Cheers - confirmed

great service you use there

Cheers Roister - all confirmed.

Count me in Usukan great Job! 0,312BTC will be transferred

PressTab is on the job.

All is sorted - he has started work already today.


I have some other important engagements today - but will get back later with some more detail.

Cheers - usukan

UPDATE

PressTab has been paid 1.20279 BTC
https://blockchain.info/tx/1090dafd1a1daf4a2ccf42e94524de0b2839ec0556713d5670736da9c5257d2b
This is payment for Stage 1

From the UTC Dev Account
https://blockchain.info/address/1LpFmfieMBH63ivFA1Us5ju1jnH9CSccKZ

He has already started reviewing the code (Stage 2) since he decided that fixing up the code first was by far the best idea - rather than starting on the re-targeting fix (Stage 1) and applying it to the current messy UTC code.
He reports significant code that is a resource hog and fixing this will lead him more easily into the re-targeting fixes and associated code changes.
In UTC's case - this is a far more efficient approach to the work.
Essentially he will be working on both Stage 1 & Stage 2 next week.

There is a chance he will have both Stage 1 & Stage 2 finished by late next week (or shortly after) and he is happy that we pay him next week for Stage 2 - or sooner if we have the available funds - even though his terms are full payment upfront.

So by the end of next week we will likely be ready to consider a hardfork date.

At this point we can apply the liteStake code if we have available funds.


I have been truly impressed by the support and trust the Community has bestowed both me and UTC in this work.

All I can say is THANK YOU

We are now in the capable hands of PressTab - I believe this will turn out very good for UTC.



And if we hit any obstacles






Let the fun begin!


Cheers - usukan

Hi Beave162

No plans unless the community agrees there are good reasons to change.

What are your thoughts on this?

Please discuss.

Thanks - usukan

This is a discussion for the miners to start and fill us in on really.

If any changes are to be made, now would be the time.

Thanks Beave and Thiago

Here are my thoughts on NF and block reward.

Everyone please discuss, agree or disagree.  Silence as always will be taken as agreement.

First - we have only just (Nov/Dec 2015) changed both these based on extended discussions from what was a much larger community base.  Although everyone did not agree 100% - overall this was the group consensus.

 - Lower the block reward from 30 to 10 UTC
 - Reduce NF from 16 to 14


On the NF

UTC was getting raped by botnets at NF16 - it had to be changed and quick.

Alenevaa made a useful post 11 Nov 2015.

Your miners need to use 4 times less memory at NF14 than they have used at NF16.

If roughly estimate [CPU] vs [GPU with 4GB VRAM]

Code:
NFactor | GPU advantage
-----------------------
NF17   | 1x  gpu has no advantage
NF16   | 2x
..
NF14   | 10x gpu 10 times faster

then we can clearly see that Ultracoin NF14 becomes GPU-coin.

From one side (negative) - it has no sense to mine Ultracoin with CPU now
From other side (positive) - Ultracoin will be more secure as GPU-miners stands well against botnets.

also
Quote from: lpedretti on October 27, 2015, 02:50:49 PM
Awesome!
Right in time for me to add another gpu to my rig Smiley
NF14 rocks. the best balance between mem usage and gpu stress



On the block reward - the current plan can be summarised:

Change notes:

Change to 10 UTC per block pending new update
10 UTC per block - 4,000,000
5 UTC per block - 6,000,000
2.5 UTC per block - 8,000,000
1.25 UTC per block - 20,000,000
1 UTC per block - 25,000,000
.5 UTC per block - 30,000,000
.25 UTC per block - 40,000,000
.125 UTC per block - 50,000,000
.01 UTC per block - 208,145,600

Change to 2% pending new update
1.5% per year at block 4,000,000
1% per year at block 8,000,000

GitHub Diff:

https://github.com/Kracko/ultracoin-2/compare/6135192516147ae7d478fd850b085165289558a1...Kracko:master

So it changes to a reward of 5 UTC from block 4,000,000
But in this post
https://bt.irlbtc.com/view/727023.msg12811221#msg12811221
lpedretti suggests that its not coded to change yet - but there is plenty of time before we hit block 4,000,000


My conclusions:

Block Reward

Maintain at 10 UTC for now.
We have just reduced it from 30.
We have few miners and to be quite honest we do not want to further discourage mining.
We only have 6-7 miners on Alenevaa's pool and maybe a solo miner or two.
Any less miners at this point is suicide.
When the price goes up (yes I believe it can only go up from here - barring a few dumps) - these miners who held UTC together in our darkest hour - need to be rewarded.
Sure if the price of UTC goes up substantially in the future - we can change (reduce) it before block 4,000,000.
But not now.
If we reduce it - in the thinking that will make the price go up (which we almost certainly know does not happen) and our miners leave - UTC is dead.
Leave block reward at 10 UTC


NF 14

Leave it at NF14
I have only seen positive feedback on NF14 over other NF's discussed
We avoid botnets which almost killed UTC
I am not a miner - so can offer no other wisdom here
lpedretti's comment is stuck in my mind "NF14 rocks. the best balance between mem usage and gpu stress"

Community - Please discuss.







Thanks - usukan

Thanks Hilux74

I did not search the threads back this far (May 2015 - time constraints)

Your key statements here are:
------------------------------------------------------
So at NF15 you have a unique currency with 1) the most egalitarian mining hardware requirements of any coin (ie almost anyone with a PC can mine it), 2) has among the lowest, if not the lowest, power usage requirement for GPU mining of any coin and 3) remains asic resistant and 4) is botnet resistant since it remains far more efficiently mined by GPU and not CPU.  That combination of features is the golden egg in my view that so far has eluded others.

All that said NF14 would still be ok in my view...just not as perfect.  But as you stated you are also working toward lite clients to function on android and other weak systems so if that goal is not obtainable at NF15-16 then that is a valid enough point.
--------------------------------------------------------------------

So I take from this that the current NF14 is OK - but you think NF 15 is better - if not perfect - and with a "unique" coin claim.

Is there any other NF15 coin?

Are there any current miners watching this thread?  What do you prefer?  The preference of current UTC miners would be a high ranking opinion for me.

Who has mined NF15 - Whats NF 15 really like compared to NF14 that we have now?

and how botnet resistant is it?

If NF15 compromises lite clients in the future - thats a serious drawback.

@PressTab - do you have any comments on NF14 vs NF15? Is there much work involved in changing the code? How many hrs?




Thanks - usukan

I agree with this statement. I just want to point out how admirable ThirtyBird is about how he valued the challenge that used to come with increases in NFactor. But like he said, things are different now. If only more people would be welcoming challenges, more than just focusing on price or trying to pump a coin, good things would happen.

I'm not sure what you mean by having an android phone supporting a full client? What does that have to do with the NFactor?

The fear of botnets is a little overblown. The only worry in terms of botnets, or anything similar, is centralized control of the blockchain. At NFactor 15, UTC will be mined most efficiently with 750ti or R7 240 cards. There are a lot of people with those cards lying around who can ensure the blockchain is secure. NF14 is not a complete departure from that idea though. Like you say Hilux, it is more of the sweet spot at NF15.

I will add another point... Current prices incorporate speculation, which accounts for people betting on events years in the future. At higher NFactors, it could be that these newer CPUs with high memory cache will completely change the dynamics of profitable mining hardware and attract new miners, new interest. It is a good bet to say eventually GPUs will come with higher VRAM, which will have the same effect. There are no real negatives for UTC with that scenario.

I also agree that the lower energy consumption of higher NFactors is a big positive.

It is not a big issue to go from NF14 to NF15. Staying on NF14 would not be a mistake, even if not preferred.