Node Application 10552955141, submitted 2019-02-23 22:15:44

Respondent Id 10552955141
Application Date 2019-02-23 22:15:44
Application Language English
Applicant City Taipei
Applicant State/Province Taiwan
Applicant Country Taiwan
What languages do you speak? English, Chinese
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? Submitted dozens of minor bugs and documentation PRs to Bitcoin and related projects (including Gitian) using several pseudoanonymous Github accounts (can prove account ownership, but would prefer not to) - Active in community with QA/Testing, tutorials, forums - Attended several international crypto events (South Korea, Hong Kong) and participated in one Blockchain Hackathon (DBS, Singapore 2015), presented at 2 Bitcoin Meetups (Taipei) - Operated two public Bitcoin full nodes on clearnet and Tor for several years (2014-2017) - One of maintainers of public wallet server cluster for a community Bitcoin project (2015-2017) - Active in Bitcoin space from 2012 (you can find my name in the list of Mt. Gox claimants)
Are you an individual or a group? Individual
Node City Taipei
Node State Taiwan
Node Country Taiwan
For which networks Have you ever operated a node? Bitcoin (BTC, BCH, etc), Counterparty
What kind of improvements would you like to see in Elixxir nodes vs. previous the previous nodes you have supported? Revenue model, mostly. Maintaining servers, running stuff and buying hardware for no compensation would ideally be tied to income.
What are potential setbacks preventing you from operating an Elixxir node? 1) If compensation couldn't pay for the cost of time and hardware (or hosting expenses), I wouldn't be able to sustain it. 2) If Elixxir were to become regulated, I would likely lose interest
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) 90
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. . 16c/kWh
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) 35
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: i7-7700T (4-cores, 8-threads), 64GB RAM, no GPU, 300Mbps down, 100Mbps up Fibre to Home I can a GPU or whole new server on short notice, but 300/100 Mbps seems insufficient so I'm leaning towards running in Google Cloud (Taiwan Zone) - ultimately network requirements and/or cost in Google Cloud will decide which way I go
Do you have past experience deploying servers to cloud-based services? Yes (please specify)
Yes (please specify) Digital Ocean, Amazon, Packet, Vultr, etc. and also private data centers (at work)
Why do you want to be a node? Permissionless economy, but with positive income (let's say I very much like the Dash model, except for the scammy premine part)
How did you originally hear about Elixxir? Reddit
Which current Elixxir communities are you a member of? Telegram, Reddit
Are you an active member of those communities? No
What specifically, interests you about the Elixxir platform? The ability to help create a scalable, private and permissionless payment network that improves on Gen 1 crypto, and does it without the drama and scams
Outside of Elixxir communities, are you an active participant in other node or developer community groups? If so, which ones? I abandoned Bitcoin (disillusioned after 5 years) but I am still part of Counterparty, although I've been too busy at work to contribute in the past year.
Have you ever attended a blockchain conference? If so, which one(s)? Inside Bitcoins Hong Kong 2015 DGS Blockchain Hackathon, Singapore 2015 (Bitcoin payment app submission) Inside Fintech Seoul 2016 Inside Fintech Hong Kong 2016 Bitcoin events and meetups in Taiwan (several)
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? 4 posts/articles
What is the difference between decentralized networks and distributed networks, and where on the decentralization spectrum do you sit? In my mind the practical difference is decentralized is about decision making, while distributed is about architecture, where processing may be offloaded to distant processors that may be under control of one or more entities. Because code can be changed (or not changed, when it becomes outdated) and forked and incentives (economics) to participate and use a cryptocurrency change as well, a truly decentralized cryptocurrency is much harder to achieve. Distributed challenges are computer science problems, decentralization is a combination of economic, political and social challenges. I don't believe the answer to decentralization will be found anytime soon, so the best short and medium term shot is to improve distribution and privacy, hoping that eventually at least one successful project of Gen 2 crypto manages to retain honesty and integrity.
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. In order of importance 1. Credibility - although we like to claim cryptocurrencies are trustless, and that is true, some degree of trust and reputation is always required. I don't want to waste my time (whether I get paid or not) on scammy projects. 2. Privacy - in Bitcoin, it was an afterthought and constantly delayed to deal with other architectural issues. Dash started as privacy-focused but was stained with the "accidental" premine. I like the fact that Elixxir is starting with privacy focused and it may be well managed. 3. Scalability - unparalleled speed
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? Freedom begins and ends with property rights; we have right to what we own and create, and nothing beyond that. Without privacy, government legislation of crypto exposes the user to legal, financial, reputational and other risks. The consequence of these violations of property rights is less prosperity and less freedom. With privacy built into the system, that risk for the user may go away or be significantly diminished. Even the risk profile of node operators can be improved thanks to their inability to see who used their node for what transactions, and the inability to censor specific transactions or users may make it easier to avoid certain legal situations, taxable events and similar problems that are unavoidable with Bitcoin. With legislative hindrances to economic and other freedoms and intrusive government surveillance growing by the day, our ability to engage in unrestricted voluntary economic relationships and protect one's (digital) property from government intrusion, confiscation (complete or partial, such as by way of taxes) are key to protecting our freedoms.
Tags Individual, Taiwan, English
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