| Respondent Id | 10541990870 |
|---|---|
| Application Date | 2019-02-20 5:40:39 |
| Application Language | English |
| Applicant City | Paris |
| Applicant State/Province | Ile de France |
| Applicant Country | France |
| What languages do you speak? | english, french |
| What is your occupation? | IT |
| How many years experience in your field? | 16+ |
| What is the highest degree or level of school you have completed? | Bachelor’s degree (for example: BA. BS) |
| Please describe your experience in the Crypto/Blockchain space, if any? | I have a strong interest in (and understanding of) Bitcoin since 2013 (passing interest before that), and I have been a long-time follower of David Chaum's work since the Digicash days. I have not been very interested in other blockchain platforms like Ethereum, because I don't think they offer much of an improvement over Bitcoin (one could argue they offer the opposite, e.g., the over-complexity of Ethereum). Elixxir is the first offering that I believe has the ability to make a substantial improvement over Bitcoin, mainly because of its promises of transaction scalability and privacy. |
| Are you an individual or a group? | Individual |
| Node City | Paris (where I operate from) |
| Node State | Ile de France |
| Node Country | France |
| For which networks Have you ever operated a node? | Bitcoin (BTC, BCH, etc) |
| What kind of improvements would you like to see in Elixxir nodes vs. previous the previous nodes you have supported? | I would like to avoid an "arms race" and having to constantly upgrade equipment just to be competitive in the market. It's one thing to upgrade to handle growing network load, which I am completely supportive of, but another thing to have to upgrade just to keep up with an ever-growing hash rate. |
| What are potential setbacks preventing you from operating an Elixxir node? | I would like to see a clear plan of how the economics of operating a node on mainnet will work. I know this is the "million dollar question", but it is that for a very good reason! My main motivation to help Elixxir grow is because of the privacy interests it can fulfill, but I think the economics of it need to be clearly communicated (and they need to be sound) in order to ensure a wider involvement by the crypto community. There is absolutely no information to go on regarding this point at the moment, so it will make wider adoption more difficult IMO. |
| What is a reasonable maximum connection speed on which you could operate a BetaNet node in your geographic region? (Where 0 = 10 Megabits/second, and 100 = 10 Gigabits/second) | 50 |
| What is a reasonable uptime estimate you can provide for your BetaNet node? (As a percentage) | 99 |
| Please estimate the cost of electricity in the geographic area where your BetaNet node will be running. . | Not relevant because I am aiming to use cloud providers (at least in the beginning). |
| On a monthly basis, how much time can you publicly commit to dedicating toward governance if you were selected as a BetaNet node operator? (Where 0 = 1 hour/month, and 100 = 20 hours/month) | 100 |
| If you were selected to run a BetaNet node, would it run on your own hardware or be deployed to cloud-based servers? | Both |
| In what type of environment would this server be located? | Datacenter |
| Do you have past experience deploying hardware servers in a datacenter? | Yes (please describe) |
| Do you already own sufficient hardware to meet the published Elixxir BetaNet node specifications? | No |
| Yes (Please list specs) | |
| Do you have hardware you would like to use but does not meet the stated BetaNet node specs? If so, please provide specs on that hardware below: | |
| Do you have past experience deploying servers to cloud-based services? | Yes (please specify) |
| Yes (please specify) | Have deployed apps/microservices to AWS and Digital Ocean. Can figure out Google and/or Azure as well if needed. |
| Why do you want to be a node? | I am a long-time cypherpunk and believe that privacy is an inherent human right that needs to be protected in order to assure and free and just society. I think this aim can only be served if the Elixxir network is truly decentralized, so I would like to do my part to ensure this. I would also like to take part in the process of the shaping of the network, and ensuring that its growth plans are economically sound, and fair to all participants (both users and node operators). |
| How did you originally hear about Elixxir? | Word of Mouth |
| Which current Elixxir communities are you a member of? | Telegram, Discord |
| Are you an active member of those communities? | Yes |
| What specifically, interests you about the Elixxir platform? | I think it has a chance to be the next big cryptocurrency technology after Bitcoin, and I like the privacy-oriented approach. I am also a follower of David Chaum's work since the early 90's, so his involvement originally piqued my interest in the project. |
| Outside of Elixxir communities, are you an active participant in other node or developer community groups? If so, which ones? | No |
| Have you ever attended a blockchain conference? If so, which one(s)? | Yes, a couple of ones sponsored by Coindesk in London. |
| As part of growing the Elixxir community, are you willing to create content as part of operating an Elixxir BetaNet node? Examples would be node setup & on-boarding review vlog post, bi-weekly twitter update, medium review of on-going node operational process, etc. | Yes (how much content on a monthly basis?) |
| If yes, how much content on a monthly basis? | Depends on need, but could dedicate 5-10 hours/month on this at least |
| What is the difference between decentralized networks and distributed networks, and where on the decentralization spectrum do you sit? | A network can be distributed but still centralized, but it can't really be decentralized and not distributed. I'm pretty far on the decentralized end of the spectrum. Centralized control is not a healthy arrangement in the long term. Afterall, "absolute power corrupts absolutely", even if those with the power are doing what they think is "good". |
| As best as you can given currently available information, please describe the value proposition of the Elixxir platform and how it differs from other current blockchain solutions. | The two key points of Elixxir relative to other blockchain solutions are: 1) Scalability - the aim is to handle payments at the scale of Visa/MC, which is at least 4 orders of magnitude greater than the capacity of current blockchain platforms. 2) Privacy - strong privacy will be built into the platform by default, not bolted on afterwards as some other blockchain platforms are trying to do (e.g., Lightning on Bitcoin). I think it is important that privacy is a key design principle rather than just an afterthought. |
| Privacy by Default is a goal of the Elixxir Platform. In your opinion, why is Privacy by Default critical for the future of the internet? | It is impossible to be truly free if you have to act as if you are always being surveilled, either by people who you know or don't know. I don't support internet privacy because it enables individuals to do wrong without repercussions, I support internet privacy because it enables individuals to do what is right, even when such actions may be considered "wrong" by those in power, particularly when the aims of those in power are not just/humane. |
| Tags | Individual, France, English |
1 Like
you have my support and my vote
Would be an asset and geographical diversity