We are currently sourcing more admins for the main Lightstreams channel. Please be patient. 🙏

We will be posting FAQ here to avoid dups.

All, I'd like to take this opportunity to answer some pressing FAQ's that the community has been enquiring about during the last week. We really appreciate all the questions that have come in and do hope this adds more clarity. 😄

https://medium.com/lightstreams/further-clarity-on-questions-from-the-lightstreams-community-a72b2eda57a5

Future Tech Podcast. Michael Smolenski speacking with Richard Jacobs.

https://twitter.com/lightstreams_io/status/996033928392781824

Please only use our official channels (check the pinned message) and be very careful for scammers. There is NO info about any presale or ICO, it will be announced in official channels only. Please beware of scams! Admins will NEVER PM you first, always check in the pinned message about who are the official Admins of the channel. If you see any strange activity, please report it to any of the Admins. Thank you!

-FAQ-

What is Lightstreams?

In terms of data storage, current blockchain technology is broken. The cost to store any useful amount of data and the management of data privacy are both major barriers to blockchain's adoption. The award-winning technology already developed by Lightstreams addresses these issues by utilizing a permissioned decentralized storage system integrated into a blockchain network.

Lightstreams Network is an Ethereum-based blockchain protocol that allows advanced DApps to be deployed onto the network. We are a new chain. Our token (PHT) is native to our chain (similar to how ETH is native to Ethereum). Other projects can deploy their own tokens (via ERC-20 contracts) on our chain.

*our whitepaper can be found at: https://s3.amazonaws.com/lightstreams/lightstreams_whitepaper.pdf

So, when you say "Ethereum-based", you will be using the current Ethereum code as a basis? Is it a fork?

It is a partial fork. When we say "Ethereum based" we mean we will be using the latest version of Ethereum code with modifications to extend its capabilities, solving many associated problems while maintaining compatibility with its existing dev tools and ecosystem.

What use cases and industrial sectors are you aiming for, for your privacy solutions?

Our use cases cover pretty much every industry, public or private. There are a few use cases outlined in the WP. We are building the foundation with these added capabilities. It will be up to devs to incorporate these features in to their services. This is part of the reason it's so great we are currently using a modified version of Ethereums codebase. The mostly widely used set of dev tools(IMO) can be applied straight to our protocol.

Will Lightstreams support a subnoscription model, like Netflix, Spotify, Tidal, etc.?

Our aim is for Lightstreams to be a peer-to-peer, torrent style protocol that any project (even Spotify, etc) can use to build their own applications on top of. So, to answer the question, the model for purchasing content will be whatever creative way projects decide to sell content to users.

Will there be an issue with GDRP/is the project GDRP compliant?

GDPR threatens the operation of a number of blockchain projects, due to the lack of privacy controls afforded to users. Many blockchain projects, by virtue of their open nature and lack of data access controls, will automatically  be in violations of regulations.

Blockchain projects that choose to build their applications on the Lightstreams network will not only have the advantage of giving the best user experience for their end users but they also can be assured that they have the tools available to be fully compliant in various data privacy regulations.

With whom do you you have partnerships? What DApps do you already have ready to be launched on your network?

We currently have a strategic partnership with TheCoinLab. We will be making some more major announcements about partnerships soon. Please stay tuned.

What is the nature of your partnership with Coinlab, are they advising Lighstreams as a client?

We can't go into that at this time. But we're not a client.

Who can I reach out to regarding project reviews, and other marketing offers?

You can reach out to Marketing@lightstreams.io with any offers.

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How much did you raise in the seed round?

In our seed round we raised $300k! You can check out this article for more information about that: https://medium.com/lightstreams/lightstreams-300k-seed-round-closed-35f4cc554bf0

Has the Token Sale begun?

A small private round is starting now that is available to institutional funds and strategic partnerships. We will be announcing the opening a pre-sale round shortly.

What are the token metrics?

TICKER: PHT (Photon)

Maximum Cap: $20 million

Total Supply: 300 million PHT

Tokens to be sold: 165 million PHT (55%)

Token price: 0.15$

Blockchain: our own blockchain based on Ethereum

What is the vesting period for the team members of the project that will hold tokens?

Vesting periods for team members will be 2 years. Investor’s bonus terms haven’t been publicly announced.

