what the coin is

It’s super relevant and key to discuss things like hard forks — any hard fork changes the consensus mechanism and the rules which everyone on the network previously agreed to

So it’s really a big responsibility for every user to know and care what all code changes are


There’s also a HUGE difference between non technical people discussing technical matters and overall DESIGN matters


You won’t see me talking specific code almost ever — it’s not my area of expertise

But overall economics, functionality and design is an area of expertise I have for this coin — Andy one can develop expertise and have opinions on the direction — anyone can choose to listen or not - and run what they want based on a combo of vision and capabilities and functions with the specific code


Well this is why consensus is so important

Just something to plan for — for the future



We can all continually improve the quality of review of code changes

Bitcoin

Bitcoin system has worked best and that’s what Ravencoin is developed after


Bitcoin has made many leaps forward on this - there are lots of contributors and discussions


@name — well one thing is that there isn’t and shouldn’t be much of a line between “devs” and “the community” —- devs ARE the community and the community is devs in this project — there is no separate wall



You don’t need to just “speak with a Bitcoin dev” you can BE a Bitcoin dev by simply submitting code

Secret sauce of Bitcoin is no leaders

No authority

Consensus

Same with Ravencoin-


The system is working well as it is — I don’t see any problems at all — just giving thoughts on best practices and ideas for the future — there are several things we learned from this hard fork which can be improved on next time - mainly around communicating


There’s some bad habits from ICOS where people come in to protocol projects looking for leaders or thinking a central authority makes all decisions


It’s wise to plan for contentious forks


It’s wise to plan for contentious forks


And have healthy debate over all changes


Forks also present a risk — every code change presents a possibility of unforeseen consequences

14 Aug 2018 - Telegram

Chatturga: The v2.0.3 binaries are available to download on the ravencoin github. Assuming that everything continues to run smoothly, and no significant bugs need to be addressed, this is the version that will activate DGW and BIP9/RIP2 consensus voting for the asset layer. The devs recommend updating to this version soon (before block 338778), with a particular emphasis toward pool owners and exchanges. I'll reach out to those people at the end of the day since the devs want to do a bit more testing.

https://github.com/RavenProject/Ravencoin/releases/tag/v2.0.3

05 Aug 2018 - Telegram

Tron

Tron: Ravencoin is a protocol platform for assets and will work with anybody's infrastructure. Additional requirements can always be added by exchanges, or issuers, but are not native to the asset protocol.


Tron: You’re absolutely right. We are watching the issue closely. To put it in perspective though, our block times have been roughly 1.5x the speed of BTC during the worst of it. We have already switched to DGW on testnet and Ravencoin is slated to move to DGW on mainnet at the end of October. Our primary concern is not the code, that’s already done. Our primary concern is not allowing the chain to split. A chain split would cause far more damage and confusion than 5 minute blocks. The diff swings are a result of being profitable, then not, then profitable again, in an undamped oscillation. DGW will fix it, but it requires a hard fork where everyone must upgrade the software. This carries some risk.


Tron: x16r is the hashing algorithm, and is different than the difficulty adjustment algorithm. It will still be x16r. The difficulty adjustment tries to make it so it is 1 minute blocks no matter how many cpus/gpus are mining. Currently it adjusts by looking back 2016 blocks and making a percentage adjustment to bring it inline. There is a 4x limit, which we are close to hitting. It isn’t good but it shouldn’t get much worse.


Tron: RVN will still be RVN. The problem is that anyone that doesn’t upgrade when the algo switches over, will be on a different chain. Imagine the problems if CryptoBridge doesn’t upgrade, or Cryptopia, etc. and they have a different view. A hard fork is just a software upgrade, but it is really important that certain nodes upgrade. We have a managed upgrade already scheduled for the end of Oct that lets everyone decide on their own whether to upgrade and when enough mining nodes have upgraded, it seamlessly switches over at a set percentage.


Tron: No, shorter block times aren’t the problem. Rentable hashpower, and multipools which auto-redirect hashpower to the most profitable coin makes it more difficult to calibrate. That’s what changed.


