#ama: Ask Me And @williambanks Anything About May 1, 2017 And Viva.
Since you joined steemit, you have become ever more familiar with words like "whitepaper", "roadmaps" etc. More recently, whitepapers have been leading to VIVA!
Not this one:
This one:
Have you read the VIVA Whitepaper yet? Many have tried and i have to, but who understands this white paper better than @williambanks; the CTO of VIVA?
Many steemians are newbies when it comes to blockchain knowledge. Steemit opens your eyes and gives it more use. You start to peer more and start to understand more; then you start to envision more and before you know it, you are starting to do more. This a journey!
For many of us steemians, this journey started with 'reading a whitepaper'!
However, the actual whitepaper is within your journey! You come across amazing steemians and they hold your hand through your journey, then the whitepaper that once appeared all dark, starts to lighten up. "White Paper".
With time, these steemians who held our hands, become ever more reputable in our eyes and their decisions start to matter and influence ours.
@vivacoin Came Around!
@williambanks and @badassbarbie started to unveil VIVA in bits, within series of steemit posts, till it became fully blown.
But who are these people? "Steemians who gained repute by holding other steemians by the hand till steem-bliss".
It didn't all just start today or one day! "VIVA wasn't built in 2 days!"
And when you look at their team; which steemian is not already there? "Every reputable steemian appears to be there!"
So what do we do?
But again, read the VIVA whitepaper or let's unveil it here, #ama style!
You have options:
1. Ask about May 1, 2017.
2. Ask anything about Viva!
Even as you let your decisions about becoming part of VIVA be influenced by reputable steemians who advocate VIVA; you can also disentangle the VIVA Whitepaper and Road Map, to grasp fully VIVA's vision, so that your decision becomes deeply rooted!
The VIVA Whitepaper is right here! Simply ask away freely and wait for answers right in the comments. For real time answers, simply click on this link:
@williambanks the CTO of VIVA, will be here to answer away, when he gets the chance. Else, core members of the VIVA team will leave answers. I will also source out the answers from VIVA's mouth and leave you with answers.
Again to cut to the chase, visit this link: https://chat.vivaco.in/channel/ama; then ask away!
Reputable steemians who are moving and shaking VIVA are:
@badassbarbie, @virtualgrowth, @mrwang, @onceuponatime, @jrcornel, @sykochica and @merej99
@sykochica and @virtualgrowth where the innovators of @steemprentice, that has always existed here on steemit, to hold new steemians by their hand and speed them up, into 'steemit success stories'!
#ama
Ask away and let wonders begin!
Here is a really elaborate post about VIVA's vision:
CEO of VIVA Discusses Real World Businesses Being Developed for the VIVAconomy
Your Boy Terry
Thank you very much for the mention.
Would like to ask that more details be explained and presented about the intricacies of some of the technical and inter-workings of the different tradeable parts of VIVA and how the relate to each other and value in the system is balanced between them in the short and long term.
Lastly thanks to you and everyone in the Viva team that I am fortunate to come to know and work with since the early days of steemprentice.
Best,
Did @surpassinggoogle get the answer to you?
No(t yet)
Surpassinggoogle and I had a discussion earlier about your question. I've looked for it, but haven't found it yet. I need some sleep, but will look for it again when I wake.
Sleep well and thank you for your timely reply. Just looking to understand more details. Also how much may be needed for retirement levels. Thanks very much to everyone on the #vivacoin team.
Best,
I have learned of some minor changes since I initially gave this explanation.
Also, please see more on the LP (now VIP) under the questions @neoxian asked, further down on this page.
I look forward to more questions. I enjoy helping people understand the VIVA project!
Thank you very much for your time and replies.
One problem I have with Viva is that docs (even the white paper) light on the technical details.
How do mints work? What keeps them honest? I was reading some pretty dicey things there. Are mints software nodes on the blockchain? Why wouldn't a crown holder just run their own mint and cut out the middleman?
Also the promise to pay retirees a living wage. This might be an unrealistic promise.
What gives Viva coins value? Why would I invest in Viva coins if they are always going to be pegged at 5$. Also relying so much on the USD isn't the best idea since it will be inflated into trash someday.
