Dear log, this week is a bit different than usual…
You might have noticed I am super late but I had to sort my thoughts first. I feel the need to address a couple of things and I already know some people won’t like it or disagree with the things I will say, but those things need to be said no matter what.
“The state of the union” or something like that
About me and the community
It has been said a couple of times and I agree with it: We have one of the best communities in the crypto space. I am serious about this. And this would probably the best point to stop. But I have more to say.
I might not praise or say “Thank you” to people often enough, but that’s how and who I am. I am in a bad mood, salty as fuck, and I swear and scream a lot. If you end up in a zoom call with me, I will keep telling you who fucked something up and that I am close to starting a riot, and how I will end the world by burning everything to the ground.
Great anger provides even greater motivation.
I expect everyone to be awake, sitting at their desk working at 4 AM on a Sunday, because I am. Getting married? Awesome, at least 4h left to do some work. Your firstborn is about to touch the ground? Nice, but if you are not giving birth, why are you not working? Going to a funeral? Unless they don’t burry YOU, take a laptop with you and work from the graveyard. Sounds harsh? Well, been there, done that. No need to thank me. Support is more than a job, it’s a profession.
This is not normal and I am aware of it.
I expect everyone else around me to be as dedicated and focused as I am. That’s why it often seems that I do not appreciate it when people walk the extra mile and put the effort in. I take it for granted because that’s what I would have done. That’s what I will always do. If I fixed a problem, I am looking for the next one. There is no need to have a conversation about what I just did. Let’s talk about what can be done next.
I don’t like it when a community organized achievement is taken out of context and used to make a point. And hear that quite often in the last weeks. “We (community) did X, now you (foundation) need to give us Y.” I don’t agree with that, it’s not how things work. It doesn’t mean that you are not doing a great job, it doesn’t mean I can’t appreciate what you do. I am just not able to praise people and pat their backs all the time. It doesn’t mean it goes unnoticed and is not appreciated. I am not expecting to get praised all the time and having that point of view is my flaw and sadly that carries over on how I view others and their dedication. I am aware of that and I will work on becoming better at this, giving people a better feeling. I will try to overcome this because we should be nicer to each other. I just take dedication as granted, and if I sound mad, it’s typically not that I am really mad, it’s just how I am.
This is quite some wall of text from a dude who just wants to show off, eh? I don’t think so. I just want to make sure people understand where I am coming from, why I act in a certain way, and where we are going to.
This leads to the following. Discord has been a bit salty lately and I do understand why. The market sentiment shifted, a couple of projects are making good progress but CSC is not riding the hype train. It’s because of how we operate and always have been operating. There have been a few exceptions to it when we pushed some announcements out early, and looking back those have been bad calls. As I said a couple of times before: I will personally oppose every sort of hype, leak, or announcement of something that is not 100% safe. No matter what. People might not like that but it is a necessary evil. We won’t change how we handle things just because you can 10x your stack with Defi in 48 hours. If you want that to happen, you should go into Defi projects.
It is just natural to look around and find something or someone to blame when things are not working out the way you would want them to. I do the same, I can’t help it, it is human nature. It is easier for people to deal with tough situations if they have somewhere to place the blame.
If you are not happy with the visible(!) progress being made, you are welcome to raise your voice and explain your concerns in a civilized way that allows a discussion. But I am not interested in a monologue that tells me everything is bad. If you can come up with a well-thought argument about why something needs to be changed or done, we welcome it. If you would have some sort of To-Do list or action points that help us to fix the situation, that would be even better. We can’t come up with solutions all the time. We appreciate every sort of feedback, we need your help to tell us how to fix things, we can’t do it without you.
That being said, I don’t like the shift of tone in Discord. I have been pretty relaxed in the past two years even when people trolled the community, the project as a whole or me personally. I can deal with it, that’s why I often let people go on. But there is a fine line between legit criticism, valid complaints, or raising your voice and causing trouble for the sake of causing trouble. Everyone is welcome to voice your opinion but do it in a constructive manner that may actually help the issue..
People who push it too far we will be muted, no exceptions. We can all have a conversation about things we disagree like adults.
Development
I will try to give some insight into what is currently going on, where we are at, and why things have been on hold for quite some time now. The problem with this as always is: I can’t comment on most issues. Simply because they are still in the works.
I have said that before and I will repeat it: If we would give an insight into everything that is going on we would tell you about 10 things and 9 of them would lead nowhere. This would end in people being disappointed on a regular base. It also would mean we would have to explain stuff 10x while 90% might not even be worth talking about it. That’s an issue. And the best solution to that issue is: Don’t be Justin Sun.
