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There's Kanye West-Themed Crypto-Currency On the Way

Posted by samzenpus on from the yo-bitcoin-imma-let-you-be-spent-but-coinye-is-the-best-crypto-currency-of-all-time dept.

Nerval's Lobster writes "A bunch of anonymous developers are working on 'Coinye West,' a crypto-currency named after rapper Kanye West. Coinye West isn't an official production of Kanye West, and the developers are staying anonymous because they probably fear the inevitable copyright lawsuits. (Of course, if the currency hits the online market and proves a success, it's always possible the real Kanye West would drop any suit in exchange for a massive amount of Coinye West coins—every hip-hop artist on the planet might claim to drive a Maybach, but how many can claim a currency?) 'DROPPING JANUARY 11, 2014. 11 PM EST,' read a note on Coinyewest.com. 'No premine, no screwed up fake "fair" launches, shyster devs, muted channels, and f**ked up wallets,' it helpfully added. 'We will be releasing password protected, encrypted archives containing binaries and source for the wallet and daemon BEFORE LAUNCH, with the passwords to be released at the specified time.' Just to emphasize the supposed fairness of this particular crypto-currency, the note repeated: 'We will work with multiple pools to orchestrate a PROPER and FAIR release.' A chat room is available at irc.freenode.net. Technical details for the crypto-currency include: Algorithm: Scrypt; max Coins: 133,333,333,333; block time: 90 seconds; difficulty Re-Target Time: 12 hours; block Rewards: 666,666 COYE; every 100k blocks, the payout halves. In the future, will every major celebrity will have a crypto-currency named after him or her? And how long until Jay-Z decides to launch something similar?"

35 of 237 comments (clear)

  1. Good grief... by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I know it's now a cliche to pontificate "Why is this on Slashdot", but seriously? This is not news for anyone, certainly not "nerds", and clearly doesn't matter. It's not even funny. This "story" would be more appropriate next April.

    --
    If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
    1. Re:Good grief... by bob_super · · Score: 5, Insightful

      It proves that anyone can create a cryptocurrency based on whatever stupid meme they feel like, therefore all cryptocurrencies have no actual reason to have a value outside of the gullibility of their users.
      They're modern art.

    2. Re:Good grief... by AlphaWolf_HK · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Really you can say the same thing about any fiat currency.

      Like playing a game of poker and saying "Ok, red chips are worth $1, white chips $5, and blue chips $10". Even the US dollar is this way -- its value is very much arbitrary.

      Now just because it is only worth whatever you think its worth does not necessarily make it worth nothing.

      --
      Careful with names containing L slashdot.org/~AiphaWolf_HK slashdot.org/~AlphaWoif_HK slashdot.org/~AiphaWoif_HK
    3. Re:Good grief... by Ralph+Wiggam · · Score: 2

      Didn't we all learn that from Dogecoin?

    4. Re:Good grief... by Macman408 · · Score: 2

      I agree wholeheartedly. But when somebody launches "Ca$ha", I'm totally in for that.

    5. Re:Good grief... by bob_super · · Score: 4, Informative

      The US dollar does carry the signature of the Treasury secretary of the US government, and a big stick to whack you if you try to make one which looks the same.

      Bitcoin is like Bansky, You don't even know who started it but it's got value because it's an original concept. Copycats can be made by anyone with even less consequences.

    6. Re:Good grief... by rsborg · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Really you can say the same thing about any fiat currency.

      Like playing a game of poker and saying "Ok, red chips are worth $1, white chips $5, and blue chips $10". Even the US dollar is this way -- its value is very much arbitrary.

      Now just because it is only worth whatever you think its worth does not necessarily make it worth nothing.

      No, you can't. Fiat currencies are backed by the will of countries or large organizations, often with armies/guns to support their decisions. That some fiat currencies are effectively worthless says more about the country/organization than it does about fiat currencies in general.

      Sure a crypto currency could be used as the main currency of some large organization, but until then they all have very little intrinsic worth and no guarantee of guns and/or a large populace to back up their worth.

      --
      Make sure everyone's vote counts: Verified Voting
    7. Re:Good grief... by dbIII · · Score: 2

      Really you can say the same thing about any fiat currency.

      No. Not after it is trusted. You could say it about the Zimbabwe dollar, in hindsight, but with the rest they are tokens of trust while an unbacked currency from nowhere doesn't have that.

