The Sovereignty of Blockchains

Public blockchains such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Hive, and EOS are supranational organizations of people cooperating to reach consensus. This means they exist in a realm beyond the jurisdiction of any country. It is the supranational nature of blockchain that creates the potential to provide freedoms that exist outside the absolute...

More Equal Animals Book Released

Today I am excited to announce that my book, “More Equal Animals - The Subtle Art of True Democracy” available for download by all. It is also available in print and e-book formats. This book represents the culmination of years of research and soul searching. Its contents give a roadmap...

The Next Step in Defending Freedom of Speech

We need to decentralize the infrastructure of the internet and enable more peer to peer data sharing.

EOS Trust Model under One-Token One-Vote

The EOS community will need to reconsider its trust model for CPU billing if it switches to one token one vote.

Infinitely Scalable and Private Digital Cash

How to securely send cryptocurrencies without an internet connection and no fees.

The Ideal Cryptocurrency

This article explores the properties of an ideal cryptocurrency and compares it to Bitcoin

Logical Decentralization

If we want to decentralize power in society then we must learn lessons from the starfish.

Universal Earned Income has nothing to do with Earning

Words that are systematically abused in ways contrary to their meaning are weapons of mass deception and cultural destruction.

Promises vs Smart Contracts

There are many reasons why mere promises shouldn’t be enforceable. A defense of the title transfer theory of contract.

It’s Time for Smarter Contracts

Traditional contracts are fraught with problems, it is time to rethink the structure and enforcability of all contracts whether or not we encode them in software as smart contracts.

Tyranny of the Status Quo

The vast majority of people don't approve of the government we have. What can we do about it? A sneak peek of my upcoming book.

Consolidating my Blogs

Why I aggregated content from voice, medium, steem, and github into my new blog 'More Equal Animals'.

Why you should subscribe to More Equal Animals Today!

By subscribing to More Equal Animals you can be kept up to date on the latest articles and community updates.

Why I named my blog 'More Equal Animals'

In Animal Farm, some animals are more equal than others which contradicted the intent of their animal utopia. This blog is about designing a true democracy that actually makes us more equal without the pitfalls of Animal Farm.

Coordination, Good and Bad

An article by Vitalik Buterin with comments by Daniel Larimer which outlines the game theory of coordination and the challenge of defining and preventing bad coordination.

Political Playoffs instead of Payoffs

Selecting leaders is like a game and the rules of the game define the quality of the leaders. What if the skill of 'good governance' was like skill in the game of chess?

Subjective Decentralization

How should we measure decentralization?

Hierarchical Representative Government

Imagine a representative democratic government without politicians, campaigning, and political parties.

How to Minimize Corruption by Limiting Population of Countires

The future of a society can largely be predicted based upon the beliefs baked into its culture. As a culture changes so will the future. There is a saying, “Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times”....

Blockchain is a Better Application Server and Database

By the time you do everything necessary to secure a traditional web application and database you will have implimented a blockchain.

Daniel Larimer's Recommended Reading 2020

In 2019 I created new space in my life to read and it has been one of my most rewarding and transformational years. Books express ideas with a level of depth and richness that is not possible to achieve in a blog post, podcast, or tweet. Choosing which book to...

EOS Resource Allocation Reimagined

A better approach to allocating CPU and NET resources that makes resources more affordable and easier to understand for developers and users.

Trustless Contracts overcome Artificial Restrictions

Anyone designing smart contracts that attempt to rely upon artificial limits, such as fees or time locks, to enforce a certain game theory outcome should read this article first.

EOS Blockchain Governance Proposal

A proposal to utilize multiple staking pools of different lengths to allocate power and align economic incentives

Decentralizing Governance

Explores ways to maximize the quality of those we put in power while preventing the most corrupt from taking over.

Decentralizing in spite of Pareto Principle

An exploration of ways to overcome the pareto principle (aka the 80/20 rule) which forces most systems into control of the of 1%.

