The pros and the cons of JL being anonymous for Nu

cryptog 2015-02-07 11:58:10 UTC #1

Is it necessary for Nu to have its inventor anonymous?

I am wondering about that since most of our competitors and bitcoin 2.0 projects are all not anonymous.

Nu is unique in that sense.

Nu wants to create a crypto currency pegged to the USD. Since it is illegal to create a FIAT currency different from USD and make it legal tender, Nu is obviously tackling a very sensitive issue.
Of course NuBit is not a FIAT currency per se.

I feel this is the main reason why JL is anonymous and I think this is justified and necessary.

However I would like to get your opinion.
Would JL being anonymous hurt Nu’s publicity in the near future?

creon 2015-02-07 12:29:02 UTC #2

From chats with many other coin main developers I learned that there are many understandable reasons to stay anonymous in a landscape like crypto. Their significant influence on the roadmap of these projects makes them targets for stalking, blackmailing, and even death threats.

The nice thing with blockchains is that you only have to trust the protocol, not the developer. So the real identity shouldn’t have any weight when considering the security of the underlying system.

Chronos 2015-02-07 22:03:44 UTC #3

Being anonymous would be very important for JL’s safety, if the peg fails, and both NBT and NSR become nearly worthless.

This is an ironic statement, because Nu involves a lot more trust than most blockchains. Here are some things unique to Nu that you trust:

Trust JL not to dump undistributed shares (other chains don’t have undistributed shares)
Trust KTm and JMiller not to dump the created NBT on market
Trust shareholders to vote in a manner that is best for the network
Trust that NuBot doesn’t have a bug that places bad orders and loses custodian funds
Trust that exchanges will not front-run NuBot
Etc.

In its current form, Nu requires a lot of trust. The plan is that this will diminish as custodianship becomes more decentralized.

creon 2015-02-07 22:14:02 UTC #4

This is the only point you mentioned where the real identity of JL might be of interest, although I doubt that you could sue him for that. All other points are problems the developer cannot solve by revealing personal information, and need to be addressed by the people who want to build the infrastructure of the coin.

Chronos 2015-02-07 22:22:03 UTC #5

You’re right. That list was a bit off-topic from this thread, which was meant to be about JL. I just wanted to reply to the “trust the protocol” idea.

Sunny King (creator of Peercoin) is anonymous.

Satoshi Nakamoto (creator of Bitcoin) is anonymous.

It seems reasonable to me that Jordan Lee would be anonymous, too.

cryptog 2015-02-08 03:38:50 UTC #6

in that case anonymity is a must.

cryptog 2015-02-08 03:39:15 UTC #7

can you clarify?

Chronos 2015-02-08 06:46:18 UTC #8

Front running is when the exchange (or another trader) sees your order before it executes, and inserts their own order ahead of it, resulting in a worse price when your first order is finally executed. You might enjoy a pretty thorough blog post that Dan Larimer recently wrote on the topic: http://bytemaster.bitshares.org/article/2015/01/29/How-BitShares-Prevents-Front-Running/

It is illegal for regulated exchanges such as the NYSE to front-run their customers. However, most bitcoin exchanges are unregulated, so these practices may be happening behind the scenes. In the case of NuBot, a larger opportunity to take advantage exists due to high volumes. (Example: NuBot asks to have a wall removed for repositioning, but the exchange hits the wall with an order of its own before it executes the cancel.)

Hope this helps!

cryptog 2015-02-08 12:34:35 UTC #9

I see. Tks for the explanation.

Yurizhai 2015-02-09 21:31:55 UTC #10

While I love having Jordan at the helm, I hope eventually shareholders become the main runners of Nu, both anonymous and well known public figures.