Node Application 10610133688, submitted 2019-03-21 16:06:00

Respondent Id 10610133688
Application Date 2019-03-21 16:06:00
Application Language English
Applicant City Amsterdam
Applicant State/Province Noord-Holland
Applicant Country Netherlands
What languages do you speak? Dutch, English
What is your occupation? Privacy/Security
How many years experience in your field? 4-7
What is the highest degree or level of school you have completed? None (Self-Taught)
Please describe your experience in the Crypto/Blockchain space, if any? I’ve been involved in numerous communities in the cryptosphere, usually ones with a strong focus on privacy. Currently I’m part of the team at a new cryptocurrency aiming to provide the highest levels of anonimity to it’s users. I also have many years of experience running masternodes/full nodes for many different cryptocurrencies.
Are you an individual or a group? Individual
Node City Amsterdam
Node State Noord-Holland
Node Country Netherlands
For which networks Have you ever operated a node? Bitcoin (BTC, BCH, etc), Monero, PIVX, Veil, Navcoin, Zcash, Zcoin, DASH
What kind of improvements would you like to see in Elixxir nodes vs. previous the previous nodes you have supported? I would like some type of enforcement for keeping nodes up to date + perhaps a way to enfore high-end hardware is used or atleast reward it.
What are potential setbacks preventing you from operating an Elixxir node? extended network/power outage, but both a very rare.
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. . 0.20€/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) 90
If you were selected to run a BetaNet node, would it run on your own hardware or be deployed to cloud-based servers? Hardware
In what type of environment would this server be located? Personal Home
Do you have past experience deploying hardware servers in a datacenter? No
Do you already own sufficient hardware to meet the published Elixxir BetaNet node specifications? Yes (Please list specs)
Yes (Please list specs) intel 8700k, nvidia gtx 1080 TI, G.Skill Trident Z RGB 32GB DDR4 DIMM 3200MHz, Samsung 960 pro 512 GB, Samsung 860 evo 500 GB, Aorus z370
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: no
Do you have past experience deploying servers to cloud-based services? Yes (please specify)
Yes (please specify) I have used cloud services for PIVX and Dash nodes.
Why do you want to be a node? I’m very interested privacy technology in general. Whenever there’s a possibility to be part of a new project trying to improve the privacy of the end-user I love to be a part of it. Besides that hosting nodes is a hobby of mine!
How did you originally hear about Elixxir? Reddit
Which current Elixxir communities are you a member of? Telegram, Discord
Are you an active member of those communities? No
What specifically, interests you about the Elixxir platform? I read about cmix a number of years ago, so seeing that it’s actually being implemented somewhere is really cool! I believe Elixxir is aiming for an excellent middleground between privacy/speed/scalability/decentralization. Many projects seem to focus heavily on one, rather than trying to combine multiple from the get go. For instance a zerocoin/zerocash based coin might provide unbreakable privacy in theory but often trades in a lot of speed/usability. That’s a conundrum we are facing in Veil, and I like the approach that Elixxir is taking. Also the fact that David Chaum is involved is something that excites me.
Outside of Elixxir communities, are you an active participant in other node or developer community groups? If so, which ones? currently in Veil and PIVX. besides that a number of private telegram/discord groups mostly aimed at privacy/blockchain
Have you ever attended a blockchain conference? If so, which one(s)? Chainges, a lot of Bitcoinwednesdays, and I hosted a snall PIVX meetup in amsterdam
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? I could create something every 1-2 weeks at least.
What is the difference between decentralized networks and distributed networks, and where on the decentralization spectrum do you sit? I believe they both have a place, the question in my opinion should be: how can we find a balance. The network needs to be able to serve it’s purpose, and should be designed around that.
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. It combines strong anonimity with speed, through a mixnet of randonly picked nodes(I would really love more information around this process) that precompute the positions in their mixing cycle so that the mixing itself can be done more or less instantly. Randomly selecting a snall group of nodes also massively reduces time needed to form consensus and create a block.
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? As data breaches becomre more and more prevelant, the rise of blockchain technology could be a slumbering disaster. If someones identity is linked to his blockchain history through a data breach, he can face dire consequences in the form of becoming a target for criminals. Or more benignely people could start overcharging him based on his wealth. This is ofcourse just the peak of the iceberg. The important thing is that none of this is possible in a system that is private by default.
Tags Individual, Netherlands, English