When will tokens be distributed?

When we announce a specific distribution date it will be posted here in the announcements channel, and sent out via our newsletter.

Will there be KYC?

we have had lots of interest by people wanting to participate in a pre-sale. Right now, we are putting the right processes in place to ensure we comply with global KYC / AML requirements. We will most likely be offering the pre-sale to accredited funds and investors.

What are the KYC terms?

Unfortunately, we cannot accept funds from restricted countries.

"Participation and in the Token Sale and holding of tokens during the distribution period will not be permitted by Restricted Territories Users. ‘Restricted Territories User’ means, citizen, resident of, a person located or domiciled in, or any corporation or partnership created or organized in or under the laws of: the United States of America including its states, territories or the District of Columbia; Israel; Bosnia Herzegovina; Syria; Iran;  Ethiopia; Uganda; North Korea; the People’s Republic of China; or any other jurisdiction Lightstreams may add or delete from time to time in the light of the relevant watch lists and as per Lightstreams’ sole discretion."

Is there a newsletter or mailing list?

Yes, you can sign up for it here: https://lightstreams.network/#contact

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Will there be an ERC-20 placeholder token issued before mainnet launch?

Lightstreams will be an independent blockchain with a native Photon (PHT) token. What we are considering is issuing an ERC20 style contract as a placeholder for recording orders for PHT tokens. This contract will lock funds until a deadline date. If we fail to launch the network before this deadline then contributor’s funds will be returned to their sending address. More details of the mechanics of the contract and the specific deadline date will be given soon.

If the Photon (PHT) token is native to an independent blockchain, will this mean that it will be difficult for existing wallets and exchanges to accommodate such a token?

No, since Lightstreams uses the same API (web3) as Ethereum, configuring a wallet to hold PHT tokens would be effectively the same procedure as configuring a wallet to hold Ethereum tokens from one of its testnets.

A prototype was presented at Hackathon in May 2017, why so long between now and the Token Sale?

Lightstreams had yet to raise seed funding in May 2017. Between June 2017 — October 2017, Our CEO Michael Smolenski, worked as a part-time consultant on the blockchain project called MotionWerk. During this time Michael co-authored the Open Mobility System white paper for MotionWerk and also continued development of the prototype. Full time work on the project began in November 2017 and our first seed funding round occurred in January 2018. Please appreciate that running a project such as Lightstreams requires significant funding, planning and the right team members so these things do not happen overnight.

Do you have a MVP/testnet right now?

We have a testnet and prototype that demonstrates the capabilities of the protocol. We will be releasing a more user-friendly version soon. Please note that a Hackathon prototype doesn’t equal a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

Can I see the Demo?

Yes -

Publishing Content: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d4MTxEp7ESQ&feature=youtu.be

Purchasing Video Content: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3F38hv1F59Y&feature=youtu.be

You may try our prototype yourself by going to https://github.com/lightstreams/lightstreams and following the posted instructions to install the latest image available via DockerHub

Why is there limited activity on Lightstreams’ Github repository?

A: The project source code is currently not Open Source. We plan to open the protocol code base up when full decentralised governance occurs so that parties can verify that the protocol behaviour matches the constitution. Currently, a compiled version of a Lightstreams Node is available for download on DockerHub. Our GitHub repo contains the instructions for developers to download the latest version. These instructions are updated when major releases are published to DockerHub. Our GitHub repo also contains one of the smart contracts that is deployed during the demo for reference.

When mainnet?

We plan to launch mainnet in Q3 this year.

How many transactions per second (TPS) is Lightstreams going to achieve?

Tx/sec depends on the block size. We will be publishing that information at a later date. We can say for certain that we are an order of magnitude faster than the current Ethereum mainnet. We have also have instant settlement which is important.

Is Lightstreams able to do cross-chain transactions with Ethereum? Considering the majority of Dapps are built based on Ethereum?

We have considered building a bridge to other chains including Ethereum. That is a possibility. The challenge with Ethereum right now is the probabilistic settlement time. It's not very responsive for a good user experience.

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How many software engineers you have working on your product right now. I can only see two blockchain engineers and one frontend dev on your homepage?