VIVA is pegged to the average hourly income that is about $5.5 right now. If usd inflates and the hourly income becomes $10 for example after 5 years, then one VIVA will be also worth $10 ... It's all up to the Crownholders to come to "consensus" and catch up...
So VIVA coins won't ALWAYS be pegged at $5. It's a decision the crown holders have to make from time to time. Currently it sits at $5.5 and is allowed to roam freely between +/-10% till crown holders decide to review it due to circumstances and situations at the time. The "real world" businesses and organizations built on VIVA gives it it's value.
Retirees in this case doesn't mean actual retirees but the fact that you could "retire" (i.e not work again) based on the daily income from your VIVA Liquidity Pool. The VLP is like a savings account with compound interest and when you switch to retirement mode, you're drawing from your savings (which has been compounded over time) daily until completely depletes.
A mint is required to be tied to a "real world" business/organization. If a crown holder has such, she can be a mint. It's not the case of middleman or no middleman. It's simply different layers with different functions.
The technical details, I can't help with that but @williambanks should if he's available.
How is that enforced?
Simple, when you start a mint you tell the other crown holders about it. The mint kit will generate a certificate, that certificate must be signed by the other mints. The only reason they can say no is if you're not really running a business. Otherwise they consent to it.
How many mints have to sign it? Can a mint block it? Details details, this is where the devil is.
Haha! You should hop in at https://chat.viva.co and ask away. The team is there to answer all your questions :)
Thank you funbi. Nice to see you there!
Will come to you soon for answers to some questions. See you in chat soon!
You're welcome!
i made a slight variation on my username over there tho but i've seen you around so i'll DM you.
All of them you want to deal with.
This also begs the question, who validated the first mint?
Me, it's a self signed cert from TradeQwik to TradeQwik
So, basically, it's not enforced, if anyone can sign a cert.
Well that's close but not quite correct @neoxian.
Each certificate can be thought of as the genesis block of it's own chain.
If you can get the other mints on board with accepting you, then you have a mint. This is because settlement is handled mint to mint and some mints are going to be unable to do business with other mints directly. Example a mint in the USA could not do business with a mint in Iran. But a mint in Ecuador would have no such restrictions and so could bridge the divide on both sides. Thus you have chain of authority.
When you start a mint we give you a "mint kit". In this are certs of all crown holders who are running mints at the time. Addenda to this are found in the blockchain.
Think of this like the cert bundle that ships with your browser.
Just like your browser will reject a self signed cert, so will anyone participating in the minting cycle and obeying the rules.
Coins that come from mints who have no authority at all are not honored by the network.
This comes from our concept of "proof of authority".
The first mint is a VIVA service that enables you transfer "money" via sms. It was validated by the crown holders.
I will try to explain.
Those who participate in the VIVAcomoy is called a Vivos (tm) and will have an account tied to what is called the Liquidity Pool (LP). This account has two settings: compound and retirement. While in 'compound' mode, VIVA can be deposited to the Vivos' LP account either from the Vivos' him/herself or by others. When the Vivos decides to change the account to 'retirement' mode, s/he will receive 24 VIVA daily (a living wage) until it is either exhausted, or the account is switched back into 'compound' mode.
The LP is set to be withdrawn at the rate of 24 VIVA per day because of the nature of the VIVA Coin price. VIVA Coin is intended to represent 1 hour of a living wage in a first world country. Currently the average annual living wage is approximately $48,180. This is divided by 365 days of the year and then by 24 hours in a day to reach $5.50 USD. As the living wage fluctuates, so will the target price of VIVA Coins.
What gives any currency value - what you can buy with it! VIVA Coins have value because, unlike other digital currencies, VIVA has debit cards, so you can spend your VIVA in the physical world anywhere MasterCard is accepted!
Although VIVA Coins can and will be traded freely on exchanges, it is not meant to be traded on margin like other digital currency. This is not what gives VIVA Coins value (see above). The target value of VIVA Coins will stay close the the living wage explanation I gave above. This is one of the responsibilities of a mint - to not just mint coins into oblivion. If this happens, other mints will not do business with that mint. It would be very bad practice for a mint to do something like that - and likely a one time event, if ever! That mint would lose much more than it would gain.