In Defense of Universal Resource Inheritance

After introducing URI many libertarians took issue with the morality of 5% wealth tax. This post describes one way it could be implimented.

Universal Resource Inheritance

A logically consistent theory of property rights derived by fairly allocating the natural, unearned, resources of the universe across all generations.

The Limits of Crypto-Economic Governance

My response to Vitalik Buterin's critique of my Delegated Proof of Stake consensus algorithm.

DPOS Consensus Algorithm - The Missing White Paper

A detailed explanation of the delegated proof of stake consensus algorithm and why it is robust.

What could a blockchain constitution look like?

An example of a potential consitution for smart contract enabled blockchain.

Create a Meaningful Blockchain Constitution

A guide on how to create a blockchain constitution from first principles.

Blockchain UTXO model is a Dead End for General Purpose Applications

An analysis of the UTXO (Unspent Transaction Output) model used by bitcoin and why it isn't appropriate for decentralized applications.

The Problem with Byzantine Generals

Bitcoin and DPOS don't solve the byzantine generals problem and that is a good thing.

Are blockchains really censorship resistant?

A blockchain able to charge a fee is able to censor a transaction. Is there anything we can do about this?

Grand Unified Political Theory

An attempt to reconcile differences among anarchy, libertarianism, socialism, and capitalism with universal inheritance similar to universal basic income.

What would a legitimate Universal Basic Income buy?

An estimate of the value of a sustainable and morally justifyable Universal Basic Income.

Allocating the Unearned Resources of the Universe

Everything in the universe is initially 'unowned', so how should we allocate it fairly?

Why Every Blockchain Needs a Constitution

Every blockchain needs a constitution because majority rules and computer code is not enough.

How to Launch a Crypto Currency Legally while Raising Funds

An analysis of laws and precedent related to using a cryptocurrency to generate income to start a business and some the rationalle behind the launch of the Steem blockchain.

How to build a Decentralized Application without Fees

Blockchain technology currently depends upon transaction fees to prevent spam. These fees suffer all of the known problems with microtransactions that prevent blockchains from being used for necessary low-value transactions. Truly decentralized applications must offer users the appearance of free transactions if they wish to compete with their centralized alternatives....

The Currency Distribution Problem

The distribution of currency is extremely controversial and ultimately a political issue. Whenever new currency is created it transfers value from the previous holders of the currency to someone new. A similar economic outcome could be achieved by a savings tax that reduces everyone's balance and gives it to someone...

The Benefits of Proof of Work

I have long been of the opinion that proof-of-stake is superior to proof-of-work. Today I would like to challenge my own beliefs against the lessons I have learned from over a year of experience with proof-of-stake. In the past I have argued that proof-of-work is wasteful and that the same...

Mutual Aid Society vs Insurance

It has long been accepted that blockchain technology is a perfect fit for the Financial industry. Now it is time to consider how the technology could benefit the Insurance industry. Maybe someday it will also take over Real Estate and completely conquer the FIRE sector of the economy. Insurance Insurance...

Mutual Aid Society

Today I would like to present my concept for a Mutual Aid Society (MAS) on a blockchain. For lack of a better name for this concept I will refer to this system as MUXER. Muxer is a social network of giving you can count on when you need it the...

Why I like Ethereum

I have said many negative things about Ethereum in the past, but today I would like to change that. Due to recent disputes within the BitShares ecosystem I have come to appreciate a certain qualities of Ethereum that the BitShares community could learn from. Over the past several months I...

Why Vision Matters

My prior blog post created quite a controversy among many in the BitShares community. I cast a vision for BitShares as an an non-violent alternative to government. These ideas are considered niche and a distraction by some. Today I am going to justify the raw business benefits of a vision....

BitShares Vision

A new year, calls for a renewed vision and direction for BitShares. For too long BitShares has been evolving without any clearly and consistently stated purpose or direction. Today I would to cast my vision for BitShares in 2016 and the years beyond. The most high level vision is to...