Thanks for your interest in the makeup of our team. It is still early days and dev's make up most our team. There are 4 engineers including Michael and Nick! We are currently scaling out for administration / marketing because short in that area 😅 We have a number of dev's in our professional network that have put their hands up to join the project. First, we need to get through this fundraising round and then bring in more full time dev's and start ramping up development.

Lightstreams looks like a promising project to me, however as an investor I would like to find more information on your team members. It looks like that all programmers work at other companies at the moment. Is that correct?

This is pretty standard for most startups. Actually, there are a number working behind the scenes that have not wished not to be publicly announced at this stage. I think what is really strong about our project is that we actually have very experienced engineers that are enthusiastic to help out at this early stage. Something that many projects lack. I also don't believe in advertising a team list with a bunch of people that are not really committed to the project just to give the appearance of numbers.

Is there a bounty program yet?

Bounty programs have not been initiated. We are focused on organic growth first. That’s why in this group, it's only people interested in the technology, and not just free tokens.

What does your roadmap look like?

May 2017: Prototype

Q2 2018: Token Sale

Q3 2018: Main net & Authority Nodes

Q4 2018: Decentralised Self-Governance

Can we please have more details on your future roadmap post 2018?

Yes, the roadmap is fairly vague. We have heard the request from the community and we will be publishing a more detailed roadmap shortly. We have a list of features we would like to develop to support DApps that we have in mind. We envision that the priority of these features and any additional will most likely be influenced by early DApp developers and strategic partners.

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Any reason you don't go with EOS instead of a version of the Ethereum blockchain?

Good question. We have not closed our options on any technology yet. Lightstreams is in prototype mode and is built in modules. So for sure we are still considering swapping out some parts of our stack.

Why PoA (Tendermint) as a consensus algorithm? Are you not just simply centralising nodes to improve scalability?

Yes and no. The reality is that currently, most blockchain networks are centralised to some degree, even Ethereum is unfortunately if you consider mining pools. We are choosing technology that currently scales AND has settlement finality. The latter is a very important feature for authorising access to permissioned content. Ethereum currently does not have settlement finality. 6–15 blocks are required for some level of certainty. We are open to incorporating other consensus algorithms when they become available. In conjunction with the Lightstreams’ community and through the governance process, an assessment of the capabilities and limitations of such an upgrade will be made and then actioned accordingly.

Do you know of many examples of projects using PoA algo on public chains?

Ethereum has 2 testnets, Kovan using Parity PoA and Rinkeby using clique (their PoA algo). Also, COSMOS is using Tendermint as well.

So, it's like IPFS?

The part related with sharing is based in IPFS but with a layer of security/privacy. All the components are built in a modular way that we could move to a different technology like swarm in the future.

What happens when the file being shared is very large, for example a 4k video? Wouldn't that require a very large network to ensure streaming has enough speed?

Streaming speed would be entirely dependent on the usual factors (bandwidth etc) - there is no bottleneck with LS. We are currently investigating/building for use-cases where the file size is in the hundreds of GBs.

So the larger we grow the more bandwidth power we'll have?

We don't host the files, they are seeded by whoever is distributing the file. We believe only permissioned users should ever hold any of a files data. We could somehow offer that bandwidth as a service.

Does that mean that if I want to share a file I will have to run an IPFS node?

If you run our prototype client, you will see that the one client connects to both the IPFS and our Tendermint consensus network. IPFS is a protocol later just in the same way TCP/IP is a protocol layer that we also use.

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Will there be a masternode?

There will be Authority Nodes. Check out the WP.

Could you please clarify, what kind of accredited license have I to obtain to start an Authority node?

It is planned that we will issue details of how the licensing program will work. This could potentially be outsourced. We have yet to decide. We will be publishing those details post launch of the network.

How many tokens should I keep in order to run an Authority node?

Authority nodes are key components in the blockchain infrastructure and it is essential that they are secure. Therefore, a minimum standard of security is needed. There will be an amount, but it has not been decided yet. The exact details and process on launching a node is yet to be published.

In terms to governance, how many validators will exist?

In phase one of the launch we will tightly control the validator set to ensure the security of the network. An idea we are considering is to onboard validators through a KYC process and traditional legal contracts. If they invalidate the terms of their service, then they will be removed from the validator set.

What is the incentive to operating Authority/Validator nodes?