      With plenty of these things it's as if people have read part of Cryptonomicon about the fictional digital currency in that but haven't made it as far as the bit where it was backed up with vast quantities of gold. In that novel that was what made the digital currency a trusted token.

    8. Re: Good grief... by iamhassi · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Exactly. Until someone is willing to exchange something of real value or cash for a crypto currency then it is still worthless. I can't even find someone to give me real money in exchange for bitcoins.

      --
      my karma will be here long after I'm gone
    9. Re:Good grief... by the+eric+conspiracy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The US dollar has some advantages over other currencies. For example it is accepted in payment of taxes and other debts by the US government.

       

    10. Re: Good grief... by bob_super · · Score: 2

      Last time someone decided that the dollar wasn't worth using to sell his oil barrels, he had to hide in a hole while a few aircraft carriers and tanks showed him the error of his ways.
      A few hundred years earlier, a few people learnt about applied gravity (with their necks) for forgetting that people need enough buying power to stay peaceful. More recently, letting a currency slide down too far left a few not-so-nice people seize power and cause the wrong kind of economic boom,

      That's why people believe in "normal" fiat currencies. There's real power behind them.

      If BTC drops to 5 cents tomorrow, people will just say "oh well, it could have been nice" and move on. Only a few speculators will be harmed. They'll have a nice shiny set of numbers in a file. With Banksi, they'd at least have a wall to shelter against and something nice to look at.

    11. Re:Good grief... by QilessQi · · Score: 4, Funny

      No. They're relaunching it as SnoopDogeCoin. Or maybe SnoopDogeDogeCoin. Unless they were SnoopLyin'.

      --
      Koans and fables for the software engineer
    12. Re:Good grief... by AlphaWolf_HK · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Sure you can copy the concept, but not the actual coin. The US dollar doesn't actually have that advantage, but bitcoin does.

      --
      Careful with names containing L slashdot.org/~AiphaWolf_HK slashdot.org/~AlphaWoif_HK slashdot.org/~AiphaWoif_HK
    13. Re:Good grief... by beltsbear · · Score: 3, Informative

      There are hundreds of alt-coins. The vast majority of them bring nothing to the table at all. This is another one of those coins, not even worth discussing.

      Of the hundreds of alt-coins only two are really worth even discussing, Namecoin and Litecoin. Litecoin being the second largest market cap and being ASIC hostile keeps more of the coin generation distributed and still has enough security to be usable. Namecoin is a good idea but basically is an unfinished work.

    14. Re:Good grief... by AlphaWolf_HK · · Score: 5, Interesting

      To really understand why this is wrong, you have to fundamentally understand what a fiat currency is. It's more or less simply a store of value.

      Take for example the ruble after the collapse of the USSR. Supposedly communist right? Well, people had already been trading in currencies (sorry but Marx is wrong and always will be wrong, no matter how hard you try, private property and therefore money will never go away) and during the lifespan of the USSR that was the ruble. However when the USSR collapsed, the ruble went with it. People still needed to have a store of value until something came to replace it (barter only systems are simply incapable of fostering even seemingly dead economies -- liquidity is required for any kind of fast trading to occur, which barter does not provide.)

      So what do they do? Well, turned out that people resorted to using cigarettes and vodka as currency. A single cigarette was the smallest division, a pack was larger of course, and a bottle of vodka was worth the most. You really didn't need a country or any large organization to keep this afloat and regulated. The problem with vodka and cigarettes is that they're rather easy to make, so a more well defined currency eventually replaced them (the new ruble,) but meanwhile the Russians didn't have to have somebody step in and say "use this."

      This isn't the only example -- things that have been used as currencies also include coffee beans and shark teeth. These don't require governments to regulate the supply of, but they are inherently inferior because there's basically a limitless supply of them.

      Bitcoin is the same deal as these, only it doesn't have the problem of being easy to create more (the total number of bitcoins that can exist already exist, by the way, just not all of them have been claimed yet.) Because of that, it is interesting to see where bitcoin will go that these previous currencies have not because they could not.

      --
      Careful with names containing L slashdot.org/~AiphaWolf_HK slashdot.org/~AlphaWoif_HK slashdot.org/~AiphaWoif_HK
    15. Re:Good grief... by drkim · · Score: 3, Funny

      Yo, Kanye! I'm really happy for you... I'ma let you finish... but the U.S. Dollar is one of the best currencies of all time!

