####Swarm coins can generate a new coin, are you serious?
Yep, it's a pretty cool thing that was never possible until now. You can get coins for all of our future launches simply by having some SwarmCoin. We expect this distributed incubator model to dramatically impact how business are started and run since it has the possiblity of dramatically accelerating a company's path to market. Just think about it, you start off with a bunch of engaged users from the beginning and they give you money. What could be better than that?
####Can I mine swarm?
No. All 100,000,000 coins are set at the beginning and locked so that no more can ever be created. You can get some SWARM in the fundraiser.
####How did you come up with this idea?
I was initially inspired by the Decentralized Applications whitepaper (https://github.com/DavidJohnstonCEO/DecentralizedApplications) and Vitalik Buterin's writings on the Distributed Autonomous Organizations, including the Ethereum whitepaper (https://github.com/ethereum/wiki/wiki/%5BEnglish%5D-White-Paper). This led me to write my own paper about the possiblity of distributed governance (https://github.com/fractastical/distributed-governance/blob/master/whitepaper.md).
I then notice that folks in the VC industry who were very aware of the limitations of that model and some of the barriers to crowdfunding, including Fred Wilson of Union Square (http://avc.com/2014/03/unregulated-crowdfunding/) and Naval Ravikant of AngelList (http://startupboy.com/2014/03/09/the-bitcoin-model-for-crowdfunding/).
After some more research, I did some writing for Let's Talk Bitcoin, Bitcoin Magazine, and my private blog, including articles on Cryptocurrency Crowdfunding: Problems and Potential, (http://evergreenthoughts.quora.com/Cryptocurrency-Crowdfunding-Problems-and-Potential; Bitcoin crowdfunding: Naval and Fred step up to bat, http://evergreenthoughts.quora.com/Bitcoin-crowdfunding-Naval-and-Fred-step-up-to-bat; AppCoin Manifesto, http://letstalkbitcoin.com/too-many-coins/; For Us By Us: Bitcoin Needs To Move Out of the Crypto-enthusiast Box, http://bitcoinmagazine.com/11133/us-us-bitcoin-needs-move-crypto-enthusiast-box/; Why Bitcoin is not a currency, http://evergreenthoughts.quora.com/Why-Bitcoin-is-not-a-currency).
The rest came together gradually as I tried to figure out the appropriate technology set to build off of and to put together a team to work on this.
####What technology set are you using?
At the moment, Bitcoin, the second generation protocol Counterparty (https://www.counterparty.co), and a customized vending machine on Counterparty that automatically generates and distributes user-created assts. We anciticipating supporting other 2.0 protocols once they support automatic asset generatoin.
####Is this legal?
We believe this falls into section (1)(d) of our Cryptoequity whitepaper (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1qY0GCGKByXc8aeUaHIgggaSGzYjYHKCY0TeLKYt9b3I), meaning it is allowable under U.S. law and is probably not problematic elsewere. That said, we are not laywers and advise you to consult the local law to see if and what you are doing is regulated.
####Is there a pre-mine?
8% of the holdings goes to the Swarm reserves, which is split between founders, swarm representatives, and bounties for specific projects. We wanted to avoid a large pre-mine, since that creates misaligned incentives: https://gist.github.com/fractastical/b236024cd106e97b38d0. That said, we thought if there was no pre-mine then founders and early contributors would have less incentive to see the project to completion. We hope we've reached a healthy balance.
####How will this influence the Bitcoin price?
Reliable infrastructure allowing asset issuance via the Bitcoin Blockchain will probably boost the price of Bitcoin significantly, as people will buy Bitcoin in order to access other assets that are available via our platform.
####Are you a DAO (Distributed Autonomous Organization) ?
We are laying the groundwork for Distributed Autonomous Organizations that exist entirely on the blockchain. As more functionality exists, we will integrate it into our platform.
####Are these coins secure? Will it be vunerable to a 51% attack?
We build on Bitcoin 2.0 technologies, specifically Counterparty, so all coins are secured by the full strength of the Bitcoin network.
####What is decentralized due diligence?
One of our goals is to fully decentralize the process of launching your coin, including the very important part of promoting awesome coins and filtering out scam coins. Decentralized due diligence allows multiple groups to compete in the filitering process, with the market ultimately deciding which becomes the trusted option.
####What about sidechains?
We like sidechains. If working sidechains emerge we will extend our platform to support asset issuance on a sidechain.
####Is Swarm a company?
As of right now, there is no legal entity that represents the Swarm. This will certainly come at a later stage. Our goal is to postpone dealing with any of these issues until there is need.
####How do I get my own coin?
In stage two of our fundraiser we will make public a form something like the following: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1IEUIcXK2bNYQqIG3wUrtox4cDO1xCWsbHIVo4ZxbNYA/edit
"Help me help you."—Jerry Maguire
Congratulations on the launch of Swarm's fundraising efforts! We're all very excited to see how you do in reaching your funding goal (and thanks for the Golden Tickets, by the way).
I'd like to offer you a few suggestions that I've accumulated from reading comments left on various sites and services.on the web. Feel free to take them or leave them based on your own timeline and resources, but I believe that they all deserve at least some amount consideration as well as a response of some kind.
1. Make a Suggestion Box. People have a lot of investment suggestions, but there isn't so much as an email address for them to send it. Maybe suggestion@swarmcorp.com?
2. Create an online forum so we can all start talking to your team, and even more importantly, to each other. We all feel like we want to be part of something big, but we have now way now to engage in the swarming process.
3. Where's the "Thank You" email for buying SwarmCoin, with instructions and next-steps to follow? All of us investors would love to really ramp up the social networking efforts, but I have nothing to forward to anyone but links to your web site (see #4 below). It's been a week since the launch: Where is the email update that all of us investors would love to send to our personal contacts???
4. Please update your web site with more info. We (the early adopters of SwarmCoin) want you to succeed, but your site is a clean (good) as it is empty of contact (bad). Joel: Can you add links to you blog entries posted elsewhere on the web? That would definitely help crystalize your vision to those that need more info to give money to strangers. I see your vision, but it's a stretch for me to ask the same the legion of those who could help you get to Scenario Three. If you get into the zone of Scenario Three, you might find the grass-roots efforts of your investors pushing you into the uncharted realm of Scenario 4. "Whoah."
5. Swarm Meetups. Now. It may seem early, but why not ask us Swarmers to get things started for you! I'm here in New York City, waiting to meet and talk with others like myself, if only to underscore the scale and potential of our venture together. Look at Ethereum: They're not even issuing Ether, but I can go to a meeting from Los Angeles to Tokyo. Whatever little money this costs to set-up, please consider this an approval to spend my bitcoin and an offer to help host a meetup! ;-)
We're all ready to start swarming--just say the word!
-m