BitShares, Steemit, Peerplays, and soon EOS all use similar graphene-based blockchain technologies. I've really enjoyed running my Steemit witness node (see my last update here) and when I heard about the Peerplays blockchain going live, I decided to get a dedicated server and see if I can contribute to that project as well.
Peerplays is the world's first peer-to-peer betting platform built entirely on top of a live blockchain.
There are two things about betting which concern me:
The harm some people cause themselves and those they are responsible for when they don't know their limits and use the adrenaline rush of gambling to avoid the pain of real life, often with tragic results.
Governments who put people in cages for victimless "crimes" related to gaming while at the same time hypocritically running state lotteries which are exactly the same thing as "illegal" gambling.
I'm not sure much can be done about number 1 other than improving the world and facilitating systems which enable responsible gaming. As for number 2, I think systems like Peerplays (and maybe Wagerr) can play a huge role. Decentralized blockchain systems can not be stopped and once more people realize this and how things can be programmatically and provably secure and fair without the need for regulations or government threats of violence, we can all start enjoying a better world.
For that reason, I want to get involved in this project and see if I can help by providing a witness node. I participated in the crowd sale and own some PPY and just like my two favorite cryptocurrencies STEEM and BitShares, I think PPY has a great future. For that reason, I also have a personal interest to run a witness node and hopefully earn more of it through block production rewards.
On June 7th, I configured a new dedicated server to run a Peerplays witness node.
Here are the server specs:
32gb DDR3 ECC RAM
(4c/8t) Intel Xeon E3-1245V2
2x3TB HDD
Germany
DEDICATED SERVER
It's been running great for the last couple days, but I don't yet have enough votes to be an active witness. Unlike Steemit, the backup witness nodes don't get rotated in to earn any tokens and to pay for their server. Also unlike Steemit, the Peerplays system doesn't have a fixed number of witnesses and will grow or shrink as needed based on the votes.
As you can see here, there's a big gap from where I'm at to where I'd like to be:
If you participated in the crowd sale or you had a BitShares account prior to the share drop, then you have PPY, and you can do some voting for witnesses like lukestokes-witness!
My plan was to hold off on publishing my witness announcement until after the Peerplays Graphical User Interface (GUI) was released and then give step-by-step instructions on how to claim your crowdsale PPY and vote for my witness, but @pfunk did such a fabulous job here, I see no reason to duplicate it:
@pfunk/pfunk-peerplays-witness-proposal
@pfunk, like many others, does a really great job enabling these systems to stay up and running securely.
I'm glad to see @jesta at the top of the list (you can see his witness proposal here) along with my friend @billbutler who has been a long time supporter of BitShares, Steem, and Peerplays (his witness proposal is here).
You can see all the witnesses I've voted for so far here: https://gist.github.com/lukestokes/5edc8772eda744938f4d33d122af8478
You can vote for as many witnesses as you like, but the cost per vote does go up slightly with each vote. Like BitShares (and unlike Steemit), all actions on the Peerplays blockchain have a cost. In the beginning, we witnesses voted up everyone on the witness list because there were so few of us around. Now there are quite a few (you can see the full list here, thanks to @jesta) so not everyone has had a chance to produce blocks yet.
If you have PPY and you're voting for witnesses, I'd love for you to consider voting for lukestokes-witness or using a proxy voter who is voting for me.
Thank you for your consideration.
I once again want to give a big shout out to @someguy123 and @privex which have been doing an excellent job with hosting service and support. Please check them out for your hosting needs as they accept SBD and Steem. Vote for his Peerplays witness as well to support his work (witness proposal here).
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