Here are some links to get started:<p>Block explorer: http://blockscan.com/<p>Official site (under construction) https://counterparty.co/<p>Installation instructions: http://counterpartyd-build.readthedocs.org/en/latest/<p>Github: https://github.com/PhantomPhreak/counterpartyd |
Block explorer: http://blockscan.com/
Official site (under construction) https://counterparty.co/
Installation instructions: http://counterpartyd-build.readthedocs.org/en/latest/
Github: https://github.com/PhantomPhreak/counterpartyd
Discussion thread: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=395761.0
Thing is what proof of * you use don't matter. You're not in control of the chain, and anybody can just spam the bitcoin blockchain with fraudulent transactions (double spends, etc.)
And the only way for anybody want to accept any of those assets, would be to calculate the probability of having a real asset in hand from the entire blockchain history that this amount derives off of.
So, very sorry to say that, but, this'll crash&burn. That's just how it is if you forgoe the iron guarantees of proof of work.
From what I understand, XCP transactions guarantee atomicity and funds are swept from addresses to fund any bets/orders immediately. The risk of double-spending XCP is the same as the risk of double-spending BTC as XCP relies on bitcoin's proof of work.
Please correct me if I'm wrong.
Proof of burn was used during an initialization phase (let's call it distributed minting) which is over. Should really check it out more thoroughly, it looks like a pretty neat idea.
The website copy is extremely abstract and non-specific. It's in need of a copywriter.
* The ability to issue shares in your company/startup and have them be traded from Day 1. Unlike BTCT/BitFunder/Havelock, Counterparty is a P2P protocol and cannot be shut down by regulatory agencies. Kind of like BitTorrent.
* The ability to trade XCP for Bitcoin and vice versa without relying on any fallible counterparty. There is no centralized exchange to steal money from you or fail like MtGox. There is no escrow required to trade with peers because Counterparty guarantees atomicity of transactions.
* The ability to place a variety of different bets. Currently the protocol has support for simple contracts-for-difference (CFDs) and binary Equal/NotEqual bets. Why is this useful? You could for example hedge your exchange rate risk completely by being short a XCP/USD contract. This allows you to hold your wealth in cryptocurrency but have no exchange rate risk. Another use case is sports betting. There was a friendly bet on the Super Bowl, for example.
This basically means that XCP-looking transactions will appear in the blockchain, however, they will be invalid, because by the rules of XCP their outputs would already be spent.
In Bitcoin this is an invalid transaction, and it never enters the public ledger. This important because, it allows you to shortcut the path to figure out if an address has unspent outputs. Figuring out quickly if an address has unspent outputs or not is important for miners (they need to produce valid blocks), and it's important for participants to transactions, because it means the recepient can quickly verify that the sender is intending to make the transaction, and that a transaction, sufficiently confirmed, is not double spent. The recepient relies on the work of everybody who produced a block. And in turn, everybody who produces a block relies on the work of everybody before AND on the work of everybody after (who bases their block on his).
This is what I mean by iron-clad guarantee against a double spend.
But if nobody can reject an invalid TX for XCP, that means verifying that something has unspent outputs is an extremely expensive task. And the longer transactions go on, the more expensive this task becomes. And nobody can put in some kind of "block" that could be rejected by others to "proove" that some balances on addresses are now valid up to that point.
This means that in a short time, XCP will become unusable for everybody as the XCP-TX spam rises and everybody is checking the entire bitcoin blockchain over and over and over for XCP-looking TXes to figure out if the coin he thinks he got, aren't actually double spends.
I think this is a valid concern, even if somewhat mitigated by the 0.0001 BTC transaction fee. I'll post this to the BTCTalk thread and see if someone smarter than me has an idea to defend against it.