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So another random coin that isn't actually going to solve anything because it's just being thrown at a problem randomly like blockchain always is. Nice.

by mdszy 7y ago

RL_Quine 7y ago
No no, this one is not an ICO, it's a privately funded currency that was given away for free to anyone who had a popular account on Github!
- troquerre 7y ago
  In addition, the $10.2mm that was raised was all donated to non-profits and open-source projects. I.e. fsf https://www.fsf.org/news/free-software-foundation-receives-1-million-from-handshake https://www.fsf.org/news/free-software-foundation-receives-1...
  - RL_Quine 7y ago
    Why?
    - SkyMarshal 7y ago
      Handshake didn’t need the VCs’ money, only their credible early stage project valuation. But Handshake had to accept the investment in order to make the valuation real, but then gave away all the money b/c they didn’t need it. They hope it can serve as a better model for future ICOs, where a big chunk of the money goes to FOSS groups.
dboreham 7y ago
Not really. Compared to the average blockchain project handshake.org has some thinking behind it and is attempting to solve a real problem (e.g. recent capitalist take over of .org tld)
- mdszy 7y ago
  Thinking about something and attempting to solve a real problem doesn't mean a solution has any inherent merit. brb thinking about how to solve climate change and attempting to solve a problem by turning off my AC give me millions of dollars thanks.
  - SkyMarshal 7y ago
    Check the names on the Handshake Whitepaper. One is the co-inventor of Lightning Network and the other is the lead maintainer of bcoin, one of the few credible Bitcoin implementations. They spent over 2yrs working on Handshake. It’s not a bunch of lightweights or scammers.
rasengan 7y ago
DNS tlds as they exist today are in centralized control by ICANN, a California public benefit corporation. Recently, activity originating from ICANN including removing price caps on .org [1] and the .org billion dollar sale [2] have brought the community to alarm [3]. SSL certificates can be issued by any of the CAs. Multiple CAs can issue SSL certificates for the same namespace. This has led to some activity that has weakened internet security [4]. Handshake gives control of the root zone away from ICANN, a California corporation, to the blockchain and community consensus and strengthens internet security, removing trust from the equation as everything is verifiable on chain. Applying blockchain in this way uniquely solves these problems and gives control over the internet that we all love, back to the people. [1] https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/07/icann-eliminates-org-domain-price-caps-despite-lopsided-opposition/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/07/icann-eliminates... [2] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-internet-domain-sale/internet-nonprofit-leaders-fight-deal-to-sell-control-of-org-domain-idUSKBN1Z62MW https://www.reuters.com/article/us-internet-domain-sale/inte... [3] https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/12/global-ngo-community-demands-stop-sale-org https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/12/global-ngo-community-d... [4] https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/01/already-on-probation-symantec-issues-more-illegit-https-certificates/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/01/alrea...
- tptacek 7y ago
  Even if we stipulate to all of these points, why would anyone believe that the sponsors of this protocol are entitled to profit from it? See, for instance, Handshake.org's discussion of the "10 million dollar grant" it offers to FOSS developers.
  - rasengan 7y ago
    Great question. The design notes paper [1] does an excellent job explaining this: ## Financial Contributors and Pricing - 7.5% A total of $10,200,00 USD have been allocated to purchasers to price the initial value of the coins for 7.5% of the total supply, with a total valuation of the initial coin supply at $136,000,000. 100% of the dollars raised are being given to non-profits and FOSS projects, and FOSS communities such as hackerspaces. This is effectively a one-way non-destructive "proof-of-burn" on the dollar side to price the coins. The role of coin purchasers is critical as an initial stakeholder in the growth of the project. The purchasers have been curated to maximize effective change by primarily allocating funds to Venture Capitalists and Token Funds with specialty in the cryptocurrency and decentralized internet ecosystem. Many of these purchasers have been effective in disrupting entire industries and have been involved in large-scale growth of internet services (some even across generations). The existence of these participants are necessary and fundamental in pricing the tokens, as the distribution event requires real value to be established (a sale of 1% of total initial supply is not credible in pricing the tokens). Additionally, the sale has occurred as close to launch/announcement as possible. Other projects replicating this mechanism may require greater capital to fund development and/or greater claim to the Pre-Launch Development allocation. This may result in not having a one-way "proof-of-burn", and instead use the capital to fund development of the project. The role of pricing the coins for distribution is necessary as the coins need to have understood value during the distribution process. While it would ostensibly be ideal to spin-up projects and deploy blockchains without this mechanism, there may be insufficient coordination and ex-ante expectations of value. The role of the high-reputation Venture Capital provides a tastemaker function which provides a signal and Schelling Point for potentially economically and socially valuable projects. These entities are a significant stakeholder in the current ecosystem and a continuing game for project selection and curation may persist as a result ("putting your money where your mouth is"). [1] [1] https://handshake.org/files/handshake.txt https://handshake.org/files/handshake.txt

So another random coin that isn't actually going to solve anything because it's just being thrown at a problem randomly like blockchain always is. Nice.

by mdszy 7y ago

So another random coin that isn't actually going to solve anything because it's just being thrown at a problem randomly like blockchain always is. Nice.