It is not a secret that we are way behind with some items that touch core aspects and have been stagnant for at least the last three months. Part of the problem is that we are a small team and objectives change as an opportunity presents itself. This includes (but is not limited to):
– The Desktop Wallet + Nano Ledger
– The Mobile Token Wallet
– CRNInfo
– BRM
As people should know by now our manpower is limited. We just hired more people to solve the issue. While I would love to have all open issues fixed, we need to evaluate what is a more valuable target to archive. Not all of those decisions might make sense from an outside view. But several aspects are taken into careful consideration. Allow me to comment on the most pressing issues on the 4 items above.
The Desktop Wallet: One of the issues is the wrong fiat value reported by the wallet. This is a cosmetic issue, while it is not nice it does not affect the functionality of the wallet. The issue has been identified and we want to move to our self-hosted API which is used by a variety of our products. Along with that issue, there are at least 32 others that need to be fixed. We have been offered an alternative API, I appreciated that, but this would be a short-term solution and would require touching it again once all remaining issues have been resolved. Therefore it would not be adequate to allocate resources to a minor issue that requires attention twice.
Nano Ledger: When I finally got everything that was requested, I had no time to deal with it for quite a while and put it aside. That was a huge mistake and it is on me. When I finally had time, I discovered a couple of issues that needed to be fixed. I also realized the companion app might not be good enough and the integration needs to be done with the Desktop Wallet. I thought we could take a shortcut but as it turned out this was a bad idea. I had some talks about it, and Matt will try to help us out on this one.
Mobile Token Wallet and BRM: There are a couple of UI enhancements that will make it more user friendly. The underlying framework needs to be updated. This was put on hold as the CR8 Wallet will become the new framework for all wallets. It’s modular and allows us to add and remove features as we see it fit. It’s way more smooth and faster. But first the CR8 Wallets needs to see the dawn of light.
CRNInfo: This issue is pretty annoying and I can see where people are coming from. No matter if you currently receive a payment every 1024 ledgers or not, your eligibility for receiving a payment stands. This means: CRNs are active, payouts are not. Once payments get activated, you will get paid for the whole period back to when everything was set on hold. Like the very first payout back when we initially switched CRNs on. The CRNInfo itself is just a site that allows monitoring and debugging. Switching things back on will require at least 5 days before it happens and 5 days after it happened, in order to be able to offer proper support. We want to ensure everyone is good. I need a timeframe for this. I know we have very knowledgeable CRNOps, maybe we can utilize them for support. However, I will put more effort into figuring a short term solution.
Backports: Besides all of the above, and I think we haven’t mentioned it before, we are working on the backports of all XRPL commits which takes quite some time every single day. This is coming along nicely as well. We have someone working dedicated to this topic.
While most of those things seem like a one or two day job, there is more to it. It’s not just only fixing the issue and compiling the software. It’s also about testing and planning the rollout along with offering support afterward.
If we take someone off from one of the pressuring tasks right now, like the PSP integration, we need to make sure no one is depending on those tasks that will be on hold. Like I said before, we need to ensure our people ready for testing and can allocate the time to do it. We also need to evaluate if touching a specific issue, would allow us to fix related ones right away and how we will offer support once the new solution has been pushed? Are we 100% sure we won’t break anything with the fix?
A one-day fix is never a one-day task.
If you disagree with this and you think it can be done better, you are welcome to give me a rundown on how. If you have better procedures I am more then happy to utilize them. If you are willing to dedicate some of your time to help us fixing things, for free, just hit me up.
As said above, we have hired more people to spread out the workload on the open issues. I can’t give any estimations but we have now more shoulder carrying the weight.
Tier1 Operator for CSC
Back then, when we soft-launched the BRM, some people got the impression that signing an operator was imminent. That was not the case and that’s what has been said multiple times. The launch of the BRM was utilized to show one of our core strengths: Mobilizing a great number of people with minimal effort. And that worked out like a charm. As of today, we have more than 2500 KYC’ed accounts.
This made talks to operators easier but there are still hurdles to overcome. If it would be easy as snapping your fingers to get a full-fledged integration by tomorrow, we would already have 10 of them. It is a slow and painful process.
It is still our core focus to sign an operator and talks are always ongoing. They never stop. After all, the BRM is our core product and CSC as a payment option is the goal. I wish I could give updates about who we talk to, what their opinion is, what they might be concerned about but I simply can’t. But again, conversations are taking place. I can encourage you to not stop demanding your favorite regulated casino to accept CSC, while we keep pushing from our site.
Cammegh and GoodGaming
I may sound like a broken record, even me saying this is a broken record but again:
Both had to deal with the effects of COVID. It slowed down their operations. They have a core business they need to take care of first, after being slowed down for 6 months. This shouldn’t be hard to understand. As long as you don’t hear me say “Not gonna happen”, nothing changed at everything is still on the table.