Bitcoin is 100x less secure than commonly believed

The reason proof of work is considered secure is because it is more profitable to join the honest network than to attempt to attack it. The more money you can earn mining for the honest chain, the more costly it becomes to produce an alternative chain. At the core of...

Review of Casper, Ethereum’s proposed Proof of Stake Algorithm

Vlad Zamfir of Ethereum recently made a blog post describing a new Proof of Stake algorithm called Casper “the friendly ghost”. Its name is derived from its relationship to the GHOST (Greedy Heaviest-Observed Sub-Tree) proof-of-work protocol. For the full details of the proposed approach see their blog post. Overview My...

Can MaidSafe Decentralize the Internet?

I have been following MaidSafe since before I learned about Bitcoin and I learned about Bitcoin back when I could still mine full blocks with my own CPUs. Back in those early days MaidSafe was not creating a crypto-currency and instead focusing mostly on distributed storage. Much has changed since...

How BitShares Prevents Front Running

Front running happens when a broker executes his own orders prior to executing the orders of his customers. This can be extremely profitable to the broker which can buy a stock just before a large buy order pushes the price up and then sell the stock just before a large...

BitAssets and Black Swan Events

A black swan event is a very unlikely, yet possible event. The concept was first introduced by Nicholas Taleb in his book, "The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable". All debts and contracts are vulnerable to sudden and unexpected movements in the market and investors would be unwise...

The basics of Basic Income

An economic analysis of universal basic income (UBI) and reasons why it isn't economically or morally viable.

Use Gold with BitShares to bypass Fiat Regulations

Everyone who has been following the evolution of crypto currency exchanges has learned how expensive it is to comply with all of the regulations in the money transmission business. It can literally takes years and millions of dollars to get permission from the government to start an exchange that accepts...

The Road to Universal .p2p Resolution

The following is a repost of the delegate bid by Indolering. Indolering spent a week with us in early January to help revive our vision for DNS under BitShares. Indolering has presented one of the best, most comprehensive delegate bids to date. Here is what he had to say: I...

Public Goods and the Public Good

It isn’t easy taking a hard line against violence while searching for viable solutions to secure the life, liberty, and property for all. I don’t just preach non violence and then hope for the best, I actively look for creative solutions that can be implemented today. Every now and then...

The Minimal Requirement for Decentralization of Bitcoin

Decentralization is a key characteristic of all crypto-currency projects, yet it is a concept that is often loosely defined. Understanding the minimal requirements for decentralization can help us to optimize performance, minimize cost, and ultimately make the debate over who is most decentralized moot. The reason why decentralization is important...

Is Fractional Reserve Banking a Ponzi Scheme?

Fractional reserve banking has been practiced almost since the beginning of banking. It is at the heart of all bank runs and is the reason the Federal Reserve was created. I have long believed fractional reserve lending to be an inherent evil leading to the inflation of the money supply...

Decentralization of Nxt vs. BitShares

There has been an ongoing debate over the relative decentralization of various projects. I have made several posts where I analyse things from both an economic and mathematical perspective and draw various conclusions about the theoretical decentralization of the various protocols. Today I discovered that Nxt has already published all...

What is Bitcoin and why does it have value?

There is a vast difference between what something is and what it is used for. Money or currency is an attribute of how something can be used, but does not give us a clear understanding of what something is. Anything can be used as money provided it is sufficiently durable,...

Decentralization, Scalability, and Fault Tolerance of Bitcoin

Bitcoin is all about decentralizing the control over money through objective consensus on ownership. What often gets lost in the discussion is the difference between decentralization, scalability, and fault tolerance. Bitcoin is an example of a decentralized system whose scalability is limited by the power of an individual node rather...

Introducing BitShares SafeBot

When it comes to crypto currencies there are no take-backs. A single mistake could send thousands of dollars to the wrong person never to be seen again. Crypto currencies go to great lengths to minimize human error. This normally takes the form of a checksum tacked on to the end...