Tron: The longest chain is the winner. We just need to make sure it is crystal clear which one that is. If we have 1/2 mining power on one chain and 1/2 on another, it gets murky. If that ever happens, just don’t transfer RVN during that time and you’ll be fine. And, if you’re mining, make sure you’re on the longest chain.


Tron: DGW will go a long way towards that. We actually want increased hashing, we just don’t want it coming and going in multi-day intervals.


Tron: I don’t think miners using a pool will need to change anything. Just make sure the pool you’re using has upgraded whenever the software is upgraded. Make sure you’re using the latest version to view/store/transfer your RVN.


Tron: My understanding is that there was a Pull Request for RVN on Ledger. I don’t know if/when that will make it into production.


Tron: Yes, unix (linux), Mac, and Windows. We need to make sure the client cross-compiles for all of them.


Tron: Yeah, there were some awful asset names. I imagine that some of the web explorers and asset marketplaces will want to run names through a filter.


Tron: There’s going to be lots of interesting opportunities. I think someone will build a marketplace for asset names.


Tron: There’s really only one chain. The problem is that when you change the diff algo, then the version of the software using the old algo sees only old algo blocks as valid, and software using the algo only sees new algo blocks as valid. The “real” one SHOULD be the new algo chain, but there’s no BOSS that says you can’t run older software. So it is really up the users to upgrade and all agree to use the newer software. I can’t compel anyone to upgrade, but it would make economic sense for everyone to use the new software. We can write software that doesn’t change the algorithm until it sees that most miners have upgraded because we can put a version number in the blocks and count the mined blocks. That’s what BIP9 does — Google it if you’re interested in how it works.


We’re hiring like crazy. Most of our hires are for tZero, Medici, and Bitsy. If you’re a great developer, you should apply. Bruce is in NH and he visits Utah and we visit him in NH.


Tron: Yes. I don’t know how trademark rules would apply. I fought two trademark battles where I felt I was in the right. I won one, and folded the other against a giant “perfect” word processing company.


Tron: There is support for that. I’m not in favor of that, in general, but it did make sense for our asset hard fork.


Tron: I hope not, because I think it would devalue RVN, but it is certainly a possibility. Interestingly enough, anyone who had RVN before that fork would have RVN and RVC, but I still think it would would be a net negative overall.


Tron: Sometimes it is cheaper to mine, and sometimes it is cheaper to buy. Right now it is cheaper to buy — until the diff adjusts. I wrote a paper on how the two are interlinked. https://letstalkbitcoin.com/blog/post/bitcoin-value-and-mining-difficulty


Tron: Bruce and I agree that it doesn’t need shilling. Eventually, we’ll need to let more people know it exists and that it is a platform they can build on, but that isn’t even true until the end of October when assets activate on mainnet.


Tron: If there’s a Raven Classic, it probably wont have asset support.


Tron: Yes, we would like RVN to continue to be viable cash. We hope it gets used for rewards (paying all holders of your token in RVN), and for on-chain atomic swaps (paying for assets with RVN where the trade happens all at once).


Tron: I’m not 100% sure. It seems like we’re in a bear market — similar to 2014-2015. Some of it is being sold to buy into RVN, EOS, and ADA, or into ICOs which are still going strong outside the US.


Tron: I agree - kinda dumb. It is a completely arbitrary line. Enforce rules against outright fraud, but let everyone invest their money any way they choose.


Tron: I think there will be sites listing assets for sale. We’ve put “forsale” and “forsale_price” keys in the metadata spec for this reason. Brokers could scan the chain and the meta data to build a website for exchanging asset names.


Tron: https://github.com/RavenProject/Ravencoin/blob/master/assets/asset_metadata_spec.md


Tron: I will share the scripts to allow anyone to register any names they want. I’m excited to see what gets registered.


Tron: Sending assets will require a small RVN fee. I’d love to get rid of the fee, but it opens up too many attacks that don’t cost anything.


