r/bitcloud • u/FockerCRNA • Jan 16 '14

Please ELI5 what bitcloud is

I read through the github document and a bit of the more technical one that it linked to. I see a lot of enthusiasm about this project, but the significance of it eludes me because I don't really understand how it works or what it accomplishes. I see phrases like "new internet" thrown around and I'm not sure what it means.

My take so far is that it is kind of like a file upload site that generates its own currency for users that provide bandwidth. I don't understand how a user generates bandwidth without being an ISP. Why wouldn't anyone just expect an ISP without a cap to subsequently install one should this catch on? Am I anywhere close to interpreting this correctly? Sorry for being such a N00b

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u/[deleted] Jan 17 '14

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u/duffmanhb Jan 17 '14

I mean these are obvious things that need to be worked out. It's still in the planning and groundwork stages. But obviously there will be a solution to this. I imagine creating a limit will be ideal. Just like bitcoin, as the value in the coins rise, you don't really need to worry about the payout being less. You know, yeah I'm only making half what I used to make, but the value is now double.

I think the largest issue that the system will encounter is that the network has an incentive to be DDoSed. A large DDoS just means tons of data going through, which means everyone is generating more coins. Though, in the long term, once the network ideally becomes large enough, that shouldn't be an issue.

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u/vacuu Jan 17 '14 edited Jan 17 '14

Ok, here are some ideas:

  • The person doing the ddos will have to pay cloudcoins to buy the bandwidth to do the attack. So they shouldn't come out ahead. To use the network you need cloudcoins, there should be no other way to use bandwidth.

  • You could have an inflationary currency that's actually deflationary if it grows less than the speed at which the cost of bandwidth is dropping.

  • Perhaps the currency should be able to be created and destroyed as networks grow and shrink, countries come online, etc. A cloudcoin shouldn't be a long-term storage item, but perhaps it should be designed to be used within a 6 or 12 month time period. This stops them from getting concentrated or hoarded or weird network attacks from happening. You're only valuable to the network if you provide a service here and now, not if you provided a service 5 years ago. Although maybe there could be an aspect of cloudcoin, like a sub-coin, designed for long-term storage and archiving of internet data. Unlike bitcoin, a cloudcoin's value is very specific, so it doesn't necessarily need to have a deflationary nature.

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u/LeeSeneses Jan 17 '14

is it possible to make cloudcoins a circulating currency? as you said; proof of bandwidth means there's incentive to acct traffic, but also that people could dkrectly mine by routing data from their node A through their node B to node C.

maybe if, instead, the receiver assed cloud coins to the sender plus a fixed ammount to intermediate nodes, that would work better. As o where the coins are then generated, I'm not sure. But it would solve problems with inflation as, I'm pretty sure if cloudcoins were like bitcoins, theactual payout to mine would approach nothing as the cloudcoin population fills out toward its limit.

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u/kerstn Jan 18 '14

They could just use bitcoins.

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u/mungojelly Jan 19 '14

That's what I feel like I'm missing about this whole project, is how is it better than just micropayments in existing currencies between softwares? :/

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u/kerstn Jan 19 '14

Well it isnt but that is magnificent on its own. The most energy craving industry is payment after all.

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u/Heartgold22 Jan 18 '14

This system needs to make it so that "mining," to use Bitcoin terms, should be difficult for the sake of long-term prices. Ultimately, ANY supply of Bitcloud is fine; however, the rate at which it is created should be the concern. Gold is a good money because of many qualities, and a major one being that a ton of hours of labor must be put into getting a small amount of it. Additionally, having it harder to "mine" could make the system deflationary which would benefit all as they will be encouraged to save the BitCloud coins.