Recommended Reading - 2015

There have been many books that I have read over the years that I have found incredibly useful in helping me understand the world around me. Each book has helped me on my journey to who I am today. I will be adding to this list as I discover new...

Overstock to Crypto-Stock

The crypto-currency industry has been abuzz ever since Wired published an article entitled “Overstock’s Radical Plan to Reinvent the Stock Market With Bitcoin.” Patrick Byrne, CEO of Overstock.com, has seen firsthand how Wall Street has been corrupted to the core, and he’s eager to do something to fix it. He...

How to Measure the Decentralization of Bitcoin

The crypto currency community is full of people making wild claims about the relative centralization of various projects. Calling something centralized is like calling someone racist; it starts to lose all meaning unless you are extremely careful in how you define it. Decentralization has become a kind of religion, when...

Nothing at Stake - Nothing to Fear

There are many arguments against Proof of Stake, but none of them is more persistent than the fear of the so-called “Nothing-at-Stake” attack. Under this attack it is claimed that block producers can produce an arbitrarily long alternative chain at any time and then use this attack to “kill” the...

DevShares Reloaded

A couple of weeks ago we launched the initial version of DevShares without consulting with the community first. At the time I thought the allocation shouldn’t be a big deal because it would be a low value, highly unstable, coin with no intention of becoming a competitor. It became apparent...

The Worlds First Decentralized Exchange

The centralized exchanges the world has known throughout history have proven unreliable and untrustworthy time and again. Whether it is MF Global, Mt. Gox, or BitStamp we have seen all of the perils of allowing a 3rd party to hold your money. It doesn't matter how big they are or...

The most Decentralized Proof of Stake (POS) system.

All too often I see people making the claim that Delegated Proof of Stake is too centralized, but centralization is all relative. Today I would like to explore the meaning of decentralization as it relates to Proof of Stake systems and compare the top 3 approaches: BitShares, Nxt, and Peercoin....

Why I am an Austrian Economist

The good folks at bitsharestalk can always be relied upon to provide a solid critique. Their critique of my last post, “Why I am an Austrian Economist - Take 1”, has convinced me it was a terrible post. So I am going to give it a second attempt that I...

The Future of Crypto Currency Exchanges

I started BitShares in response to Mt. Gox having its US bank accounts seized. Since then a number of major crypto currency exchanges have been hacked or shutdown. Just this weekend my favorite bitcoin exchange, Bitstamp, had its hot wallet compromised and has temporarily suspended service. Time and again we...

Why I am an Austrian Economist - Take 1

The good folks at bitsharestalk can always be relied upon to provide a solid critique. Their critique of this post convinced me to make a second attempt which I feel does a much better job. The original article can be found here. Founders of major crypto-currency projects depend as much...

Delegated Proof of Stake (DPOS) vs Proof of Work (POW)

Today's post is an excerpt from "BitShares 101" talking about the benefits of Delegated Proof of Stake vs Proof of Work. In this chapter, I am going to explain the technological leap that occurred in August of 2014 that made DACs far more viable. I should warn you that this...

Should Stocks be included in the CPI (Consumer Price Index)?

When people talk about inflation they generally refer to the government published consumer price index. The Federal Reserve uses this CPI number to set monetary policy and declares this to be the official “inflation rate” which in turn is used to set all kinds of government benefit adjustments. Currently Stocks...

How to Register a BitShares Account

Many people have been confused about how to create and register their BitShares account. This tutorial will walk you through the process of getting a fully functional registered account on the BitShares blockchain. The first step is to download the latest release of BitShares. At the time of writing BitShares...

Cooperation among Crypto Projects

Vitalik Butern produced yet another great blog post titled “On Silos” where he called for projects to work together on common infrastructure while focusing on their unique components rather than reinvent the wheel a dozen times. The primary concern is that there is a lot of duplicated effort among all...