Tron: It’s been wonderful chatting with all of you. Thanks for your support of RVN. I’m working on some python scripts that’ll let you create batches of assets (with associated meta data) from a Google spreadsheet or csv. I’ll make them available next week for everyone to play with. It’ll make it easier for anyone wanting to register multiple assets.


03 Aug 2018 - Telegram

Some interesting posts from tron on telegram

Tron: http://raven-blockchain.info/ext/getmoneysupply is stalled on an old block. Needs to be switched to: https://ravencoin.network/api/supply


referring to testnet launch Tron: Thanks. We had a few glitches that we're fixing, but overall it seems to be performing as expected.


Tron: Brace yourself. The limits of free speech are being tested. FREEDOM!!!


Tron: In the qt, go to Help->Debug, then the console tab, and type listassets


Tron: I'd be interested in knowing which ones it doesn't fulfill. It is portable, fungible, divisible, durable, transferable, and limited. USD is 5 of those 6.


Tron: Michael Any wallet, explorer, exhange, etc. can use the .png. It likely will not be built into the reference client because we don't want to be downloading and showing the types of images that could be added. If you've looked at the list of assets created on testnet, you'll understand our concern.


referring to facilitating adoption Tron: Adoption - ease of use, cross platform (Windows, Mac, Linux, iOs, Android) , and secure.


Tron: We hope assets will be tradable on decentralized exchanges. I think this will happen organically as soon as some real projects are using the tokens.


Tron: Medici has investments in about 14 different companies. I expect some of them will be able to use RVN, but RVN is not being developed in support of any particular project. It has larger ambitions to be a platform for asset issuance with multi-OS support and much easier to use than ERC20.


Tron: Verhoven RVN should be a currency. We want it to have a value because phase 3 will allow paying token holders in RVN. Imagine a project that's profitable where the early supporters are rewarded (with RVN) based on the percentage of tokens they hold.


Tron: I'm not allowed to talk about tZero stuff.


Tron: I had experience with Counterparty, Mastercoin, colored coins, and open assets which had similar capabilities on top of Bitcoin. It was secure, but clunky because some bitcoin had to be sent with every asset, and the fees became prohibitively high last year. We've been able to fix these issues because we can make adjustments that the core Bitcoin developers can't make.


Tron: The ideas behind the project and using the blockchain for tokenizing assets came from Bruce Fenton, as well as the project name and logo.


Tron: I'm in talks with the leadership and developers on that project. We've agreed that Ravencoin is great once they're tokenizing the land. First stages are about recording ownership and Ravencoin doesn't fit that use case as well.


Tron: I've talked to lots of companies about their projects on RVN. Two game companies, one tokenized real-estate company, and a VC company that wants to do tokenized Reg A+ offerings.


Tron: I created a crypto accounting system called CoinCPA -- look for the podcasts from 2014. I was an early employee of Tzero. I'm a Tzero advisor. I worked for crypto company out of Hong Kong. I've helped Spera, and Bitsy which are portfolio companies of Medici Ventures.


Tron: I do have some coins. If anything bad happens to the Ravencoin chain, it will affect me personally.


Tron: It's exciting. I'm a huge fan of everything that's happening in the crypto space. I think the Ravencoin community is the best! I feel honored and blessed to be a part of the project. I really want it to succeed.


in reference to some significant purchases seen recently on cb Tron: I can say for certain it isn't me. It really don't think it's Patrick. I don't think it's Bruce, but I don't know that.

