How ProtoShares evolved to become BitShares X and other future DACs.
Original (dhimmels):
On October 5, 2013, at the Cryptocurrency Conference, Daniel Larimer, the founder of Invictus Innovations gave a presentation on Decentralized Autonomous Companies (DAC). One idea that he presented was the creation of ProtoShares (PTS). PTS is a mineable cryptocurrency used to raise funds for the development of a suite of DACs sponsored by Invictus Innovations.
ProtoShares was initially mineable only with CPUs and then eventually with GPUs. They were not pre-mined and quickly rose in value to over $9.00 USD with a market capitalization that exceeded $30 Million Dollars within 45 days of launching. Quite impressive.
However, there was one huge problem. In order to mine PTS, miners spent an enormous amount of money on hardware, software, and cloud services. This realization caused Invictus Innovations to devise a new means of raising capital for DACs that did not divert funds away from the DACs ecosystem. Mastercoin, a Bitcoin 2.0 protocol, raised funds via a donation crowd sale in August 2013. This eliminated the need for mining while maximizing the fund raising efficiency. I believe this served as a pivotal example and encouraged the company to adopt this concept.
Invictus Innovations introduced some new features to this crowd sale donation concept. One feature was to create a second asset called AngelShares (AGS) that allowed individuals to fund future DACs and receive a stake in them. This idea is now commonly referred to as crypto equity. The second feature was to attract individuals in the crypto currency community who have a long term view of DACs concepts and its ecosystem. A third benefit was for new DAC developers to gain initial community support if they would honor a social consensus contract. This contract stated that a new DAC developer would set aside a minimum 20% stake in their DAC. This stake which would be split equally between AGS and PTS holders in exchange for community support, testing, and promotion of the new DAC. Also, the developer would gain access to the technology toolkit and support from Invictus Innovations.
The AGS donation period starting Jan 1, 2014 and ended July 19, 2014. During this time, one could donate Bitcoin (BTC) or PTS and receive a percentage of 5000 AGS distributed daily. This was a very successful donation campaign.
On Feb 28, 2014, Invictus Innovations conducted a snapshot for BitShares X which grants all holders of PTS and AGS a new allotment in BitShares X when released. AGS donations after Feb 28, 2014 did not earn any stake in BitShares X or its derivative DACs. However, the post snapshot donations earned a stake in the following and future DACs (non BitShares X):
Domain Names
The secure alternative to todays domain name system that eliminates domain name squatting while providing security against government seizures, man-in-the-middle attacks.
Voting
Transparent-yet-anonymous elections and polling
Charity
Finding ways to help others with the technology of decentralized autonomous charities.
Gaming
Honest and transparent gaming of all kinds is now possible.
Insurance
Get 'insurance' through a Mutual Aid Society with minimal overhead using decentralized autonomous insurance policies.
Lending
Lending is one of the more difficult systems to decentralize because it generally involves matters of trust and credit worthiness. These things typically require individual judgment and ultimately accountability.
Music
With the latest technologies that enable transparent decentralized ledgers, it is now possible for artists to sell shares of their songs rather than copies of their songs.
Invictus Innovations renamed ProtoShares to BitShares PTS and AngelShares to BitShares AGS. On July 19, 2014, BitShares X (BTSX), a decentralized bank and exchange was release. AngelShares holders can claim their shares in this asset.
I hope this was helpful to clarify how ProtoShares has evolved from the beginning. For more information about BitShares click here.
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