Exclusive Q&A with Joseph Fiscella : Florincoin and Decentralized Applications

If you don’t know who Joseph Fiscella is, you’re in for a treat.  Joey, as he is primarily known as, is the  core developer for Florincoin, and all the following decentralized applications that have come along with it.

First we have Florincoin Q&A , which will discuss the coin, and  we will then transition over to the three decentralized applications Joey is also working on. Here’s a video of Joey talking about it at the CryptoCurrency Convention.

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1.History of Development?

Florincoin just turned 1 years old! It is the first coin to implement transaction metadata storage which is also in the GUI interface. It is a scrypt coin with an extremely quick transaction time (40 seconds) and it launched with no pre-mine and no IPO. It has a sane block reward halving schedule (once every year approximately, compared to once every week like most new coins) and is not a PoS hybrid.

2.Current Status?

Florincoin has just undergone a complete re-working of its image with a new website (http://florincoin.org) and some new team members. We are also announcing the Florincoin Foundation soon.

3.Future Development plans?

We have a core code upgrade to Florincoin ready to go and it’s being tested at this very moment. In the future, we plan to shortly release an update to increase network security as well as release an open source API node for our decentralized applications.

4. Specs of coin?

These are the coin specs: Transaction messages on the blockchain (528 characters), 40 second block timer, 1 block difficulty retarget, 800,000 block halving, scrypt mining algorithm, 160 million coin total supply.

5. What do you see Florincoin being used as in the next year to 5 years?

In the near future, we have a project called Alexandria coming out, which is a storage/backup of knowledge database on top of Florincoin. Florincoin will be used to power the decentralized applications of the future. It can also be used to promote freedom of speech on a large scale using the decentralized messaging network.

6.Comments, additional statements, etc.?

There is a great opportunity to mine FLO right now, the difficulty is extremely low and it’s easy to mine a couple thousand a day with a mid-sized rig.

Decentralized Application #1 : Aterna Love

Summary:

Aterna Love allows users to engrave messages to their loved ones in the blockchain, which will last forever. The idea is to mimic the feeling of “carving your name in a tree” with the other person, except the blockchain lives on longer than any tree, and is a database with automatic methods for dissemination of information! You can even be a “secret admirer”, and send the love note to someone who you’re too shy to confront.

When it comes to Q&A, Joey was gracious enough to answer the same questions for the 3 applications.

1. History of Development?

Aterna Love begun as a ChallengePost hackathon project for my blockchain-technology startup, Aterna. It was released on valentine’s day, February 2013.

2.  Current Status?

Aterna Love is currently still active on http://aterna.org/love, and is the first decentralized application to be live on Florincoin. You can go and profess your love there now!

3.  Future Development Plans?

Aterna Love is currently version 1.0, new versions of Aterna Love will feature gifting and tipping functionality, which will really let lovers prove how much they care about their significant other!

4. What do you see Aterna Love being used for in the next year to 5 years?

Besides being an excellent reminder of your girlfriend’s birthday and anniversary, Aterna Love is useful for anyone who wishes to prove their everlasting love to another person. As the years go on, it will be reminiscent to look back on how the messages remain intact on the blockchain, gathering confirmations and being buried deeper and deeper in the hard drives of thousands of computers around the world.

5.  Additional Comments?

Here’s a video of my quick interview with the bitcoin girl about the hackathon: (embedded video for the readers, you, convenience)

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Here’s a link to the challengepost submission for Aterna Love:

http://nyc-cryptocurrency.challengepost.com/submissions

Decentralized Application #2: Alexandria

 Alexandria is a system of computers that do indexing of human knowledge for scientific purposes. It is based on the story of the Library of Alexandria, which burned down taking many years of human knowledge and advancement with it. If only there were some way to ensure that data is replicated amongst a wide network of computers around the world to prevent similar catastrophes… enter project Alexandria.

1. How did Alexandria get started?

Alexandria started off as an idea formed by Block Tech, another company which is focusing on the creation of decentralized applications. Alexandria has been in development for a few months and is almost ready for a showcase at the Chicago Bitcoin Conference, where Block Tech is set to premier the software in front of an audience of Bitcoiners!

2. What is the current state of Alexandria?

Alexandria is currently under development. At first, Alexandria will be able to gather information from twitter’s database and put it into the Florincoin blockchain at a user’s request. The development of this mechanism is complete, and we are now working on implementing this twitter feed into the Florincoin blockchain.

3. What are some future development plans in store for Alexandria?

Alexandria is a behemoth of a project, it is currently planning to take on wikipedia archiving as its next feature. Beyond wikipedia, forums and message boards, as well as social networks, can be etched into the Florincoin blockchain for safe keeping.

4. How do you see Alexandria being used in the next year to 5 years?

Alexandria will have a huge role in the website I am co-founder of, mempool.info. Mempool.info tracks all transactions relayed by the bitcoin p2p network, so it can be a tool in detecting double-spends as well as transaction malleability. Mempool.info is also a historic storage of all orphaned blocks, which are dropped after a block with greater proof-of-work is found. Permanence of this type of data is incredibly important, so it will be stored in the Florincoin blockchain for safe keeping.

5. Additional Comments Regarding Alexandria?

Alexandria is currently being developed chiefly by an incredibly talented developer, @cgcardona, who is also the founder of gitcoin.

Decentralized Application #3: Elo on Blockchain

Summary(taken from whitepaper) :

This paper defines an approach to a turn based game engine using peer-to-peer technology coupled with Florincoin’s blockchain protocol.

A purely peer-to-peer gaming engine would allow open source games to be played on a global scale using the Florincoin protocol without storing every turn in the blockchain. This is possible through proof-of-turn; a protocol defining game initiation requests, turn handling, game conclusion and dispute control entries. A schema for verifying users’ turns without storing each turn in the blockchain enables the system to scale without becoming unmanagable. Storing the beginning and end of a game allows Elo and reputation to be calculated on chain, while disputes can be handled off-chain as users keep their proof-of-turn data stored locally. Read more of my paper at http://florincoin.org/game

1. What caused you to develop Elo on the Blockchain?

Game ranking systems is a difficult problem for gamers. My history as a professional gamer has always made me interested in ranking systems and fair Elo calculations. This proposal was written by me about 3 months ago, where I debuted it to a group of developers (BitDevs) in New York City at NYU.

2.  What is the current status of Elo on the Blockchain?

This protocol is currently under the GNU license and anyone can use it to create a ladder ranking system in the blockchain. Currently, no projects have taken the initiative to employ this system.

3.  What do you in store for Elo on the Blockchain?

In the future, I have a Magic the Gathering style card game planned for this game. The deck of cards will be entirely stored in the blockchain and the ranking system will also be in the blockchain, as well as each game’s outcome.

4. How do you see Elo on the Blockchain being used in the next 5 years?

In the next 5 years, this system can be used to record grandmaster chess player’s rankings, store the history of each professional chess game, and be used in a number of online games who wish to utilize the power of the Florincoin blockchain.

5. Anything else you’d like to add Joey?

I am looking for a game developer and artist to collaborate with me on this card game project! Contact me metacoin@florincoin.org if you are interested in contributing to a historic blockchain game!

Thank you Joey, was truly a pleasure talking with you. I am personally most excited for Elo, as a gamer myself I think the ability to more effectively rank players will help for matchamking and other purposes, such as leaderboards.

Again, for more information, visit Florincoins website.

http://florincoin.org/