In terms of incentivizing validator nodes, we want validators to have a stake in a well running network. If they are already finding value in the network, then is not in their interest to manipulate it. That being said, we are still refining our ideas (the white paper is a draft). Another suggestion we have had, is that there could also be another role for a validator to cache content temporarily for certain users, they would collect a service fee for this and would also be required to validate transactions as the terms of this service.

How do you manage volatility for pricing the content?

Section 11.1 in the whitepaper. Monetary Policy.

This should mean that once the project has grown sufficiently and the market has priced in the tech (aka "reaches a level of maturity") that monetary policy will kick in and mint new coins at predetermined rates to create low fees and price stability. IMO it could be weeks, months or even years for the tech to be fully priced in, but we already see ETH as an example of potential. All of these bylaws will be voted on periodically by stakeholders for self-governance of the Lightstreams platform.

Isn't the price of a content fixed once the contract has been created?

No, the owner of the smart contract can adjust the price of the content for sale at any time. If the price of the underlying currency changed dramatically they would just adjust their prices accordingly

What happens if Alice is offline? Did Alice need to be online 24/7 to provide her content?

Fantastic question! For artists the client will be an installable application on their desktop computer. They will have two options:

1) Keep their client connected until other users purchase (much like p2p services today)

2) Other users on the network are incentivized to be 'host' nodes. The artist can pay a small fee to them to host the file for a short time until they get traction.

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How is Lightstreams going to deal with Piracy? What stops someone from sending the PDF, not the link, but the PDF somewhere else? What stops someone from re-hosting the file and then get people to purchase it from them?

That is a good question! The demo is just a basic example of the concept. Piracy is always going to be a problem.  This unfortunately is the case with all existing platforms today, like Spotify, Netflix, Amazon. Lightstreams gives the ability for DApps to control access to any application data in a decentralized manner. At the moment with blockchain tech, everything is public, this is a big problem for the advancement of DApp adoption.

Of course, there will always be ripping of data or screenshots, etc. No system can prevent this. Currently, the best way to prevent piracy is to make the user experience seamless and the cost of purchasing content at a price point that the majority of user's cannot be bothered to pirate.

It is up to DApp developers to decide how to use this technology to fit their use cases best. You could imagine a scenario where an owner gives consent to only a small set of users to access data. The smart contract records and traces these actions. This is similar to using Google Drive where you give permission to access data to a small set of users. When you use Google Drive in this manner these users also have the ability to share the files with others. However, putting a level of access control is better than posting something publicly.

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Comparisons?

Are you another Ethereum fork running on PoA? There is a long list of such projects nowadays: Oracles, GoChain, Tomochain, Wanchain (with privacy layer)

We are using Tendermint consensus as PoA. All the projects that you mentioned lack privacy in shared content between users. That is, the ability to give "consent" to one or more parties to access protected data. For example, a patient giving consent to a physician to access their medical record. There are many aspects to privacy. Our experience working on blockchain projects tells us that this critical capability is not yet available for distributed applications.

How are we implementing privacy? with Zksnarks or ring signatures like Monero?

Lightstreams authorization protocol gives both privacy and confidentiality. Anonymity can be achieved using Ring Signatures. Plans to develop a custom Ring Signature for Lightstreams or integration to an existing system is yet to be decided.

ZK-Snarks also hold much promise and can be used as a method to hide the smart contract functions. Lightstreams plans to add this feature, however the current challenge with this technology is that they do not scale well for complex functions.

Is Lightstreams = Monero + Ethereum?

Not exactly. Check our WP, it compares Lightstreams to many other projects. long story short, Monero is about anonymity, Lightstreams about privacy + confidentiality. The WP and our medium blog has a nice explanation on the difference. Lightstreams May integrate ring signatures at a later date, this hasn’t been announced. Also, with our modified IPFS, files will be able to be attached to smart contracts at no cost.

Lightstreams Vs. POA

Consensus model uses a PoA algorithm, however it is significantly different from "POA Network". POA Network uses the consensus algorithm developed by Parity called Aura. This is also used for one of the Ethereum Test Networks called Kovan. Lightstreams uses the consensus algorithm called Tendermint. The main advantages of Tendermint is: It is faster, Has instantaneous settlement times, and Is Byzantine Fault Tolerant.

