Kim is going to build his platform and use safe as a tool, I don’t see anything wrong with that. He will have no sway with this company. Maidsafe will not be beholden to MU2 but considered for what it will be, a partner, and as such be seen as legitimate as a backend to clearnets solution to file sharing/storage. To me that will surely draw attention. If anything Kim is underestimating the network and seeing it as only storage, if so that would be his mistake.
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Has this been stated anywhere? It seems he is using other tech from what I saw
EDIT: Ah yes I noticed he used Maidsafe amongst others. It seems like he is saying the technologies to give credence to his claims. Now will he use them, well his response to Nick was a flog off response and that suggests he is not seriously considering it.
To use Safe network as a “backend” is to tell people, hey just use SAFE network yourself and make your own money and ignore us, they have everything I’m offering.
So to partner with Maidsafe would only occur if he can profit from it and that would require him to have (some) control over how Maidsafe do things.
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When I say he will, I’m really speaking hypothetically. I believe he’d use safe over storj just because storj is so convoluted compared to safe. He does give a brush off kind of answer on the Bnk forum but once they investigate their options for storage more then things will fall into place. As long as safe is ready when they are which I really hope so.
I agree with your point about safe having everything he’d be offering but he has an established brand and is using that currently even to raise millions so I think he most likely will underestimate safe as a threat and his users will not even realize initially until people start to want to know more about how MU2 works. Hopefully his implementation won’t have weaknesses that reflect poorly on safe if anything. He will profit most likely in savings as far as using safe as secure storage. Of course none of this could happen as well but I think it’s a definite possibility
Edit: I really shouldn’t say storj is so convoluted. It’s very click and done from a user perspective besides choosing where to store and what bandwidth etc but safe will still have a very competitive price point for secure storage and the network takes care of bandwidth and where or what to store data on for you.
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Isn’t Mega using MaidSafe like a new cloud service using Dropbox as a backend?
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They have only said they will look at a range of options and maidsafe was one of the ones mentioned. Then in a reply to Nick he sidestepped.
All the other doco says storage using the blockchain. Honestly it sounds just like they will encrypt, put the keys into the blockchain Thus uploader encrypts into traditional cloud, the key encrypted with receivers public key into the blockchain and the receivers can use their private key to decrypt the file’s encryption key then decrypt the file.
neo, how do you think this would work? I think core bitcoin devs are deliberately limiting the block size because they feel that space on the bitcoin block change is and should remain a valuable resource. So do you think he’ll wait for the introduction of side chains in order to get cheaper storage? Seems to me that side chains are no closer to being implemented on the bitcoin blockchain than the SafeNetwork is from being ready, give or take a few months.
In essence I feel Safe has as good a shot as any other solution here.
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The encrypted files are stored on any cloud storage, most likely similar to their first system.
Then store the encryption keys on the blockchain as I said above.
So
Uploader
- encrypt file using symmetrical key “A”
- store the encrypted file in MU-2 cloud
- encrypt file key “A” with recipient’s public key giving “B”
- Store “B” on the blockchain
- fees to store “B” go to Kim
Downloader
- get “B” from the blockchain
- use their private key to decrypt “B” giving file key “A”
- decrypt file using “A”
The work by Kim will be to do all the key handling and providing a way for multiple people be the recipient. Public files will simply store the file’s encryption key without being encrypted. Then there is the interface with 21 corp micro payment useful but expensive micropayment system
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Thanks for the detailed explanation! I’m guessing you don’t think that storing B on the blockchain will create much bloat, even for the enormous amount of data his project is likely to need to store?
I dunno, it might be his own blockchain he hasn’t specified. Could use side chains
But 21 corp has basically promised to be able to handle this sort of transaction rate on the bitcoin blockchain using there own system. Haven’t gone into what 21 corp are doing to be able to do this, but I suspect they are adding to the blockchain code to handle the multitudes of IoT micropayments they claim to be targeting. In one document they wanted every IoT device to verify themselves (for some bitcoin dust cost).
I think this demonstrates how superior safe net technology is for file storage over block chain storage. If you still have to worry about the physical storage of files and their availability, only half of the problem has been solved. Moreover, the propagation delay when adding/removing/moving files will be high on a block chain.
Of course, if all we had was block chain tech, then maybe there would still be a use case. With safe net on route, it is hard to see why block chains would be used for this purpose though, IMO.
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It is not uncommon for users to subscribe to a service that uses the technology of another company as its backend, The allure of associating with kim dotcom is also at play here. Mega can package a front end for Maidsafe any sexy way they want and sell a service for double. Thats how market segmentation works. There are some who have lotsa money and no brains or time and some who have no money and lotsa brains lotsa time.
For anyone to partner with Maidsafe would require that partnership to be financially beneficial to both parties. Why would it not? What would be the purpose of the partnership? There is no necessity for anyone to have any level of control over Maidsafe to have a successful partnership.
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I just listened to the Safecrossroads Fergish/Nick Lambert interview again (highly recommended as there were a few things I’d missed first time around).
One thing I hadn’t realised, and if I’ve understood correctly, was that we won’t be actually buying equity in MaidSafe, but in aN SPV created by BTTF that will be investing in MaidSafe. Perhaps I’m being a little paranoid, but can anybody confirm that the SPV is a separate legal entity from BanktotheFuture? Just imagining a somewhat extreme scenario where if the SPV is actually consolidated on the balance sheet of BTTF and for whatever reason this company gets into financial difficulty, there won’t be some lien on the MaidSafe SPV.
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Yes it is, it’s a shell for this investment only. You can ask on BttF to get further clarification and the paperwork. Good to ask all these questions though, but it’s common practice when there are lots of investors in a round.
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Something I did not understand from the interview was if the SPV counts as 1 investor to Maidsafe then how do voting shares matter.
If the SPV is one investor but some people within that SPV have different views how does that work.
I have not let it bother me much because the weight of vote at that percentage is not worth being worried about anyway.
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Thanks David for clarifying. My investment is going to hit in the next few days!
Going back to the Safecoin vs equity debate, one thing that Nick said really stuck out: the Alpha network in its current form could be used to automate a standalone data centre. So, to play Cassandra again for a second and imagine a worst case scenario in which for whatever reason ensuring vault connectivity doesn’t work or the full version of the SAFE network doesn’t (clearly not what we want or expect), what’s the maximum downside to investing in shares? Given the current evaluation of around €37M and that operating costs for the current team are low, you’d have to think selling licenses for the Alpha network would itself generate more than €37M of profit in the relatively short time-frame.
This one data point gives me a lot of confidence that even in a worst case scenario the equity is probably significantly undervalued. All with the usual disclaimers about this not being investment advice 
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I would guess it’s some sort of vote / average
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Has somebody already invested/backed with altcoins?
Says “accepting altcoins” but it seems to be a not working feature.
Simon Dixon told that this was now working from yesterday, so investors can pay with alts and they shape shift into BTC. When did you try?
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Hey Nick,
Will they shapeshift it to btc as soon as they receive it ? or will they do it if the minimum is made ?
Cause would be nice to get altcoins back if it didnt succeed.
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I’m trying to get some people I know at The Bitcoin Podcast interested in Maidsafe. Maybe to set up an interview… They seem to think that Synereo are doing the same type of project. Can anyone tell me the differences between the two projects?
Cheers
Adam
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