Safecoin Farming 101

Using the farming analogy, I have attempted to explain how farming Safecoin works. Please let me know if I have made any mistakes and I will revise the tutorial.

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Safecoin Farming 101:

Step 1: Build a Farm

Farms are built when farmers donates network resources such as hard drive space to the MAID SAFE Network.

Step 2: Plant Seeds

When users put data onto the MAID SAFE Network it is split into chunks, encrypted, and uploaded to the network. These encrypted data chunks are the seeds of the MAID SAFE Network. All seeds are planted on a minimum of four random farms. Seeds grow into lottery ticket trees. Lottery ticket trees produce lottery tickets. Lottery tickets have the potential to generate Safecoin for the farmer.

Step 3: Harvest Lottery Tickets

When users successfully get an encrypted data chunk from a farm, the MAID SAFE Network authorizes the lottery ticket tree associated with that chunk to produce a lottery ticket. Farmers then harvest these tickets for a chance to win Safecoin.

Step 4: Win the Lottery

Farmers earn Safecoin when their lottery tickets win the lottery. Lotteries happen at network speed. Each time a farmer wins the lottery they are rewarded Safecoin. Similar to a free market system, the rate at which a lottery ticket will win and the payout of each lottery ticket will be determined by the MAID SAFE Network based on supply and demand of the network’s resources.

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I think the seed/lottery ticket analogy wording gets a little confused, so I would re-word. IE - it is the lottery ticket that is harvested, rather than the seed - isn’t it? The network in your analogy would be the soil or something? Just asking. I’m unable to help on the technical aspects, just the wording needs re-arranging I think.

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Good point, how about this?

Step 3: Harvest Lottery Tickets

Seeds grow into lottery ticket trees. Lottery ticket trees produce lottery tickets when users successfully get
encrypted data chunks from the farmers farming node. Farmers then harvest these tickets.

How does the network “know” who has “lottery tickets” without knowing too much? Or does it not?

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As I understand it each time someone gets data from a farming node, that node requests a lottery ticket. The network then verifies if the farming node does in fact deserve a ticket and then gives the farmer a ticket.

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As soon as I iron out all the details, I plan on turning this into a hand drawn whiteboard video and uploading it to YouTube.

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Great job working out a visual analogy. I think this will be very helpful when people ask about Farming and Safecoin. Here’s some suggestions/corrections for your consideration.

Farmers “provide” resources rather than “donating” it. They are responsible for maintaining the farm operations (storage capacity, bandwith, pc computation, etc).

MaidSafe does not own the Network, although they are building the API that enables it. I prefer to distinguish between “The SAFE Network” and the MaidSafe API, or MaidSafe client, which is what users install and connect to the SAFE Network.

All seeds are “copied” at least 4 times to ensure redundancy, data integrity. Basically when a 1MB chunk is PUT, the SAFE Network makes 4 encrypted copies and then plants them in farms (vaults).

While I like the seed analogy, you could also try a fruit tree image. GET requests are like users watering the tree. The more water it GETS, the more likely it will bear fruit… which is Safecoin. Watering doesn’t automatically generate Safecoin, but it does increase the chances.

Yes,
In addition, the SAFE Network limits the amount Safecoin (fruit) that can be grown by available farm space that exists on the Network, leading up to a cap of 4.3 Billion Safecoins. In other words, the total supply of Safecoin grows in a similar pace to Network growth. Bigger Network, means more Safecoin become available… up until 4.3 Billion are created.

I look forward to seeing your video!

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Thank you for your suggestions. I will use them in my next revision.

Safecoin Farming 101: Simplified v2.0

Farmers cultivate and maintain farms. Farms consist of land, in the SAFE network the farmers land is the hard drive space the farmer provides to the SAFE network. Farm land is planted with seeds, in the SAFE network seeds are the encrypted data chunks the SAFE network puts on to the farmer’s hard drive. Seeds grow into crops, on the SAFE network crops are encrypted data chunks requested by the SAFE network. Crops are harvested when the SAFE network successfully gets encrypted data chunks off of the farmer’s hard drive. The SAFE network rewards farmers with lottery tickets for each successful harvest. Farmers earn Safecoin when their lottery tickets win the lottery. Whether a lottery ticket is a winning or losing ticket is determined by the SAFE network in less than a fraction of a second. How much that winning lottery ticket pays is based off the farmers ranking on the SAFE network and the supply and demand of the SAFE network’s resources. The SAFE network lottery operates similar to the free market system and ensures farmers get paid the perfect amount as the SAFE network resources change over time.

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I would greatly appreciate some devs looking this over for technical issues before I start working on the video.

So, say I’m supplying hardware for maidsafe… “maybe” I will get credit for it?

I’d rather get a small amount for my effort than a chance to get a decent amount. Why does this have to be a lottery, why not simply provide currency based on the amount of resource provided.

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Looks good :smile:

It’s not as “maybe” as the national lotto, this lotto means the safecoins distribute across the network and like rain on the ground if your wee bit of ground is there it will get wet :slight_smile: So think lottery meaning distributed very smoothly across the network with slight bias on rank.

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Is the reason it’s done this way because a safecoin can’t be split?

At the moment yes.

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Does that mean every ticket is a winner and some tickets payout more than others?

No your chance of getting a ticket is biased by your rank. The ticket is your chance.

It will get progressively harder for the ticket to be a winner as time goes by (but worth more and balanced via the balancing algorithm → Farming rate changes). the key is your ticket will have a X% chance of winning (higher to begin with when network is new) but that chance is the same for everyone regardless of rank.

The balance of farming rate also directly will have an impact of ticket winning % this goes up (or seem to)

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Oh okay, well that certainly makes it look way better. Thanks for the clarification.

I understand it in this way. Let’s say there is a town and each family like to contribute their guest room for homeless or stranger for free. and some guest will leave some money next morning in a box right before the city hall (yeah, sorry for using this central description). Then the host will have a chance to draw something from that box…
Ok, the city hall and box really make me sick, it is totally against the decentralize idea. Sorry for that.

The point is, providing some reasourse is kind of like “you are willing to contribute”. But the real contribution only happens when your reasourse was being used. I think this logic is more reasonable.

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