Anoncoin progress reportI would like to give a quick update on some of the progress that has been made with Anoncoin in the past week.
First, we have put together a
development schedule that is now online at the
Anoncoin wiki. In short, we are planning three releases, which will require two hard forks.
The first release (release A) aims primarily to
- update the code base to bitcoin 0.9.3,
- fix the KGW difficulty algorithm,
- implement multiPOW with three chains (sha-256, scrypt, and the primecoin algorithm), with each allowing merged mining,
- add DNS/I2P seed nodes, and
- switch from I2P to I2Pd (though still routing traffic through the SAM bridge).
The biggest change will be the change in the mining algorithm. The idea is to use several different proof-of-work algorithms, similar to what was first started by Myriadcoin. In this model, each algorithm will only create one-third of the blocks, making a 51% attack almost impossible (the attacker would need to control two of the algorithms, not just one). Furthermore, in order to not be at the mercy of mining pools, which join and leave the network at irregular intervals giving rise to large spikes in the hash rate, each of these three POW chains will allow for merged mining. This means that anyone who is already mining scrypt (for example), will be able to mine Anoncoin with no additional work. We are open to comments from the community about these changes. The choice in the three mining algorithms was done by consensus, and this could be changed if there is a good reason.
I should note that there is a potential drawback to merged mining, which is that people who normally wouldn't mine Anoncoin will all of a sudden be able to get ANC for "free". These miners will almost certainly dump these coins, and this will lead to a downward pressure on the ANC price (though I should note that the price of Dogecoin increased after they implemented merged mining). This will partially be mitigated by the fact that the 5 ANC block reward will halve to 2.5 in about 2.5 months time. We had some discussions about changing the time that the block reward halved, but most of us think that it would be a bad idea to modify this.
Following this initial release, we plan on two other releases. Release B will be a cosmetic update, and will include a built in I2Pd router. Release C will include support for Zerocoin, and will require a second hard fork. Depending on how zerocoin progresses, the release time of B and C could be switched.
We have already hardcoded two DNS seed nodes, as well as a couple I2P seed nodes. Though two DNS seeders are probably enough, we would be happy to add additional ones.
I am unwilling to give estimates at this time for the release dates given the missed deadlines that we have all been subjected to in the past. As soon as I have a "hard" estimate, I will be certain to let you know.
