February 11, 2013, 08:42:06 AM
#20
Weekly Update #25
Testing of 0.3 release continues on testnet. System has stabilized and no significant issues have been found this week.
Windows Qt build testing is successful this week, and works have been done so it is now confirmed that Qt begins support in 0.3 release.
Current plan is to have a final week of testing. Barring further issues, v0.3 will be released afterwards.
Have fun!
February 18, 2013, 05:19:07 AM
#21
Weekly Update #26
v0.3 release is under final validation and release builds are being prepared.
Qt UI begins support in v0.3.
Release is expected to be published in the next few days. This is a mandatory upgrade release and deadline for upgrade is scheduled for March 20th.
This week the first ppcoin fork known as novacoin has been released. The network hash rate of novacoin rose quickly, it’s difficulty peaked over 10. Despite the controversy surrounding its release and the subsequent DDoS attack on btc-e, market response seems quite enthusiastic. Please note I am not involved in novacoin in any way, but I am happy to see other developers valuing ppcoin design and forking from it.
Recently we have also seen another project known as ripple released, with its own currency called ‘Ripple’ or XRP. The design of XRP also attempts to eliminate energy consumption to secure a cryptocurrency, however the design choices are very different, with different properties regarding the level of decentralization. Even though I am yet to be convinced that the technicals are sound I will keep an eye on this interesting new development.
Have fun!
February 23, 2013, 10:23:41 PM
#22
Weekly Update #27
v0.3.0 has been released. Upgrade should be performed before protocol switch on March 20th. A block chain re-download is necessary for the upgrade. See the 0.3 release thread for detailed instruction: https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=144964.0
v0.3 protocol involves several changes, first the proof-of-stake hash modifier is switched to one computed from roughly 9 days worth of blocks. The blocks are grouped and 64 blocks are selected based on a ‘selection hash’. Then each selected block contributes one bit to the modifier. The purpose of stake modifier is to prevent stake owner from manipulating future stake generation at the time the coin is confirmed into block chain.
Two other protocol changes are made: stake hash weight now starts from 0 at 30-day minimum age requirement; coinstake timestamp now must match block timestamp.
Overall I think the 0.3 protocol should fix the known vulnerability of stake generation and make proof-of-stake protection much stronger.
Qt UI is now available in official build and supported from v0.3.0 on. User who prefers UI would enjoy the release I think, and I did give you a good treat by making the splash artwork myself and hope you all like it
v0.4 designs should start in the next couple weeks, while I continue to monitor the network for the switch in March.
My current 0.4 plan is to begin supporting database usage in limited fashion. 0.4 should allow user to create something known as identity, with names associated with it. An RPC command ‘sendtoidentity’ would allow users to send ppcoins to names instead of addresses. This feature is present in namecoin. But I probably would redesign the database usage for ppcoin and it’s going to be a bit different from how namecoin does things.
A good couple months for me I am relieved that 0.3 is finally done. And I also enjoy watching all the new projects going on like ripple and novacoin.
Have fun!
March 03, 2013, 10:53:23 PM
#23
Weekly Update #28
After I motioned for a market cap ranking list dust did an excellent job of including this information into his mining profitability comparison portal: http://dustcoin.com/
So far ppcoin has been in a close match with devcoin, in terms of market cap. I observe that people have put a lot of faith into scrypt mining, which I believe to be the main reason of high valuation of litecoin and novacoin. Of course all the altcoins are now dwarfed by ripple, which made a splash debut with an initial giveaway on bitcointalk altcoin subforum. Ripple team has done a lot of work on real features, while taking on a lot of risks. I will continue to closely watch the market development of all the competitions.
Network has been running smoothly so far during the transition period to 0.3 protocol. Please remember to upgrade your client to v0.3.0 before the protocol switch scheduled for March 20th.
Official faucet is now under development. Stay tuned on its progress.
Have fun!
Weekly Update #29
Faucet is now operational on ppcoin.org
I have also created a bitaddress page compatible with ppcoin 0.3.0 address/private key format. It is currently open for public testing at http://ppcoin.org/bitaddress
Please remember to upgrade to v0.3.0 before protocol switch on March 20th.
Have fun!