New Management of bitshares.org and Social Media

Today we have a guest post by Adam Ernest who is taking over bitshares.org and our social media. Adams comments: I’m excited to have the opportunity to step in and begin directly contributing to our marketing efforts. In my experience, during times of transition, it is of the utmost importance...

How to Create a Stable Decentralized Crypto Currency

In my prior post I made the argument that a stable currency was both impossible and undesirable. What we really want is a currency that grows in value at the same rate as the economy as a whole. Since then Vitalik has responded with some critiques that made me realize...

Stable Currencies are Impractical and Undesirable

It seems that everyone wants a stable crypto currency. Recently Vitalik Buterin posted a blog about the “Search for a Stable Cryptocurrency” which prompted much discussion on the BitShares forums about his approach. Today I would like to put a nail in the coffin on the insanity of pursuing a...

BitShares Fee Schedule Explained

There are only two constants in life, death and bank fees. Today I am going provide some much needed clarity about what types of fees BitShares charges, why they are charged, and how they can be paid. From a high level there are two kinds of fees, deterministic fees defined...

The Socialist Justice System

When most people think about a justice system they envision police, courts, and jails. Everyone wants justice and we are told over and over again that justice is what police, courts, and jails produce. But is this really the case? When you are harmed you want justice. To be more...

Where can blockchain technology take us?

In this video I am interviewed by Max Wright about where BitShares and blockchain technology are going to take us. I go into the importance of non violence combined with profit motive and not giving up on the search for technological solutions for securing our life, liberty, and property. For...

The Benefits of a Contract Free Society

Most libertarians think about contracts as the fundamental building block of a free society. I take a relatively unique position that contracts as we know them are the Achilles heel of attempts to form a libertarian society. I go so far as to suggest that we need a contract-free society...

Stop the Crowd Sales! Long live Crowd Funding!

Crowd funding is all the rage these days, especially among crypto-projects. For the first time in history we have a easy way to crowd fund on a global scale and everyone is doing it. It takes significant money to build, deploy, and maintain a new crypto-ledger and developers don’t work...

Introducing BitShares Object Graph

As time progresses we gain a deeper understanding about the nature of block chain technology at both an economic and technological level. Today I would like to introduce the latest advancement in block chain technology: a graph database on a block chain. Bitcoin introduced a new data structure called a...

Delegates Should have a Business Plan

BitShares has revolutionized crowd funding of crypto currency research and development by introducing 101 paid delegate positions. At todays valuation that represents up to $3 million dollars per year that can be spent growing BitShares. There are already a dozen positions filled by individuals contributing everything from web design to...

How to Short & Cover a BitAsset

I would like to thank cryptosile from EveryDayCrypto for producing a great video walkthrough on how to use the BitShares wallet to create and cover a BitAsset. I will probably be producing a similar video at some point in the future, but for now this is the best that is...

How to Maintain Privacy with BitShares

Privacy is a funny thing. It is difficult to gain, easy to loose, and impossible to restore. I have spent a good deal of time looking for solutions to maintain my privacy and one such resource was J.J. Luna’s book “How to Be Invisible”. In his book he outlines the...

Join the BitShares Community Today!

The BitShares community is a group of individuals who are looking to change the world through innovation and cooperation. Our goal is to create a free society by systematically replacing the role of government with free market, non-violent alternatives while making everyone in the community a ton of money. In...

How BitShares Works

BitShares is a platform for stable value cryptocurrencies. There are now digital versions of dollars, yuan and gold that have the same prices and stability as their counterparts, but with all the advantages of cryptocurrencies. You can send them anywhere in the world for miniscule fees, and you have full...

BitShares Login

In a previous article I ask the question "Who really owns your online identity?". Under todays internet the answer is simple: Not You. Your online identity is managed by your login credentials which are usually tied to your email account. Google, Apple, Microsoft, Yahoo and/or your ISP collectively control the...