31 July 2018 - Discord 2

Reminder: careful using testnet and wallets etc - someone WILL lose money because they get confused, send real coins to the wrong place only use if you know what you are doing :smiley:


I propose that we as a community voluntarily white hat any major names like Google -/ hopefully if the real Google wants to use it the community member will give it to them at cost — but that’s optional of course


There isn’t any way to pre-reserve or verify names


But we can cooperate to register good ones


No first dibs :smiley:


White hats racing against squatters


Testnet will give people a chance to see what has been built and will also allow more contributors to easily contribute and do security testing because the code is published and everyone can be on the same page

Testnet also allows 2nd and third layer developers to see how the protocol works and build and test apps

Since the network was built first with ravencoin we already have a massive head start when mainnet is launched (versus if the network genesis and the asset layer were launched together)

This means that since racencoin already has tons of users, community members and interested parties the usability of the asset layer capabilities increases

There are a lot of us in the community who can test and build on this protocol

So - when mainnet launches :rocket: there will be a lot of people ready to jumpstart that network and build on it

I predict a lot of asset names reserved right away (it will be like domain registration races / land grab)

When mainnet is launched people will be able to immediately create real assets which will be verified by the ravencoin blockchain


29 July 2018 - Discord 2

We had mini raven sculptures hidden all around the Satoshi Roundtable

14 July 2018 - Discord 2

Ravencoin as a real open source & fair launched project will never have the captive marketing budget of an ICO — but those projects will never have the tech depth or scalability that the Ravencoin protocol has.


Icos as we know them will not be as big as securities tokens

12 July 2018 - Discord 2

The dlr is a different thing - it’s a specific tool to help crypto interface with existing wall st touting systems

Aside from this Tzero is also an exchange which will trade security tokens

11 July 2018 - Discord 2

Just one solid exchange would be very relevant


Rvn took a path more like BTC or ltc


I think an exchange will happen


There actually is a lot of raven marketing - it’s all pretty much done by volunteer community members bits be trippin etc


I think Tzero hasn’t announced exactly how they will make listing decisions — there will be lots of factors

Rvn could be appealing to any exchange because it has high interest and volume and is not a security and also its code base is based on Bitcoin so well understood

Rvn is an especially natural fit for exchanges focusing on securities tokens

11 July 2018 - Discord 2

From @Chatturga

Hello, everyone. I bring exciting news about the asset layer! Assuming that everything goes smoothly, the binaries to test the asset layer on testnet will be available for download on July 30th. Additionally, the target date for mainnet release has been tentatively set for October 31st. These dates give the community time to find any issues and for PR's to be processed - with October 31st also being the 1 year anniversary of the first Medium article about Ravencoin.

3 July 2018 - Discord 2

Have I mentioned that this is Game of Thrones?

GAME OF THRONES!

This space is very treacherous and risky - there is a ton of uncertainty.

A coin claiming they will “beat Bitcoin” is not credible — neither is it credible to say Bitcoin has a 100% chance of being both global money and the rails for all tokens with zero exceptions.

There are a few possible outcomes:

1) Bitcoin becomes the only chain, all projects become sidechains on Bitcoin - RVN and ALL other coins/ projects die completely (possible but unlikely / not certain enough to bet on 100%)

2) Bitcoin dies, other coin or coins / projects serve that need (unlikely)

3) Bitcoin becomes important money and important chain for tokens but other projects survive and serve large or niche markets 3a Raven is one of these survivors 3b it isn’t (This is the most likely scenario imho of the 3 — even if I felt an 80% chance of option 1 then it would still be prudent to support other coins in case BTC fails or in case any can develop a niche which serves one area better than BTC)


So if option 3 occurred and raven survived then it could be used in even a “small” niche of the possibly deca trillion dollar token market and end up being very important.

Cross chain atomic swaps and lots of other things will make cooperation between projects make sense — LTC is a good example - the project has never tried to be at odds with Bitcoin.

Bitcoin was always going to do tokens — that a HQ co like Blockstream is working on this is exciting and validated the entire idea. Just a month ago all the best “experts” were saying that tokens couldn’t be put on Bitcoin or a fork of Bitcoin — this is specifically why I always used Bitcoin not raven in the periscope video examples on security tokens.

When we did these demos everyone laughed — well now the smartest devs in the space are doing what we’ve been working on for a while as well (Blockstream has worked on this a long time too)

It will be great if both Bitcoin and Raven serve markets in tokens successfully - there are certainly plenty of ways that can work — I also think other projects like ada and eos will have a good chance of surviving and several platforms will thrive for different reasons.

