TEAMTALKS #32 — BISMUTH
TEAMTALKS PROVIDES A SOAP BOX FOR THE CRYPTO TEAMS THROUGH RAW & UNEDITED Q&A — THIS TIME I MET WITH BISMUTH & THEIR COMMUNICATIONS ADVISOR, ADAM T.
INITIAL INTRODUCTION
Who are you & what is your role on Bismuth?
My name is Adam T., I am the Communications Advisor for the Bismuth Foundation.
It is a multifaceted role that oscillates between assisting with the blog/posts and advising on PR.
I have over half a decade of involvement in the crypto industry under my belt, and started collaborating with the Bismuth Foundation earlier this year.
PROLIFIC PROJECT
What are Bismuth’s key features
Bismuth is a unique platform - it fathers a completely new protocol coded in Python. As well as being one of the few from-scratch projects in this industry, the Bismuth Foundation did not partake in any crowdfunding or ICO.
The Bismuth protocol is a fully modular Python blockchain platform that enables the creation of virtually anything.
Whether it be standard decentralized applications or completely new digital services, Bismuth is the solution for any developer or business that wishes to harness the immutability of blockchain tech, with full integration in the world’s fastest growing and most popular programming language - Python.
Why does the world need Bismuth?
I believe the world needs Bismuth because there is no other platform that offers this degree of simplicity when interfacing a product or service with a blockchain.
Bismuth enables full development in Python, the most well known programming language in the world.
It also introduces plugins: a system that enables the direct integration of virtually anything imaginable, as optional extensions to participating network nodes. This permits unlimited scalability within the preference of the plugin creator, completely independent of any limitations within the Bismuth blockchain.
COMPROMISING COMPETITION
Who are Bismuth’s competitors & why is Bismuth superior/different to it’s competitors?
I’d personally say that Ethereum is Bismuth’s primary competitor.
Ethereum has established itself as the de-facto dApp platform, and it offers development in Solidity- a custom, brand new language just for the Ethereum protocol.
This can act as a barrier of entry to plenty of potential developers. It is far more convenient to employ a programming language that one already knows- and so Bismuth fully enables that w/ Python.
Another notable trait of Ethereum is its method of executing dApp code. Once a user “uploads” their dApp to the network, all nodes across the network are forced to execute its code. This degree of coercion is completely unnecessary and a waste of computing resources.
Bismuth offers something completely different: execution of code becomes completely voluntary, and nodes can choose whichever plugins they wish to support across the network.
For example, if a private business entity chose to build a dApp on top of Bismuth, they could also supply dedicated network nodes that exclusively supported their dApp plugin. Interested users and clients could also choose to support the plugin on their nodes, if the plugin was publicly available.
TOKENOMICS
Can you give a quick rundown of important tokenomics?
A development fund does exist for the Bismuth Foundation despite there being no crowdfunding or ICO. This fund is completely denominated in BIS, and increments slowly as 10% of current PoW emission is directed towards the fund address to help support development.
Bismuth has multiple components to its inflation schedule.
The first part is the PoW reward, which decrements slowly block by block in a relatively linear fashion. It reaches zero reward when the total PoW emission reaches 51,370,000 BIS.
The second part of the emission schedule is the Hypernode rewards. This used to be a static 0.8 BIS per block, but recently got increased to 2.4 BIS per block. The HN rewards do not decrement and remain static, and continues as a form of tail emission even when the PoW emission reaches zero.
As of this interview, the current circulating supply is 15,284,918 BIS, with a maximum PoW-issued supply of 51,370,000 BIS, with an additional 1–2%/annum tail emission from Hypernodes.
ENGINE EXPLANATION
Can you give a quick rundown of your motor?
Bismuth is relatively unique as it has to maintain a simultaneous consensus across two networks- the main network (propagated through PoW), and the secondary layer (propagated by Hypernode network nodes).
For Proof-of-Work, Bismuth uses the “Bismuth Heavy-3” algorithm for mining. It is a custom hashing algorithm that is tentatively more intensive and complex in regards to memory usage and operations. Bismuth used to use the SHA-224 hashing algorithm, but it was soon discovered that FPGA devices were exploiting the network by not including transactions in blocks and skewing decentralization by owning a vast portion of the network hashrate. The fork to “Bismuth Heavy-3” addressed the FPGA issue and the main network is propagated through GPUs only nowadays.