March 18, 2013, 05:48:02 AM
#25
Weekly Update #30
The week saw significant market activity in altcoins. Investors should use caution in a volatile market.
I am happy that more users are gaining interest in ppcoin and other altcoins, although this is presumably due to bitcoin’s recent issues. I will continue to watch bitcoin’s v0.8.1 release and follow up on the large block fork issue. To be fair, I think Bitcoin developers once again handled the situation reasonably well.
I have received invitation from Bitcoin Foundation to join a panel on altcoin during the California Conference in May. If anyone is going to the conference and interested in presenting ppcoin please let me know.
Another reminder that v0.3 protocol switch is scheduled for March 20th and please upgrade your client if you haven’t yet done so. I will be watching the switch on Wednesday closely.
Have fun!
March 25, 2013, 03:21:46 AM
Weekly Update #31
ppcoin network has successfully switched to v0.3 protocol on March 20th.
After another thrust of the values of bitcoin following the resolution of the large block fork incident, the altcoin market cooled down somewhat vs bitcoin. The week saw ppcoin market cap pulling ahead of several competing altcoins and consistently ranking behind namecoin.
The next release 0.4.0 will be a refresh to bitcoin’s latest 0.8.1 release. Due to the mandatory nature of bitcoin’s 0.8.1 release, ppcoin 0.4.0 is likely a mandatory upgrade as well. This release is tentatively scheduled for late April/early May timeframe.
Have fun!
April 01, 2013, 05:39:34 AM
Weekly Update #32
Network has been running smoothly for the week, proof-of-work difficulty stabilized at over 40000.
I am happy that new users are showing interests in ppcoin project. The main design goal of ppcoin is to achieve energy efficient operation in the long term. I have taken some time to update the wiki instructions a bit to help out new users. I have also written a page called ‘history of cryptocurrency’ in ppcoin wiki, which I think is a useful summary of the main events and players in the field.
The javascript wallet generator tool (bitaddress) is now linked from home page. Please fully test it before use, and let me know if there is any issue or non-functioning feature.
A new mining pool vpool.us has opened with ppc support.
Biticker now supports ppcoin.
This week novacoin hit a protocol issue which required update. I have helped Balthazar to switch the protocol related to entropy bit generation, in order to keep the p2pool support for novacoin. ppcoin currently does not support p2pool and is not affected by the issue.
I have been trying to help other altcoins to fix their problems too. A couple months back I offered to help freicoin to fix their difficulty adjustment when they first hit the problem (although they declined). Recently I have communicated with terracoin developer about a major vulnerability and now it is fixed via a protocol update in terracoin. Why am I doing this? I believe as a community we are all part of a big team that we really should help each other and work toward a common goal, while competing fairly with each other. It’s sad to see malicious attitudes among different altcoin fans who attack each other viciously. I hope my action would bring more positive vibes to the community.
Have fun!
April 08, 2013, 05:25:35 AM
Weekly Update #33
What a week! PPCoin has achieved multiple milestones in the cryptocurrency market this week.
Market cap surpassed namecoin and now ranked behind litecoin at 50,000 BTC or over $8M as of today, or about 0.5% of bitcoin and over 10% of litecoin.
Proof-of-work difficulty continued to break all time high throughout the week and is now at 280,000 as of today.
Many new users are showing interest in ppcoin. There are close to 5000 downloads at sourceforge for the week, more than all the previous downloads combined.
Due to steep rise of the market Chris has now closed his bitparking exchange and pool. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Chris for all his hard work and professionalism since ppcoin’s release. Bitparking was the first active exchange market for ppcoin which played a major role in jump-starting ppcoin market. Chris said it was more like a hobby level project, but actually he was being very modest. My experience is that bitparking exchanges were managed with high degree of professionalism and integrity. I am looking forward to Chris’s next projects.
Btc-e opened business to ppcoin on Friday evening and the first 48 hours total trading volume is over 10,000 BTC, another all time high.
As ppcoin starts to gain foothold in the competitive cryptocurrency market, I recognize that my responsibility has also multiplied. I wish to thank all our supporters and investors, I will try to hold myself to the highest professional standard in the industry.