      One of the best currencies OF ALL TIME!

    16. Re:Good grief... by schnell · · Score: 4, Insightful

      That the "US dollar" exists is the biggest lie in America.

      That's funny, I have several here in my wallet right now.

      The US dollar (or, more precisely, the US $20 or $100 bill) is the most fungible fucking thing on the planet Earth right now. You can spend it or exchange it almost anywhere else on the planet for goods or services at a well established market rate. THAT'S WHAT A CURRENCY IS SUPPOSED TO DO.

      I keep promising myself that I'll stop reading the Slashdot articles about Bitcoin, but I don't... that must be what the Dice Overlords are counting on in the hopes that their banner ads sparking my purchases of clever T-shirts or IBM ... something ... will finally pay off. Brilliant!

      --
      "95% of all Slashdot .sig quotes are incorrect or completely fabricated." -Benjamin Franklin
    17. Re:Good grief... by 1s44c · · Score: 2

      The network checks for double spends and rejects them, that's kind of the point of the thing. It is built to be resistant to attacks.

    18. Re:Good grief... by SuricouRaven · · Score: 2

      Can't happen. The two payment-accepters are in communication via the distributed blockchain. After a short time they would detect 'this coin has been spent twice' and not recognize the transaction. That's why it takes a couple of hours at times to make a bitcoin transfer - that's how long it takes for the whole network to reach a consensus on the coin's current status.

    19. Re:Good grief... by Muad'Dave · · Score: 2

      A similar thing happened in Germany during/after WWI - they started using Notgeld (literally, emergency money) for transactions since the official currency was either hoarded due to inflation or was needed for the war effort, or after the war was hyper-inflating itself to death.

      This site has lots pictures of Notgeld - much of it was colorful and very artfully done. Flip open the twisties on the left and explore the Notgeld of the different cities.

      --
      Tiller's Rule: Never use a word in written form that you've only heard and never read. You will end up looking foolish.
    20. Re: Good grief... by drinkypoo · · Score: 2

      No, not at all. That's why people believe in the dollar. The dollar is by no stretch of the imagination a normal fiat currency. Being backed by the strongest military power, being usef for reserve and for all worldwide oil trading puts it in a very unique position.

      That's true, but it's the same kind of position as other fiat currencies.

      There are many other fiat burrencies that people believe in for their day-to-day life that cannot depose a despot on the other side of the world.

      Currencies don't do that. And we gave the Taliban a massive shitload of cash before 9/11. Whether intentionally or not, the US dollar funded 9/11. Before that, the US dollar created that despot. And by the way, the US dollar also created the last despot we went into that region to deal with. Then we brought him home drugged and tortured him so that he couldn't mount an effective defense in court. All paid for by the US dollar.

      But in fact, lots of other nations can do that sort of thing. They simply don't. Except Russia. Polonium, anyone? How about on the side?

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    21. Re:Good grief... by ottothecow · · Score: 2
      Stop being an ass.

      This is like arguing that credit cards are terrible because someone could come to your house and you could pay them with a fake credit card on one of those carbon-paper imprint readers. Then they would get home and process the transaction and realize the number was fake.

      That's absurd. It's not that credit cards are terrible, it is that the people in the story aren't set up to properly handle credit card transactions. That's why people only use those things in low-risk environments. You might accept $15 worth of bitcoin without being able to validate the transaction (like a festival t-shirt vendor might have accepted a credit card without a phone line before things like Square), but if you are dealing with a $1000 transaction from a stranger, you are probably going to make sure it clears before you hand over the goods.

      --
      Bottles.
  2. Kanye can just screw off already by msobkow · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Kanye this. Kanye that.

    The bloodsucking money hungry leech just won't go away...

    Bastard can't even sing.

    --
    I do not fail; I succeed at finding out what does not work.
    1. Re:Kanye can just screw off already by newcastlejon · · Score: 4, Informative

      Kanye this. Kanye that.

      Kanye who?

      Greetings from a Radio 4 listener.