TEAM TENACITY
How does the Bismuth core team look right now?
The Bismuth project is currently maintained by the Bismuth Foundation and voluntary contributions by other Python developers. The foundation consists of around a dozen members that contribute to the project through various means- whether it be through code, marketing, or advisory.
Are there plans of team expansion?
The foundation is always looking to expand the team and garner new talent to improve and advance the Bismuth project.
One thing to note is that Bismuth is not a business or private entity, but an open-source project maintained by a dedicated team as well as volunteers- anyone can contribute to the platform.
LEGAL LOOP
Where is Bismuth based?
Bismuth is not specifically based anywhere - it is a global project.
There is no registered corporate or business entity behind Bismuth.
We believe all crypto projects should maintain these characteristics to stay true to decentralization (like Bitcoin).
The “Bismuth Foundation” is a placeholder title for the dedicated team, similar to the Bitcoin core developers.
biHow does Bismuth relate to local legislation & worldwide regulation?
Bismuth does not fall under any securities laws. The BIS native token’s primary function is utilitarian by nature - it is essentially used to cover transaction and service fees across the network.
MONEY MAKING
How does Bismuth get income from the project & what are the future plans of income for the project?
The Bismuth Foundation receives BIS through the development fund- which is funded through direct deposits of one full PoW block reward issued every ten blocks (10% of PoW emission).
The development fund isn’t necessarily “income” for the project, but rather a pool of funds that helps cover all project-related expenses, such as exchange listing fees, bounties, and community engagement activities.
END EXPERIENCE
How will the man on the street experience or use Bismuth?
I believe the Bismuth platform could be integral for any product or service that has a reason to be combined with the immutability of blockchain technology.
However, for any mainstream product or service that targets the “average joe”, I personally believe that Bismuth would primarily exist behind-the-scenes; sort of like the circuitry inside a smartphone device- it would be part of the infrastructure powering the product or service, but not be too particularly visible to the consumer.
How will government bodies & large corporations?
For internal government and corporate use, the interaction would definitely be more up-front.
Depending on the needs, a plugin could be easily developed (in Python) and hooked into a Bismuth node.
For example, if a corporation needed a simple but immutable way of storing contracts, a plugin could be created that takes in the contract file metrics, convert it into a hash, and feed the data into the Bismuth node which accordingly logs the data into the blockchain. This permanently stores the contract data without directly exposing its contents.
The Bismuth Foundation has publicly released a similar working plugin for protecting intellectual property.
How will the crypto investor?
For crypto investors, Bismuth will always retain a speculative facet- as with all cryptocurrencies.
However, the Bismuth Foundation believes that true value is a derivative of utility, and that all the products and services built on top of the platform will be the primary driving force in regards to value.
In addition, Bismuth currently offers one of the highest rate-of-return investment vehicles in the crypto industry- in the form of Hypernodes. As of this interview, the current return for running a HN is ~30%/annum.
FORESEEN FUTURE
What is the next big thing for Bismuth?
Bismuth is currently pursuing listings on top-50 exchanges. The Bismuth Foundation is still working on it and will keep the community updated.
Where do you see Bismuth in 5 years?
I foresee an incredible utilitarian future for Bismuth - not only due to the technology it brings forth, but simply due to the fact it has the potential to tap into the intellectual capital of millions of Python developers.
I don’t think it’ll be too long until the Bismuth platform harbors one of the largest ecosystems for development in the blockchain industry.
The human mind is immensely creative, and such a hub of intelligent minds would bring forth a multitude of use-cases built onto the Bismuth platform.
For everyone, the BIS native token would be the “fuel” behind all operations- every interaction on the platform would require a BIS-denominated network fee, with amounts varying depending on data and complexity.
THANKS TO ADAM T. & BISMUTH PROJECT FOR TAKING THE TIME TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS TEAMTALKS!
NOW; IF U ENJOYED THIS ARTICLE, PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO PRESS THE CLAP BUTTON 1, 2 or 46 TIMES — HOWEVER YOU SEE FIT!! :)
BISMUTH Social Links:
Homepage: https://bismuth.cz
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/cryptobismuth
Reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/cryptobismuth
Telegram: https://t.me/joinchat/Fjmt6g53wmtIctHjlYdrcg
Newsletter: https://bismuth.cz/newsletter/
Discord: https://discordapp.com/invite/4tB3pYJ