I have updated our wiki FAQ to better explain the inflation model of ppcoin for new users. Even though ppcoin is designed without a fixed money supply cap, the design is not a pro-inflation one. The design attempts to simulate gold in a more natural fashion, with the help from Moore’s Law. I do not subscribe to Keynesian economics. In terms of importance of scarcity of free-market money I share the views of classical and Austrian School thinkers, nowaday referred to as ‘gold bugs.’
Meanwhile, I would like to remind investors that there are high risk involved in cryptocurrency market. Even bitcoin once dropped from $30 in summer 2011 to $2 in winter 2011. So one should always seriously evaluate one’s risk tolerance. Furthermore, there are additional risks involved in investing in a cryptocurrency with high degree of innovations like ppcoin, despite of our best efforts to contain those risks. So be careful out there and do research (e.g. know the previous close price at vircurex before entering trade at btc-e open).
Have fun!
April 15, 2013, 06:22:12 AM
Weekly Update #34
PPCoin successfully held #3 ranking of market capitalization this week on dustcoin, after taking over namecoin the previous week.
xorxor has upgraded ppcoin to major cryptocurrency category in his altcoin list, thanks for the honor!
D7 pool is operational, supporting stratum
We were just reported by MIT Technology Review - http://www.technologyreview.com/news/513661/bitcoin-isnt-the-only-cryptocurrency-in-town/
Have fun
April 22, 2013, 05:24:25 AM
Weekly Update #35
Several new pools projects are under development, supporting stratum, including TheSeven’s and Vuxil’s. TheSeven has implemented a ppcoin patch earlier, also used by the D7 pool, which saw several hundred Gh/s on its second week. Good job TheSeven!
Cetoc made an very interesting tool to help users find the best exchange path between two currencies (http://ctpathfinder.com).
Work should begin shortly on v0.4. There will be a delay from my previous estimate, as we now have a significant market cap any new release needs to go through more stringent review and testing methodology. v0.4 will include a refresh to bitcoin’s v0.8.1 and other various improvements.
Have fun!
April 29, 2013, 06:20:12 AM
Weekly Update #36
Bter (bter.com), a new exchange in China has started support of PPC/BTC trading.
Direct Voltage (directvoltage.com) becomes the first retailer to accept PPC payment.
Holy Angels Church in Chicago USA (holyangels.com) becomes the first charitable organization to accept PPC donations.
AnonPaste (anonpaste.me) started accepting PPC donations as well this week.
Jeff (jefflarkin) is currently working on mac osx build support.
To encourage more retail acceptance of ppcoin, a bounty project is opened to promote ppcoin to online retailers.
Have fun!
May 06, 2013, 03:14:33 AM
Weekly Update #37
namecoin managed to wrestle back #3 from us this week, although we are still in a close match.
Another ppcoin fork called bitbar was released this week. One more fork is in the works by yet another team (due to release tomorrow). Although litecoin still has more forks than us, looks like we are closing in on it. Some people mistakenly credit scrypt proof-of-work to litecoin, in fact the scrypt implementation was done by ArtForz for Tenebrix, an altcoin long went out of fashion.
A new Tor trading portal called ‘The FreeMarket’ has announced ppcoin support and is aiming for June release.
I have published a new simpler proposal to eliminate the risk of stake minting associated with running hot wallet. (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=194054.0)
Jeff Larkin has volunteered to be the maintainer for ppcoin mac osx builds. The first build is ready for testing. (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=194692.0)
Mjbmonetarymetals, detail3, robotrebellion have been busy working on different graphics design on logos and banners.
Thanks to all the contributing members and let’s keep up the good work!
Have fun!
May 13, 2013, 04:25:14 AM
Weekly Update #38
A new exchange ‘Crypto Street’ is in the works and is planning to support ppcoin. Crypto Street will support 5 national currencies at its release. Counting RUR from btc-e and CNY from bter, there would be 7 currencies convertible with PPC on exchanges.
dreamwatcher (Robert) contributed seednodes and dns for our seednode infrastructure.
Another PPC fork called Yacoin (YAC) has launched this week. PPC now has 3 forks NVC, BTB and YAC.
Bitcoin has introduced a default minimum output value, although it does not enforce it in protocol. This action confirms our opinion that block chain is not suitable for micropayments (ppcoin output value must meet 0.01PPC minimum).
