Pre-Announcing the Early EarthBucks Network: Mines, KYC, and an Exchange

I am launching three mines, one general-purpose KYC app, and an exchange for the EarthBucks MVP. The new mines are Compucha (London, UK) and NinjaButton (Tokyo, Japan). The KYC app is InternetKYC, and the exchange is EBXOTC. All of these apps are “coming soon.” I am pre-announcing them now so that no one is surprised when I launch new apps. All the apps work together as part of the EarthBucks network.

Mines

EarthBucks is a network, not just an app. The app hosted at earthbucks.com is the first mine. Each mine communicates with all other mines primarily to share transactions and blocks. In order to build, test, and bootstrap the peer-to-peer (P2P) network, I need to launch a series of mines. The first three mines on the network are:

• EarthBucks (Virginia, USA)
• Compucha (London, UK)
• NinjaButton (Tokyo, Japan)

The mines are distributed geographically to ensure that most people on Planet Earth can find a mine that is close to them for low latency. Ideally, I would place additional mines in the southern hemisphere, but I have decided to limit myself to three at this time to make sure I can manage them all effectively.

KYC

In order to discourage bad behavior, I am adding optional KYC features to all mines. Users will be able to sign up anonymously, but because I can’t distinguish genuine anonymous accounts from bots and trolls, I will place high fees on those accounts. Users will be able to subscribe and verify with the KYC service to get lower fees. Users who fully verify with government ID will get the lowest fees. While this will not completely prevent malicious users from abusing the network, it does make it more expensive for them to do so.

KYC stands for “Know Your Customer” and refers to every type of verification necessary to prevent abuse of the network. The KYC service is called InternetKYC and will provide pseudonymous verification such as email, domain name, and social media accounts. It will also provide full verification with government ID. Different types of verification will be placed in tiers so that users can opt in to greater and greater levels of verification depending on their needs. Greater levels of verification will entail lower fees for mining and higher limits for transactions.

Although I could put KYC features into every app, it will be easier for users and more effective at preventing abuse if there is one location where users can verify and then they don’t have to do it again and again for each app.

Exchange

The EarthBucks network would not be complete without an exchange. The simplest way to build an exchange is a self-custodial peer-to-peer over-the-counter (OTC) exchange. Such an exchange allows users to trade directly with one another. The first currency pair will most likely be Bitcoin Cash (BCH), but I am looking at other options as well. The goal is to make sure trading is possible and that a price is established for EarthBucks. The exchange is called EBXOTC and will be the first exchange on the EarthBucks network.

Conclusion

I am pre-announcing the new mines, KYC service, and exchange so that no one is caught off guard when these new products launch. EarthBucks is not just an app. It is an entire network. In order to bootstrap the network, I must launch a minimalist set of apps. The new apps are coming soon. Stay tuned for more information.