Verbaltech2 - BitShares Witness Report - Monthly Update
On the verge of the Bitcoin hardfork I am out of BTC entirely, waiting to see how things shake out. I have prepaid my server fees to avoid any delays in Bitcoin processing and moved it all into BitUSD. Here is the market summary: (all prices via CMC): BTC=$2916.51, BTS=$0.128, STEEM=$1.24, PPY=$6.73.
This month I shutdown the troublesome dedicated seed node server in Singapore that I reported about last month, replacing it with a 16GB VPS server in Japan. I could not locate a dedicated server in Singapore or Australia with at least 16GB RAM, adequate internet connection that accepts payment in Bitcoin at a reasonable cost so I had to settle for a VPS. I now have two 16GB VPS nodes and two 32GB dedicated server nodes for BitShares.
In addition, I have another 32GB dedicated server for use on both PeerPlays and Bitshares testnets. PeerPlays does not have an operational public testnet at the moment, but I did setup the server so it can be used on both testnets simultaneously. Currently only the BitShares testnet is running. I have it producing blocks and feeding prices there now. I encourage any witness that wants to join the ranks of active BitShares witnesses to first come and join the testnet established by @xeroc. It is an ideal place to perfect your operation and test your scripts so that you'll be ready to go into live production for the actual BitShares ecosystem. Moreover, it can help you bootstrap your reputation and give you something to write about in your witness proposal.
All nodes are running the latest release of bts_tools (version 0.4.14) and the BitShares witness_node and cli_wallet (2.0.170710). The systemd configuration is working well which I described previously. I truly appreciate all who upvoted and commented on that article.
Are these reports useful? Is there anything missing you feel would add value to them? As always your feedback and comments are appreciated very much. Finally, here are the graphs of all the nodes in operation for BitShares:
France
Romania
Germany
Japan
And the testnet server:
Verbaltech2
is greatly appreciated! Thanks for your time and attention
what about your financial stats? income, expense, earnings?
Interesting question. Quite hard to find an answer. Same situation here on Steemit. Should I run a node or not?
It's not hard to find an answer to the question of witness pay at all, if you care to look. Cryptofresh (when it's running) provides all you need to know to calculate it. As for "laying out my books", which is akin to your question, I don't feel that is reasonable to request. I'm paid to do a job, evaluate the results, not the efficiency of how I use my pay.
Thank you for your answer.
Why single my witness out? There are 25 in BitShares and I am one of a very small minority that even provide regular reports. What you're asking for is more personal and IMO not appropriate.
I appreciate your interest, but why do you want that info anyway? It's not up to me what witness pay is. I am providing far more info about my witness operation than most other witnesses. I have operated more seed nodes than any other witness in BitShares. Yet you choose to needle me.
I did ask, so I guess I shouldn't be too down on you for responding. My apologies. Perhaps you should explain why I should provide such info when other witnesses don't. It would give them a competitive advantage over me.
If you're a shareholder of a company, is it reasonable to ask employees of that company what their pay is, or is it more appropriate to ask the company management? In this case the company management is the BitShares committee and shareholders at large, and witnesses are simply employees, so to speak. It's an analogy, not literal. Witnesses don't set policy, they merely "witness" and validate transactions others create.
I like it
I'm not very clear, but basically they are concepts about btc mining true?, In any case you tried to make a good post, congratulations
If I understand your question, yes in DPoS (Delegated Proof of Stake) witnesses validate and sign blocks of transactions to secure the network like miners do in PoW blockchains such as Bitcoin. The advantage is that witnesses don't burn enormous amounts of energy to secure the network.
Many put their trust in PoW b/c it is not directly influenced by human corruption. It is assumed that PoW is immune to that being only a mechanistic algorithm and PoS type systems are vulnerable to collusion and being "bought off" by outside influences.
You must look at the system as a whole to truly understand its vulnerability to outside influence. Decentralization is the key concept you need to understand, and how that is achieved.
Bitcoin was quite decentralized when it was mined by only CPUs and GPUs. Satoshi didn't anticipate the mining hardware "arms race" that has a major centralizing influence on who controls (and thus who could be targeted by "authorities"), making Bitcoin vulnerable once again to outside influence.
In DPoS, there are at least 11 witnesses (it's up to shareholders how many there are; there is no actual upper limit) who would need to be replaced to influence block production, and they are scattered across the globe and can be voted out within 60 minutes and replaced if the shareholders deemed them unfit and irresponsible. DPoS has far more checks and balances in its governance model than Bitcoin has.
DPoS isn't perfect, no system designed with humans anywhere in the loop ever will be. It is better than turning control over to machines that either 1) currently only implement the instructions of humans and thus inherit human flaws and shortcomings, or 2) if one day machines become capable of sufficient capacity to "manage" humans they will do so not to humanity's advantage and well being but rather the advantage of the machines. In so doing we become slaves to the machines. Even under scenario 1, who programs the machines can thus program humanity.
Another point that often goes unexplained, is what is meant by "securing the network". There are 2 aspects, both involve the same cryptography.
Securing the Ledger - this is what the blockchain invention accomplished. It uses cryptography to interlink a chain of transaction blocks such that as each block is verified and added it strengthens the integrity of all previous blocks.
Security of Account Balances - this rests primarily on the strength of cryptography. If this can be "cracked" (for example by quantum computing), EVERYTHING in our modern world would be vulnerable. All it takes is to guess the private key of a wallet address and the balance is opened for the taking. It is very similar to the guessing game the minors of PoW use, but there is no way to know which addresses have balances worth the effort to crack, and there are billions of addresses and billions of possible private key values. Have any idea what a billion times a billion is? It's such a long time it's essentially an impossible task.
Definitely worth an upvote and a resteem :]
In my opinion, its is better letting everyone to mine btc or other crypto using ordinary computer for the wealth to be spread fairly and give chance people to get involve. Let it grow like internet were people are connected.
I don't disagree, and CryptoNote is one approach to doing this. Why hasn't it caught on (gained the elusive "network affect")? BIPcoin is one such project, however it is managed in a rather amateurish fashion and hasn't shown much growth. Other CryptoNote projects are plagued with similar management (or the lack thereof) issues.
gracias por la informacion
Is not easier to buy hash power in one of those mining website?
No such concept as "hashing power" in DPoS, in contrast to Proof of Work systems.
Yes, of course. I always enjoy hearing what witnesses are doing, and how they are making out.
There is nothing worse than voting for a witness and you never hear from them again. :(
Thanks for the updates...
haha
yes it useful even for a novice to catch a glimpse behind the scenes - keep on full steem ahead