No matter what people are claiming, things are NOT back to normal. We will have to deal with the situation for a long time. But it also provides a great opportunity.
However, it would be helpful if some people would calm their obsession with both. Focus on those things that will push us forward, while both of them get back to “normal”.
There is nothing else to be said. If there is anything, be rest assured I will tell you 60 seconds after the information reaches my desk.
Exchanges
I addressed this topic several times in the past weeks. Everything that could have been said has been said. We are in the process of getting our application over to Bittrex. There is no update on it as of now, I will let you know as soon as there is something to tell.
By community demand, we started a fundraiser to collect some money for a Top 20 listing, the details are available on Discord but let me paste it here again:
---- BEGIN SIGNED MESSAGE ---- My name is @daniel(wwf) today is 19.08.2020 I hereby confirm that the following address will be used to collect donations that will be used towards a Top20 exchange listing: CSC: cJ2SrS9VrnH7vnPtgZe9zZgS2cxU9gfWQR BTC: 1PRX4R3EBS6mEST4DiVC9qEdrnrz3NMLaY XRP: raLPjTYeGezfdb6crXZzcC8RkLBEwbBHJ5 / 18701729 This is done by community demand. Rules: All collected donations will be used to fund a top20 exchange listing. Possible Exchanges: Binance, Huobi Global, Coinbase Pro, Kraken, Bithumb, Bitfinex, Upbit, Bittrex, Bitstamp, KuCoin, OKEx, FTX, Gate.io, HitBTC. Refund Policy: In case of a refund coins will be sent back to the originating address in the case of CSC and XRP, therefor: DO NOT SEND COINS DIRECTLY FROM AN EXCHANGE! If you send coins to the listed wallets they will be considered as a donation as it will be a lengthy process the validate who owned them. Please help to avoid any issues and stick to what was written above. To prove ownership of a BTC address, you will be asked to sign a message OR perform a dust transaction. AGAIN: DO NOT SEND COINS DIRECTLY FROM AN EXCHANGE! COINS SEND FROM EXCHANGES WILL BE CONSIDERED AS A DONATION IN CASE OF A REFUND. ---- END SIGNED MESSAGE ---- ---- BEGIN PUBLIC KEY ---- 020016F0B6B16642781E521BF15F37F3447A5C41D48EFD31F7D15A9E4AA8EE09AE ---- END PUBLIC KEY ---- ---- BEGIN SIGNATRUE ---- 3044022021E85ABB64C1E186BE64091B83CF3973F3B6E84CA03B0950278EC4AC2C86CF6A02205EE6AC6F201A0CD82AAA292A97ACBFB491050282249D9C93932765DC8A891583 ---- END SIGNATRUE ----
Links to wallets:
cJ2SrS9VrnH7vnPtgZe9zZgS2cxU9gfWQR
1PRX4R3EBS6mEST4DiVC9qEdrnrz3NMLaY
XRP is an exchange account, I will move the coins off and provide an address.
Comment on the message above: As per community request Gate and FTX are no longer considered.
A couple of people have announced donations tied to conditions. Please be aware that we won’t change targets based on that. While most of them are things on the to-do list anyway, it won’t trigger a change of focus unless it’s a hard cash target. This might change, if it does I will let you know. (Like Matt looking at the Nano Ledger thing)
You also might want to read my CSC Liquidity Pool Proposal (unofficial draft) on how we could fix liquidity issues. Keep in mind it is a rough draft and will require more thoughts put into it.
The need for CR8 and its status
Crazy8Token is the solution to a couple of our problems that haunt us for a while.
CR8 uses a light version of the BRM, which showcases the whole solution, as well as the ability to white label it. CR8 works in emerging markets which means the number of possible partners just significantly increased, compared to regulated markets and their operators. That’s a hard fact. People have been telling us for years someone should do it. Now it has been done.
CR8 can do everything CSC can’t while showcasing all of its strengths.. It’s not a competitor to CSC it is a valuable addition.
CR8 also allows us to solve the issue of getting a payment processor. A solution was build from scratch and is now done via Opibis. Everything was build in less than 4 months, from API to backends, to a complex quotation system. It is a valuable addition to the CSCL ecosystem and will take off a huge burden.
The crypto industry is full of people and services that will tell you: We are here to push the adoption of solutions that impact the real world and empower average people. Let me tell you: No, they are not. They are not willing to figure solutions, they are not willing to be agile, they are not willing to act differently. They are gatekeepers, they like the status quo, as all people in power do. They are printing money by setting the rules and keep people out that don’t pay. They are shiny figures in public, they are shady behind closes doors. I have seen this often enough. If they are not willing to work with us, we will figure a solution ourselves.