RL_Quine 7y ago

No no, this one is not an ICO, it's a privately funded currency that was given away for free to anyone who had a popular account on Github!

troquerre 7y ago
In addition, the $10.2mm that was raised was all donated to non-profits and open-source projects. I.e. fsf https://www.fsf.org/news/free-software-foundation-receives-1-million-from-handshake https://www.fsf.org/news/free-software-foundation-receives-1...
- RL_Quine 7y ago
  Why?
  - SkyMarshal 7y ago
    Handshake didn’t need the VCs’ money, only their credible early stage project valuation. But Handshake had to accept the investment in order to make the valuation real, but then gave away all the money b/c they didn’t need it. They hope it can serve as a better model for future ICOs, where a big chunk of the money goes to FOSS groups.

dboreham 7y ago

Not really. Compared to the average blockchain project handshake.org has some thinking behind it and is attempting to solve a real problem (e.g. recent capitalist take over of .org tld)

mdszy 7y ago
Thinking about something and attempting to solve a real problem doesn't mean a solution has any inherent merit. brb thinking about how to solve climate change and attempting to solve a problem by turning off my AC give me millions of dollars thanks.
- SkyMarshal 7y ago
  Check the names on the Handshake Whitepaper. One is the co-inventor of Lightning Network and the other is the lead maintainer of bcoin, one of the few credible Bitcoin implementations. They spent over 2yrs working on Handshake. It’s not a bunch of lightweights or scammers.

rasengan 7y ago

DNS tlds as they exist today are in centralized control by ICANN, a California public benefit corporation. Recently, activity originating from ICANN including removing price caps on .org [1] and the .org billion dollar sale [2] have brought the community to alarm [3]. SSL certificates can be issued by any of the CAs. Multiple CAs can issue SSL certificates for the same namespace. This has led to some activity that has weakened internet security [4]. Handshake gives control of the root zone away from ICANN, a California corporation, to the blockchain and community consensus and strengthens internet security, removing trust from the equation as everything is verifiable on chain. Applying blockchain in this way uniquely solves these problems and gives control over the internet that we all love, back to the people. [1] https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/07/icann-eliminates-org-domain-price-caps-despite-lopsided-opposition/ https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2019/07/icann-eliminates... [2] https://www.reuters.com/article/us-internet-domain-sale/internet-nonprofit-leaders-fight-deal-to-sell-control-of-org-domain-idUSKBN1Z62MW https://www.reuters.com/article/us-internet-domain-sale/inte... [3] https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/12/global-ngo-community-demands-stop-sale-org https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2019/12/global-ngo-community-d... [4] https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/01/already-on-probation-symantec-issues-more-illegit-https-certificates/ https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2017/01/alrea...

tptacek 7y ago
Even if we stipulate to all of these points, why would anyone believe that the sponsors of this protocol are entitled to profit from it? See, for instance, Handshake.org's discussion of the "10 million dollar grant" it offers to FOSS developers.
- rasengan 7y ago
  Great question. The design notes paper [1] does an excellent job explaining this: ## Financial Contributors and Pricing - 7.5% A total of $10,200,00 USD have been allocated to purchasers to price the initial value of the coins for 7.5% of the total supply, with a total valuation of the initial coin supply at $136,000,000. 100% of the dollars raised are being given to non-profits and FOSS projects, and FOSS communities such as hackerspaces. This is effectively a one-way non-destructive "proof-of-burn" on the dollar side to price the coins. The role of coin purchasers is critical as an initial stakeholder in the growth of the project. The purchasers have been curated to maximize effective change by primarily allocating funds to Venture Capitalists and Token Funds with specialty in the cryptocurrency and decentralized internet ecosystem. Many of these purchasers have been effective in disrupting entire industries and have been involved in large-scale growth of internet services (some even across generations). The existence of these participants are necessary and fundamental in pricing the tokens, as the distribution event requires real value to be established (a sale of 1% of total initial supply is not credible in pricing the tokens). Additionally, the sale has occurred as close to launch/announcement as possible. Other projects replicating this mechanism may require greater capital to fund development and/or greater claim to the Pre-Launch Development allocation. This may result in not having a one-way "proof-of-burn", and instead use the capital to fund development of the project. The role of pricing the coins for distribution is necessary as the coins need to have understood value during the distribution process. While it would ostensibly be ideal to spin-up projects and deploy blockchains without this mechanism, there may be insufficient coordination and ex-ante expectations of value. The role of the high-reputation Venture Capital provides a tastemaker function which provides a signal and Schelling Point for potentially economically and socially valuable projects. These entities are a significant stakeholder in the current ecosystem and a continuing game for project selection and curation may persist as a result ("putting your money where your mouth is"). [1] [1] https://handshake.org/files/handshake.txt https://handshake.org/files/handshake.txt