VIVA does not 'rely' on the USD. VIVA will just be pegged to a particular value of the USD - whatever the value of the current living wage as explained above. For instance, the USD sinks to half of its current value in a month, then the value of 1 VIVA will be targeted to $10.10 next month.
VIVA is also pegged to Mexican Pesos for Vivos in Mexico (currently about $10.38 MXN, I think), and will be in Europe, Germany and many other countries.
I hope this helps :)
Great article empowering for all! Thanks a bunch for sharing. Upvoted, resteemed and shared.
All for one and one for all! Namaste :)
And the comment section made it even more empowering, thank you alot!
what is viva for? and so what to do to have a crown on May 1?
First the easy question. To get your crown:
In the mean time, go to http://www.vivaco.in and read all about what VIVA is about. For more technical and in depth information, download the whitepaper (link on the right side of the VIVA home page).
Also, feel free to go to https://chat.vivaco.in and start asking questions - look for me. I'll be there more often than not. :-D
As far as what VIVA is "for," well, that IS a big question. I can try to explain - very basically - what VIVA is and for what it can be used.
VIVA is set up to be a stable economy. In this economy are three main parts: VIVA Crowns, VIVA Coins, and VIVA Mints.
Every 90 days a VIVA Crown will produce a Treasury Right (TR) to mint VIVA Coins.
A TR gives a VIVA Mint the right to mint a certain number of VIVA Coins.
VIVA Coins are the currency used to buy groceries, pay bills or taxes, or send to the Liquidity Pool (LP).
The LP has two settings: compound mode and retirement mode. While in compound mode, you can deposit VIVA and it receives dividends, based upon how much you have in it. When you have grown your stake in the LP to a level you wish it to be, you can put it in 'retirement' mode and you will draw 24 VIVA a day until it is either exhausted, or you switch it back into 'compound' mode.
The LP is set to be withdrawn at the rate of 24 VIVA per day because of the nature of the VIVA Coin price. VIVA Coin is intended to represent 1 hour of a living wage in a first world country. Currently the average annual living wage is approximately $48,180. This is divided by 365 days of the year and then by 24 hours in a day to reach $5.50 USD. As the living wage fluctuates, so will the target price of VIVA Coins.
VIVA Coins and VIVA Crowns are not a new type of crypto-currency to ride the Bitcoin wave, but something much, much better. Money is power and VIVA is an entire digital economy meant to give power back to the people. When your bank charges you a fee, do you get any of that back - even if the bank makes a profit? When you wire money and your bank charges you $30 - even if it is an electronic exchange that no one at your bank had to touch - do you get any of it back because no one at the bank had to handle it? Probably not. VIVA has very small transaction fees - and gives it back to share in the form of dividends to the LP.
Now, will your government accept VIVA Coins as payment for taxes? Probably not. So VIVA has debit cards (MasterCard or Visa, I can't remember) attached to your VIVA account. You have VIVA Coins in your account. You pay your taxes with your VIVA debit card and VIVA does the transfer from VIVA to fiat behind the scenes - your taxes are paid.
VIVA is not trying to overthrow government money - governments don't like that. VIVA is trying to work WITH native fiats, so you don't have to try to remember any conversions from one form of currency to another, or worry if your local grocer will accept VIVA. If you have VIVA, you will be able to spend it.
Without getting too technical - I think that is it in a nutshell.
Please contact me with more questions as they arise...:-D
Am gonna sit on all these and the whitepaper ;) thank you.
No problem. Glad to help :)
@ humanearl asked me earlier today about how to get the Mastercard. I thought I had that info bookmarked, but evidently not.
Could you share the link & steps to obtain the Mastercard, please? Thanks in advance!
@aunt-deb there will be a form in your viva.cash account when we launch viva.cash on ~May 1st.
Cool beans! Thanks and will be on the lookout.
@humanearl, still working on getting a url about how it is done but here is what i have for now:
There will be a form in your viva.cash account when viva.cash is launched on May 1st. @aunt-deb thank you!
Awesome! Will be on the lookout and thanks for the info.
This is great @surpassinggoogle but you confused @sykochica with @badassbarbie and @alechahn. :D
Hello my friend
I really liked this subject
Thank you for this beautiful information
Thank you a lot!
Okay we will wait for ICO of Viva coin ! Nice ! :)
Hahaha, has it started yet. It is May 1 here!