------
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.
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.
------
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.
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.
------
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.
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.
------
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.
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.
------
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
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
Is there a way I can keep up with project reviews, interviews, etc. about Lightstreams?
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NR2ebWuc0KSfNxA95oeK9t3R7aSk1wnk8KrazxNBsdk/edit?usp=drivesdk
If you have questions for CEO Micheal Smolenski - join "Ask Me Anything" sessions every Tuesday 12:30-13:00 CET 👌🏻😊
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1NR2ebWuc0KSfNxA95oeK9t3R7aSk1wnk8KrazxNBsdk/edit?usp=drivesdk
If you have questions for CEO Micheal Smolenski - join "Ask Me Anything" sessions every Tuesday 12:30-13:00 CET 👌🏻😊
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.
"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."
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
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
TechBullion
TechBullion | Financial Technology News And Information
TechBullion is a Financial Technology News Website, focusing on Global Fintech News and Market. Get the Latest Fintech Articles on Tech Bullion
🚨⚠️SCAM ALERT⚠️🚨
This Medium blog and the Telegram user "Lightstreams Support" is a scam. Lightstreams whitelist is not open yet.
⚠️Again, this article, and it's author ARE NOT affiliated with Lightstreams!⚠️
https://medium.com/@LightStreams/lightstreams-community-token-sale-and-whitelist-is-live-f17842b10fc3
Do NOT send funds to the address in this article!
This type of announcement will ONLY be made through our OFFICIAL announcements channel @Lightstreamschannel and to those who are subscribed to our newsletter @ Lightstreams.network/#contact
⚠️Beware of anyone claiming to be related to the project who does not carry an admin tag by their name, or is not listed in our pinned post as an admin⚠️
Our Official admins are:
@mikesmo
@Crypto_marina
@Mrn9x
@Itsfitts
@vladdani55
@esteep
❗️Our admins will NEVER contact you first, ask to send money or approach for something else. BEWARE of scams ❗️
This Medium blog and the Telegram user "Lightstreams Support" is a scam. Lightstreams whitelist is not open yet.
⚠️Again, this article, and it's author ARE NOT affiliated with Lightstreams!⚠️
https://medium.com/@LightStreams/lightstreams-community-token-sale-and-whitelist-is-live-f17842b10fc3
Do NOT send funds to the address in this article!
This type of announcement will ONLY be made through our OFFICIAL announcements channel @Lightstreamschannel and to those who are subscribed to our newsletter @ Lightstreams.network/#contact
⚠️Beware of anyone claiming to be related to the project who does not carry an admin tag by their name, or is not listed in our pinned post as an admin⚠️
Our Official admins are:
@mikesmo
@Crypto_marina
@Mrn9x
@Itsfitts
@vladdani55
@esteep
❗️Our admins will NEVER contact you first, ask to send money or approach for something else. BEWARE of scams ❗️
Unauthorised Pools. Please do not contribute to these pools that may be advertising an allocation in Lightstreams' Token Sale or any other that we will be adding to this list.
We strongly advise you to follow offical announcements for how to purchase PHT tokens. Currently, there has been no announcements.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1jC3yGwEsZYgx0ea4gHpmgYbDKFx8Mkzw8BE3eCAMo7w/edit#gid=0
We strongly advise you to follow offical announcements for how to purchase PHT tokens. Currently, there has been no announcements.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1jC3yGwEsZYgx0ea4gHpmgYbDKFx8Mkzw8BE3eCAMo7w/edit#gid=0
I am pleased to announce the following partners that are now part of our strategic partners program. We've been having some great conversations about how we work together and the resources and support that our partners can bring to the project. There are a couple of other exciting partners in the pipeline that we will be announcing in the coming weeks too!
https://medium.com/lightstreams/lightstreams-strategic-partners-6fb033cd3470
https://medium.com/lightstreams/lightstreams-strategic-partners-6fb033cd3470
Medium
Lightstreams — Strategic Partners
Strategic Partnerships
Proud to announce the collaboration of Lightstreams with the blockchain project Akropolis:
https://medium.com/lightstreams/partnership-lightstreams-akropolis-pension-savings-on-the-blockchain-15e7dd216ab3
https://medium.com/lightstreams/partnership-lightstreams-akropolis-pension-savings-on-the-blockchain-15e7dd216ab3
Medium
Partnership: Lightstreams + Akropolis: Pension savings on the blockchain
I am very excited to announce a potential new partnership between Lightstreams and Akropolis. Both projects have agreed to collaborate…
Today we released the new design of our website. FAQ and Roadmap pages will be added shortly.
https://lightstreams.network/
https://lightstreams.network/
lightstreams.network
Lightstreams - Secure Data Sharing for Web3
Lightstreams is a low fee, high-performance blockchain with web3 access-controlled file sharing. Fully Ethereum compatible and interoperable, permitting Pay-to-View NFTs.
Lightstreams was mentioned today in the following article about GDPR issues:
https://www.alvexo.com/blog/business/gdpr-data-protection-costs/
https://www.alvexo.com/blog/business/gdpr-data-protection-costs/
Alvexo News
Data Protection Laws Likely to Prove Expensive for Business | Alvexo™ News
The EU's imminent GDPR rules are meant to secure consumers' data but companies will have to bear potentially crippling costs to comply.