General questions about initial distribution, funding, and BTC integration

[aminok]

I'm very interested in Truthcoin but have a lot of questions:

I read on the Truthcoin site that it is planning to be a sidechain of Bitcoin, which would be very cool. Is this still the plan?

How will cashcoins and votecoins be distributed if Truthcoin is launched as a sidechain? And if it isn't?

At first glance, it seems to me that making cashcoins fully pegged to bitcoins, and generated by transferring bitcoin into the chain in a fully reversible way, while distributing votecoins via a sale to raise funds for development, would make the most sense.

Is there an ETA on blockchain launch?

[psztorc]

I'm very interested in Truthcoin but have a lot of questions:

Welcome.

I read on the Truthcoin site that it is planning to be a sidechain of Bitcoin, which would be very cool. Is this still the plan?

I plan to bring about the existence of a functional version of Truthcoin which is also a sidechain of Bitcoin. However, the technology is freely available for everyone to use, and the team which has (so far) made the most progress is planning to launch on Ethereum.

How will cashcoins and votecoins be distributed if Truthcoin is launched as a sidechain? And if it isn't?

At first glance, it seems to me that making cashcoins fully pegged to bitcoins, and generated by transferring bitcoin into the chain in a fully reversible way, while distributing votecoins via a sale to raise funds for development, would make the most sense.

That's the plan!

Is there an ETA on blockchain launch?

I would imagine that, for a technical crowd, a comprehensible version will appear in a few weeks. The user-ready version will probably launch in the summer. I would just hang around, and do some reading on the website/forum, follow me on twitter (I go for rare, important updates) and get ready to check back in when a non-prototype version is released (probably around February).

[aminok]

Thank you very much for the response.

A couple follow ups:

The version that will be released over the next few months (a comprehensive version in a few weeks, a user-friendly version in summer) - will that be a sidechain version? If not, what will happen to it once the sidechain version comes out?

When do you expect to do the fundraising sale of votecoins?

Legally, are you going to structure the sale the way the Ethereum team did, to stay clear of SEC laws (e.g. by avoiding selling to Americans)?

[psztorc]

My pleasure.

I anticipate a fully-Altcoin version (for testing) long before the sidechain version. My guess is that the Altcoin version will have a sort of 'free money' button (or some extra-protocol equivalent), and exist much in the way that the Bitcoin testnet exists. Probably the Altcoin version will endure several hard forks along the way, and the 'sidechain version' would be, in a sense, the last hard fork. So there would be many non-latest hard forks, which I expect would just die off.

I expect the VTC sale to take place a month or two after the final release version is ready.

The crowdsale will almost certainly take place outside of the US. As I am a US-citizen, I might get bought-out before it even begins, or I may avoid participating in the sale altogether. I've also mused on donating the proceeds to a children's hospital (or something feel-good), which would likely allow the crowdsale to go off without interference.

Again, these are just my expectations, the ideas are out there for anyone to use, and try whatever they want, wherever they want, at their own risk.

[aminok]

Got it, thanks.

Is it illegal for U.S. citizens to solicit investments in non-US regulated stocks? I thought they just weren't allowed to solicit other American citizens to invest in non-US regulated stocks.

Rental Starter (RENT), listed on Havelock Investments, has American principals, has its operations in the US, but has its firm registered in Hong Kong, and only solicits investments from non-Americans:

https://www.havelockinvestments.com/fund.php?symbol=RENT

[aminok]

I just thought of something:

Truthcoin could be launched as a pseudo-sidechain of Bitcoin, before Sidechain functionality is actually added to Bitcoin.

How it would work:

1. To convert BTC to CHC, users send their BTC to a multisig address controlled by a large number of key holders (e.g. 10), known as the conversion address, in a special transaction that also encodes their CHC deposit address.

2. The Truthcoin blockchain is aware of the Bitcoin blockchain, and when one of these conversion transactions occurs, automatically deposits CHC into the respective CHC deposit address.

3. When Sidechain functionality is finally rolled out in Bitcoin, the BTC held at the conversion address is transferred to the Truthcoin sidechain, and Truthcoin does a hard fork to formally back all CHC with BTC, so that CHC holders can convert their CHC back into BTC should they choose.

I'm just brainstorming, so no need to give an assessment of this. Ideas are a dime a dozen, but it doesn't hurt to share.

[erb]

The crowdsale will almost certainly take place outside of the US. As I am a US-citizen, I might get bought-out before it even begins, or I may avoid participating in the sale altogether. I've also mused on donating the proceeds to a children's hospital (or something feel-good), which would likely allow the crowdsale to go off without interference.

If you end up deciding to give away the proceeds to a charity I suggest you use something more cost-effective than a children's hospital. Giving What We Can and GiveWell have dedicated time and effort into evaluating charities impact/$. Doing so would be both more altruistic and utilitarian.

[psztorc]

aminok: cool idea, but given the likelihood of bugs, it probably is best to mess around with play money for a long time.

If you end up deciding to give away the proceeds to a charity I suggest you use something more cost-effective than a children's hospital. Giving What We Can and GiveWell have dedicated time and effort into evaluating charities impact/$. Doing so would be both more altruistic and utilitarian.

I'm afraid it has very little to do with being altruistic...the project would thrive on a widely-available auction, so the question is how to enable such an auction, in a way that regulators and politicians can't interfere with.

[keystrike]

The crowdsale will almost certainly take place outside of the US. As I am a US-citizen, I might get bought-out before it even begins, or I may avoid participating in the sale altogether. I've also mused on donating the proceeds to a children's hospital (or something feel-good), which would likely allow the crowdsale to go off without interference.

If you end up deciding to give away the proceeds to a charity I suggest you use something more cost-effective than a children's hospital. Giving What We Can and GiveWell have dedicated time and effort into evaluating charities impact/$. Doing so would be both more altruistic and utilitarian.

Hi erb,

Who are you? I was working at GWWC for a few months over the summer. It's interesting someone who knows about them would end up at the forums here, although there is a natural connection due to Robin Hanson (and interesting ideas in general).