Does NuBits Have Centralized Checkpoints? If so, What is the Long-Term Plan for Them?

Sentinelrv 2014-09-23 01:38:24 UTC #1

Does NuBits use centralized checkpoints similar to Peercoin? As most of you know, checkpoints are one of the biggest criticisms that Peercoin has. In a weekly update Sunny King said that opt out of checkpoints will be in v0.5 and then they’d continue to be phased out over time as the network got more secure due to increased minting. Will NuBits follow a similar path?

sigmike 2014-09-23 06:22:40 UTC #3

No, the synchronized checkpoints have been disabled. There are only hard coded checkpoints.

Sentinelrv 2014-09-23 07:13:29 UTC #4

Is this safe for NuBits? How often are the hardcoded checkpoints made? Also, you work with Sunny…is there a reason why he didn’t do this from the beginning? I’m trying to understand why Sunny wanted synchronized checkpoints and Jordan doesn’t.

sigmike 2014-09-23 07:26:08 UTC #5

There will probably be a new checkpoint in each release.

My understanding is that removing centralized checkpoints requires confidence that the network is decentralized enough. In Peercoin this is a slow process that depends on new coin generation and the number of people minting. In NuBits the shares have been distributed in such a way that minting is already decentralized enough (no one was able to buy a very large amount of shares, the undistributed shares do not mint, there’s a strong incentive to mint, etc.).

Also, Jordan doesn’t want anything centralized in the code (see Implementing In-App Alerts for important announcements).

Sentinelrv 2014-09-23 08:13:03 UTC #6

Ok, this makes sense. Thanks for explaining. I’m also glad that Jordan is being careful about distribution of shares, especially after the criticisms we see of NXT’s distribution.