Provably Honest Online Elections are Possible

Moving elections online is a very controversial subject because it is something everyone would like, but it is not trivial to implement in a provably honest manner. There are countless articles around the internet that throughly document how even electronic voting or vote counting is unverifiable and cannot be trusted....

BitShares as a Bank - The origin of the DAC

A description of the economics of BitShares and the origin story for how term Decentralized Autonomous Companies came into use.

Introducing BitShares.TV

BitShares.TV hosted by Max Wright, is a weekly internet show dedicated to keeping you up-to-date with the world of BitShares. The first 3 episodes are online and ready for you to watch right now. Each episode is designed to give insight to a particular aspect of the BitShares eco system....

'BitShares 101' Book Released

Max Wright has just published the first e-book about BitShares: BitShares 101: A Guidebook on How To Profit From the Next Generation of Bitcoin, Crypto Currencies and Decentralized Businesses. For a long time the BitShares community has needed a introductory guide for the average man. Max has done an amazing...

Aggregate Public Opinion Matters

Whether we like it or not the mob ultimately runs society. Individual property rights mean nothing in a riot. If public opinion turns against something nothing can resist it for long, not even the most oppressive governments. A libertarian utopia is the result of changing public opinion and maintaining public...

The Value of DevShares

Block chain technology is constantly evolving and while Bitcoin appears content to stand still, we feel BitShares needs to be more dynamic so it can evolve with the market. Stability and predictability are core features of any block chain and any interruption in service can have a dramatic effect on...

How to Create a Free Society

Creating a free society is the combined result of individuals giving each other freedom. You have heard it said, “give, and ye shall receive”, this is the foundation of a free society. You have to give others freedom so that they can give you freedom. Our freedom or lack thereof...

What is BitShares?

Answering the question "What is BitShares?" has been one of the most difficult challenges I have faced. BitShares is so many things to different people and there are a thousand different ways of understanding what BitShares is. This post will tell you what BitShares is to me, its founder. Before...

What are BitShares Market Pegged Assets?

BitShares market pegged assets are a new type of freely traded digital asset whose value is meant to track the value of a conventional asset such as the U.S. dollar or gold. What makes market pegged assets unique is that they are free from counter party risk. BitShares uses an...

Benefits of Becoming a BitShares Gateway

A gateway is a trusted party that facilitates moving value into and out of the BitShares network. To do this they issue redeemable IOUs as fungible divisible assets on the BitShares block chain. If the issuer is trustworthy then those IOUs will trade at face value and therefore be useful...

Why BitShares is Public Domain

When creating any kind of content whether a blog article or source code, the author has to make a choice about which license to use. This is a very tough decision for many people because, in theory, it impacts your ability to make money from your content. While I haven't...

Libertarianism for New Agers

I have spent innumerable hours reading articles by people with all manner of New Age beliefs and the most common theme espoused by these individuals is one of unconditional love and unity with all which comes about when one increases their ‘awareness’ or ‘consciousness‘. Being receptive to these ideas I...

The Golden Principle (aka The Silver Rule)

Principles are the bedrock upon which the foundation of society are built. Without principles there is no guide or consistency nor measure of success or failure. If we are to create a libertarian utopia it must be engineered from the ground up to comply with a set of universal principles...

Genesis Post

Every blog requires a first post, so it is only fitting for a blog that discusses the power of blockchain technology start with a genesis post. This blog is a new beginning in my effort to communicate my vision for a new world. If I am going to change the...

Own Your Identity with BitShares

Who really owns your online identity? I can assure you that any ownership you perceive is an illusion and ultimately your online identity is not currently under your control. Chances are your identity is tied to your e-mail address and every service you sign up for uses email verification as...

Subjective Reality Simplified

This is perhaps the simplest way I can explain the perspective of subjective reality at present — and why I’m such a strong advocate of it. First… some definitions: Objective Reality (OR) is the perspective that you’re the character in the dream world, and the dream world is solid, real,...