How is lightstreams different and better from other ethereum scaling solutions like raiden plasma etc?

Raiden - is not a blockchain protocol. Instead, it is a compromise to execute transactions off-chain in order to increase speed.

Some call it Ethereum + Filecoin, then shouldn't the project be compared to Bluzelle and Genaro Network?

The WP sets out our positioning quite clearly. We are a mix of Ethereum plus a permissioned version of IPFS for decentralized storage of protected content. Anonymity features of ring signatures (Monero) is on our backlog of features.

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What made you choose Estonia to locate your head office?

Similar reasons to CoinBase and others; Proactive government towards cryptocurrency policies and guidelines. - Part of the EEA. Tax efficiencies. Some of our team is also based in Spain as well.

Seriously? Where in Spain?

Barcelona / Mallorca.

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Are you on social media?

Social networks:

Medium: https://medium.com/lightstreams

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lightstreams.io/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Lightstreams-169874263742618/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/lightstreams_io

GitHub: https://github.com/lightstreams/lightstreams

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-Z4payhtlQNx-KBgE9Oh4w

REDDIT: http://reddit.com/r/lightstreamsnetwork

A brief update from our CEO - Michael Smolenski @mikesmo

"Hey all! First of all, I need to apologise to the community for not being as active in this group answering questions as in the previous weeks.
The team has just returned from Blockchain Week in New York where we had many productive meetings and we are looking to make some great announcements soon!

One question we have had a few times is why is there no activity in our GitHub repository for the project.... We have a number of private GitHub repos as you can see here that the team are working on.

These repositories are private for now as we are not ready to open them up for other developers to begin making contributions to our codebase.

Let me be clear, the GitHub repository that is public is only for:
- Providing instructions to developer to run a node that connects to our Test Network.
- For developers to post bugs and other issues when running a node.

I was informed that someone in the community had done a "code review" on this public repo, which TBH, I found quite surprising as any developer with a little experience will know that the few files we have published there do not represent any kind of source code.

I understand the need for there to be transparency on the technology that we have been developing. So in this spirit, I will be publishing a video where I will take a technical audience through a deep dive of our current codebase and architecture.

There has also been some misinformation that we stopped developing for a year. In order to alleviate this concern, during the video I will present our GitHub logs during 2017 and you will be able to see the activity of development.
I hope this will be helpful 😄👍

I know that there has also been a many # questions about the timing of our token sale and the token sale conditions. Currently, a small private round is underway that is available to institutional funds and strategic partnerships. This will be closing soon. After which, we will open a whitelist for the community to register their interests in participating in the Token Sale.

We are really trying to be open and transparent as possible. We are happy to speak with any reviewer or influencer about any questions they have about the project. We have some excellent community managers. If I, or one of our project team members are not available to answer directly on this group then they will for sure notify us and we will do our very best to answer.

We heard many in the community request an ERC20 token to be published on the Ethereum network. As we have understood, the ERC20 interface is a standard that is compatible with many systems for token distribution, so this would make it easier for such systems to interface with an ERC20 token as opposed to our native PHT token.

As specified in the Lightstreams WP, the PHT token is a native token to the Lightstreams network and is necessary for the operation of key functionality, most notably the authorisation mechanism.

Therefore, a token such as an ERC20 contract published on another network, clearly wouldn't have any utility on the Lightstreams Network.

We are working with our legal counsel to understand what the regulatory issues are if we were to do the above. Apologies that I cannot give you are direct answer on this now. However, I think it is best that we make a detailed announcement on what option we will choose with the legal arguments either way.

Once thing I should add, since we are using the same Ethereum web3 API, it will actually not be that difficult for existing wallets to interface with our network. We expect only a simple configuration to point to a different chain id than the Ethereum mainnet. We will post detailed instructions about this later."

Check out the new interview by Tech Bullion with our CEO - Michael Smolenski🚀 https://www.techbullion.com/interview-with-michael-smolenski-the-ceo-lightstreams

If you have questions for our CEO Michael Smolenski - join us here for "Ask Me Anything" sessions every Tuesday 12:30-13:00 CET.

For links to other interviews, project reviews, and publications check out this excel sheet.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NR2ebWuc0KSfNxA95oeK9t3R7aSk1wnk8KrazxNBsdk/edit?usp=drivesdk