Re: Web Credits -- Electronic Cash for the Read Write Web

On 20 June 2014 15:16, Melvin Carvalho <melvincarvalho@gmail.com> wrote:

An update on this work.

Having run a test coin for 9 months with web credits as an overlay, I am
happy to say that this work has joined forces with the free software
project, "Bitmark" [1].

Bitmark is the first crypto currency that I have come across that is 100%
committed to RESTful principles, 5 star linked data and much of the work
that has been evolving in this group over the years.

Bitmark is a two pronged initiative.

Firstly, although only 2 months old, it is a production ready crypto
currency which acts as a glue between federated web platforms.  It has a
P2P wallet, daemon and cli interface [2], a block explorer [3], spec [4]
and is actively traded on exchanges [5].

However, perhaps the more interesting part of the project is a tight
integration with the web, via the viral concept of marking, which acts as a
trust and reputation system, as well as a social currency.  Some text from
the project description:

[[
"'Marking' defines the process of giving reputation, giving someone a mark
for something they have created, offered, or shared.

Marking is simple process which any person can easily do, no harder than
clicking a like button.

Anybody can mark any other person for any purpose, both on the internet and
in everyday life.

Marks are a limited resource, the process of marking transfers ownership of
the marks from one user to another.

Marks are not only reputation but also a measurement of value, they are
earned by every day actions and creations

Reputation systems such as scores, karma, and likes are now common, Marking
is the next evolutionary step of the reputation system."
]]

Marking will be exposed via content negotiation and supporting JSON LD
(with hopefully turtle too).  The idea is that anything that can be named
(ie with an IRI), can be marked.  Authentication modules are written so
that anyone who controls a URI can check their balance, withdraw to wallet,
transfer to another user (IRI) or make a deposit.

Furthermore, patches will be provided to the bitcoin core in a non
disruptive way to make the whole P2P system more aligned with Fielding's
REST and awww.  This essay, "The power of the API", explains more [6]

The project is being actively developed on a number of fronts, it is
completely community funded, and the project area has grown from 10 to 60
people in the last month, with numbers growing all the time.  For more
details, see this interview with the developers [7].  Items actively being
developed include:
[
- fast key-value memory storage
- graph storage, webdav storage flatfile storage
- access controlled storage interfaces,
- anonymous reusable personas
- programmable object oriented api in js/node and php,
- well defined restful content negotiated api over http, streaming update
api over websockets, web hooks,
- parsing of html, data- attributes, opengraph, microdata, schema.org
- authentication adapters for all types of authentication, protocol, and
domain
 well defined and documented re-implementable interfaces
]

I have already started work on a robot that enables marking via the web,
over IRC, allows withdrawls, deposits and can send marks to any URI, with
transaction history and reputation scores [8].  My next steps are
integration with WebID and Cimba, and also marking via twitter.  I am also
working on a concept of marking physical clothing and pay to tshirts [9]

The number of applications for this technology are wide ranging, and the
boostrapping power of the web allows many existing systems to be webized
and experience a new lease of life.  Have a look at these mockups to see
some of the potential use cases [10].  Im hoping to provide lots more
documentation, demos and write ups in the next months, hopefully
emphasising the power of reading and writing (via marking) to the web.

If anyone has further interest in this project, it's free software & open
source, anyone is invited to participate.  Please dont hesitate to contact
myself of Mark (lead developer, cc'd) if you have any questions.

[1] https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=660544.0
[2] https://github.com/project-bitmark/bitmark/releases/tag/v0.9.2.2
[3] http://bitmark.co:3000/
[4] https://github.com/project-bitmark/marking/wiki
[5] https://www.poloniex.com/exchange/btc_btm
[6] http://bitmarknews.com/2014/08/25/bitmarks-future-the-power-of-the-api/
[7] http://bitcoinist.net/interview-with-bitmark-developers/
[8] http://klaranet.com/
[9] https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=660544.msg8912860#msg8912860
[10] https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=660544.msg8662805#msg8662805


>
>
> On 1 November 2013 15:10, Melvin Carvalho <melvincarvalho@gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> I've been working on an electronic cash system that's
>> oriented to the read write web
>>
>> The spec is available at:
>> http://webcredits.org/
>>
>> The main properties:
>>  Using web standards to read to get balances
>>  Creating and sending coins via the HTTP protocol
>>  Varied strategies to prevent race conditions
>>  Potential Trust overlays, starting with zero trust
>>  Participants can be named or anonymous
>>  New credits can be made using the semantic web
>>
>> The project is currently in design phase with the aim to build early
>> prototypes by the new year
>>
>> Please feel free to pop in to #webcredits on freenode if you would like
>> to particpate
>>
>>
>
> Just a quick update on this:
>
> I've created a coin for testing:
>
> http://coin.data.fm/rwwcoin#this
>
> So far the block chain is 5 entries long.
>
> I've also created a Credit system based on this coins using Web Credits,
> with a faucet that issues coins daily.
>
> http://coin.data.fm/rwwcoin_faucet.html
>
> I am at the point now where I am starting to do some testing verification
> and automation.  If you'd like to help out please pop in to #webcredis on
> freenode IRC, and I can help set you up and show you how to receive coins.
> The documentation is still very light, so it's aimed at people that have a
> good understanding of linked data and payments right now, or those willing
> to learn
>
>
>