If you want something done right, do it yourself.
That being said, getting CR8 out the door with the PSP solution will create undeniable data about the strengths and usability of our products, and blockchain solutions for regular people. It will prove the point we have been making for 3 years and no one will be able to deny them.
I am aware that CR8 is late, issues have been encountered and have been resolved. These things take time. Sometimes you can’t speed things no matter how hard you push.
TrustTracker
With the launch of TrustTracker, we managed to bring another real-world use case to our Ledger. Building trust between an operator and their customers is an issue in the gambling space. Especially when people think games are rigged or set up to the operator’s advantage. And that’s what a lot of people think.
That’s mainly because people don’t understand how games work and what regulated and/or provably fair gambling means. TrustTracker will help to solve that issue.
TrustTracker is an almost near-realtime immutable stream of game-related data that can be audited by everyone at any time. The more data it collects, the more accurate it gets. It will help operators, affiliates and players to interact and trust each other on a whole new level.
I said “recording every spin doesn’t make any sense and is impossible” a while ago. I was wrong because my mindest was limited. Today, I am very proud that we found a working and scalable solution. This was quite a challenge and done per request.
It proves that we can rethink our positions and build solutions for the industry when asked to do so. I am looking forward to onboard more operators and probably expand the solution to other use cases.
TrustTracker’s infrastructure is currently being revamped and considered a major driver of the CSCL. As I said before, my personal next goal is 10 million transactions midterm.
Team commitment
I am getting quite some messages from people who want to thank me for my work, I highly appreciate it (If you want to buy me a beer check this -> https://allthingsour.life/support/) that and it’s blessings for my tormented soul.
However, my position and my job require higher visibility and intense contact with the community. It means it natural that I am way more active and visible than others. That’s why you are reading this in my semi-broken english.
Having the above said, keep in mind the following: Just because you don’t see others on Discord or Twitter, doesn’t mean they are not working. They are, otherwise, I would be screaming at them 24/7. I want people to focus on their actual job, rather than entertaining Discord or Social Media.
You can dislike it but that’s the way it will be for quite a while. It also allows me to pull them out of my magic hat as a sweet at any time.
Team spending and financing
I am still getting messages about how people “feel” when team members sell coins and I want to be as clear as day about it:
It’s none of other people’s business what certain people do with coins they bought with their own money, on the open market, at any time.
Get over it. If you don’t like that, learn to deal with it. This project costs more time and money than people can imagine. It’s quite pathetic to moan about coins being sold, while people working for free or for very little, and demanding foundation member should fund certain things because “they sitting on millions of coins” at the same time.
We just injected more funding into the Foundation which allowed us to hire the people mentioned earlier. If you want to make a real difference you are welcome to join the team and work with us, probably for free.
Personal stuff
I reserve the right to plan my free time as I see it fit and spend it the way I want. Currently, this translates to doing live streams and playing slots with my latest and greatest side project SlotBrosTV which is not connected to foundation operations or activities. While the question already came up: SBTV is meant to be done for entertainment (mostly my own) and educational purposes.
It also allows me to do guerilla/grassroots marketing for our solutions. I am not saying it’s a great idea but it’s great fun and gets the word out, while people experience it first hand.
The ultimate goal is to grow SBTV and then hire people to do what I currently do. While it’s technically no one else’s business but people won’t stop asking: I pitched my idea to a group of people who invested in it. They are literally putting their money where my mouth is.
Winnings will not be taken out and pushed into something else other than SBTV. I am mentioning this because I have been asked about it. We want this to become an iGaming marketing company providing entertainment services in the online gambling industry. That’s what we are working towards.
You should join the SlotBrosTV Ddiscord -> https://discord.gg/2TdXp3Z 🙂
Follow us on Twitch, feel free to talk to us during the streams. An active chat will help us -> https://www.twitch.tv/slotbrostv
You might think about subscribing and that would be awesome. Check our schedule from time to time -> https://www.twitch.tv/slotbrostv/schedule
We do amazing stuff, for real have a look:
I hope I was able to address most of the issues that currently concern people and give some insights. Based on the feedback this post will get a follow-up or additions.
I want to leave you with a taste of my well-known style by giving you a summary of what I did last week because that’s what you originally came for:
“I WAS FUCKING WORKING ON SOME IMPORTANT SHIT NOW LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE.” 🙂
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Disclaimer: This post might contain ads, ref links, is 18+, the author’s personal view, and does not equal an official statement. I am not a native speaker which means this post is full of bad grammar and wrong spelling. Readers and viewers discretion is advised! All streaming, video, blogging, social media-related activities are done in my free time and not officially connected to my work. If you feel the need to raise a concern, do not hesitate to contact me.
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