The graphics team continues to put out great designs! I noticed that Arstechnica even included Mjbmonetarymetals’s earlier designs for a redub of Wired UK article on altcoins.
TheSeven did great work for PPC pools, but his own pool is underutilized right now. It has great features with support of 5 different types of payout systems. I hope more of our miners give his pool some help to get it into reasonable hash rate (http://theseven.bounceme.net/~theseven/pool/).
Have fun!
May 20, 2013, 02:59:00 AM
Weekly Update #39
A new exchange ‘Coin Market’ is in the works that supports PPC.
Another ppc fork called ‘bitgem’ launched this week.
I will introduce a trading section on ppcoin.org to help seed the market in using ppcoin as currency. The scope of the work is limited but it will have some advanced features. It’s important work for the longer term in my opinion and it is currently taking higher priority than the next client release.
Have fun!
May 27, 2013, 03:02:43 PM
Weekly Update #40
A new exchange ‘cryptsy’ has started ppcoin support.
Two tip bots currently support ppcoin, first being cointip which can be used on bitcointalk, the other ALTcointip can be used on reddit.
A market feature will begin trial on ppcoin.org later this week. The client refresh to bitcoin 0.8 is scheduled afterwards for later in June.
Have fun!
June 03, 2013, 03:09:22 AM
Weekly Update #41
ppcoin.org marketplace is now live (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=224012.0) with minimum features. This marketplace helps facilitate trading between forum users. It is intended to encourage trading with PPC as currency. We do not intend to run commercial marketplace websites as it’s not our area of expertise. In my opinion our development resource is better spent elsewhere. So we look forward to community created auction/retail market websites. This marketplace will serve as a good exercise for us to web-of-trust rating system.
Not much else to report on this week. So have a fun week!
June 10, 2013, 06:55:11 PM
Weekly Update #42
A new exchange Crypto Trade (https://www.crypto-trade.com/) now supports PPC trading.
Please vote for PPC support on mtgox feature request: https://support.mtgox.com/entries/21676064-Please-Add-Peer-2-Peer-Coin-PPC-
We were mentioned in a Tom’s Hardware article (http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/bitcoin-mining-make-money,3514-9.html). As to the mining market of PPC, D7 now controls the majority of the network hash rate. However unlike pure proof-of-work cryptocurrencies, security is not threatened with 51% attack when a single pool controls a majority of mining power in the PPC network. Also, when the pool runs into technical issues, the network still mainly relies on proof-of-stake blocks so the impact to transaction processing is minimized.
Have fun!
June 17, 2013, 05:20:51 PM
Weekly Update #43
Recently a few product/service websites start taking PPC as payment, including fendlestick’s coingas, and Petr1fied’s cryptoblackjack. Most of these new websites accept multiple cryptocurrencies. I expect this trend to continue as the market starts recognizing the benefit of competition in cryptocurrency.
New Mercator Advisory Group published an analyst report on alternative currencies which mentioned ppc. http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/s5f5c3/alternative
Recently we have seen intermittent 51% attack on feathercoin network and other new cryptocurrency networks. This was one of the top reasons that ppcoin’s checkpoint system was originally designed. The recent attack on feathercoin network indicates that the attacker is quite resourceful, controlling maybe upward of 2gh/s scrypt mining (meaning thousands of highend GPUs). The phaseout of ppc’s checkpoint is planned for later this year but will be gradual. Eventually the checkpoint would become user enabled and by default not enforced. In this running mode, the checkpoint system still acts as a safety mechanism that can be utilized via community consensus in the event of persistent 51% attack on proof-of-stake or other emergencies.
Have fun!
June 24, 2013, 04:40:56 PM
Weekly Update #44
A new exchange coins-e.com now supports PPC trading.
Captcha requirement is reduced on the ppcoin.org marketplace (http://ppcoin.org/market) to help users trade, also the rating thread and rating format is now up.
Several new coins have been added to the marketplace for trading including onecoin and sifcoin, two latest cpu altcoins.
I see peer-to-peer trading as an important part of cryptocurrency community in the future. As we can see recently, the political environment for the exchange operators are not very amenable. The goal of PPC Marketplace is to experiment in this area and gain some experience for me, while keeping its scope limited so that I can still focus on development and operations.
Have fun!