Anyway — being that this is Game of Thrones and in the grand timeline of global money and blockchains - we are early in season 1 ... it’s a good time to be supportive of all projects and focus on building great tech rather than “beating” someone. Also — most importantly — Blockstream is NOT a competitor of Raven - Blockstream is a company with investors and some top devs and products etc. - Ravencoin is an idea and some code / software which generates a scare digital asset.

So back to the Blockstream announcement

...If this is Game of Thrones here we are over at Raven Tower okay — and Adam Back is like the Maester from Fort Block — he just moved in and says he wants to fight white walkers with the weapon he’s been working on —

Okay I could go on :joy:...

But seriously, Blockstream is not an enemy to this project - that’s absurd - they are awesome people and high quality cypherpunks and some of the smartest people in the industry.

The “competitor” isn’t Blockstream it’s Bitcoin (for tokens!) — obviously Bitcoin is the strongest chain and it’s very unlikely raven would replace it — that was never the goal, point or idea (at least from my personal POV or imho)- the better competitor is ETH who actually has serious weaknesses.

Goal as I’ve always personally seen it is to work on this specific use case on a PROTOCOL level to see if it develops advantages overall — it has had some since day one —

Just build good stuff and keep focusing

If you want to attack someone ETH is a better target but even those folks are pretty cool — better to hope the rising tide lifts all boats!!


Yeah no one should care so much what I say — centralized authorities are bad

I love this coin and project and community — this is why I’ve given what I think is a fair share of free work to the project — but my activity shouldn’t be so relevant (and neither should anyone else’s)


I don’t see it as competition and even if so it would be silly to claim this chain is stronger than Bitcoin - imho far smarter way to look at things is the way LTC and to a lesser extent cardano does: we are all in the same ecosystem


I’ve supported raven as best I can and will continue to — I’ve done about 15 speeches and a hundred tweets and 12 interviews and I’ve received death threats and nearly daily criticisms and accusations of being a scammer / pumper because of being such a vocal supporter — I’ve spent hundreds of thousands of dollars of my own money on support of raven — I’ve taken time from my family to fly to meet devs and I’ve spent hundreds of hours on everything from writing and research to design to chatting in forums or answering questions.

I receive zero pay and zero special coins or bonus for any work or commentary I do on Raven — Every hour I spend on Raven is uncompensated and I have to skip other paying work to do -

If people think it’s not enough or can do better then by all means hopefully they can step up and be spokespeople also — I offered to help others do so a while ago & will make more ppt etc when I can


Asset layer test net should be out in July


Blockstream moving into this is great news for the overall ecosystem


It’s a $40 trillion market


Personally I see it as very different


Raven is open source If you want to compete with a company you can Or use the code and software how you choose

2nd July 2018 - Discord 2

I have over 150,000 social media followers and announced Raven to over 2000 conference attendees at crypto conferences including Miami BTC and Texas Bitcoin Conference It was posted by many others aside from me and retweeted and reposted by many others

We had 4500 miners within a week and the network grew so fast that solo mining and cpu rigs were obsolete within two weeks

To claim that no one was on the network and that some secret miner dominated the mining is preposterous and easily provably false

In the very earliest days the network was widely distributed — the three largest miners (Overstock / Medici and three parties I don’t know who they are) each never reached more than 10-15% of hash power —- and that was only for a short few weeks or so in the earlier days

Since then the math can easily show that for anyone to have significant network power they would have to spend a significant amount on GPU rigs — the math & metrics behind this are trivial for anyone with a basic understanding of mining and crypto

It is simply impossible to have had a special advantage on the launch - all anyone could have possibly done is what early miners did:: take a big risk on early equipment-/

No one had any advantage whatsoever and there was absolutely no premine or set aside or insta mine at all

This is what is great about this tech - a blockchain is provable I guess at the ravencoin annual meeting we can ask early miners to raise hands


Blockstream is a company — raven is a protocol

We are not competing with Blockstream

Older Posts

Fenton Files: April 2018 - June 2018

Fenton Files: start - March 2018