      --
      If God forks the Universe every time you roll a die, he'd better have a damned good memory.
  3. Yo Bitcoin by mysidia · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yo Bitcoin, I'm really happy for you, I'ma let you finish, but Kanye had one of the best Cryptocurrences of all time! One of the best cryptocurrencies of all time!

  4. Kanye West? Jay-Z? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    And how long until Jay-Z decides to launch something similar?

    Who the fuck cares? I'll take 50 cents any day of the week.

  5. Fail, but idea has possibilities by Animats · · Score: 3, Insightful

    This is yet another lame altcoin. It barely has a mention on bitcointalk. It's not really associated with someone famous. But it points the way to a potential success.

    This could be a way to monetize fame. What if some major performer came out with an alt coin? They could anchor the coin value by making it exchangeable for concert tickets, downloaded tracks, and promotional merchandise. None of those things cost much to make, so they're not too vulnerable to price swings. The coin client can be combined with a music player/store client program, distributed with a few free tracks.

    The problem with most of these alt coins is that you can't buy anything with them. If they were at least guaranteed to be tradeable for some music tracks and a T-shirt, there'd be some backing behind them.

  6. not a respected name in hip-hop financials by Trepidity · · Score: 2

    Nothing against Kanye West, but for when it matters, I'll take the gold standard of financial planning, Wu-Tang Financial, with a proven record of superior returns and risk mitigation.

    --
    10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
  7. Racist Web Site by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 4, Interesting

    There *IS NOT* another "alt-coin" launching. This is a joke site that contains racist imagery, using Kanye West to bait gullible young people.

    The site graphics open to a cartoon image of a "stereotypical" big lipped black man, presumably Mr. West. In the all black background, three sets of black-face eyes show up. The black background then drops to reveal three brack men in black KKK garb.

    This is not the kind of crap Slashdot or Dice should be promoting.

    --
    If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
  8. Hey! I'mma let you buy in a minute, but... by Dutchmaan · · Score: 2

    Will this currency constantly over value itself?

  9. Yo bitcoin by Arancaytar · · Score: 2

    I'm real happy for you and I'mma let you finish, but dogecoin is the BEST CURRENCY OF ALL TIME.

  10. Re:More important than just taxes by vakuona · · Score: 3, Insightful

    One of the reasons that gold stopped being useful as a currency as that the amount of gold in circulation had no direct (or indirect) link to the amount of economic activity. The value of gold fluctuates too much compared to the value of the commodities that you would want ot buy with the gold. If you don't believe it, just look at what the price of gold has been doing over the last 10 years.

    Bitcoin would be even worse since it is designed with very specific finite limits. Yes gold is also finite, but we have been mining the stuff for millenia, and we are still producing a fair amount of it.

    A currency ideally need to be linked to the amount of economic activity to prevent wild swings in its value. So if the economy grows by 2%, you would want at least 2% growth in the amount of currency available. Bitcoin is unable to do that indefinitely. I would add that ideally, the amount of Bitcoin needed to increase to reflect the amount of transactions being undertaken in Bitcoin. Bitcoin does not do this.

    Secondly, a currency needs a little bit of inflation. Bitcoin, at least at the moment, has the opposite of that. Because the value of Bitcoin has been rising, people are encouraged to hoard Bitcoin (you become wealthier just by holding on to them). You want the opposite. You want people to become a little poorer if they just hold on to their currency to encourage them to either spend of invest their money. This may be a little controversial, but there is no good reason why the intertemporal transfer of wealth should be costless.

    Because of these flaws Bitcoin cannot be a currency. At best, it will be another commodity (like gold, or oil or copper), whose value swings wildly depending on the mood and the outlook.

  11. Missed opportunity by eddeye · · Score: 2

    They should have called it Coinye karCashian.

    And names aren't copyrightable. Next time ask a lawyer.

    --
    Democracy is two wolves and a sheep voting on lunch.
  12. Re:Bitcoin online only lacking offline and physica by Dr_Barnowl · · Score: 2

    No, you can't. This ill-informed troll keeps cropping up, but it's just a total misconception about how it all works.

    Bitcoin is a vast distributed transaction log. The only thing you store in that wallet is a private key. The coins are out there in the transaction log. The key just identifies the ones that you own. Only the holder of the private key can produce a transaction signed with that key, which is what is required to transfer the coins to another holder.

    When you spend BTC, you create a transaction record and sign it with that key. That transaction then enters the Bitcoin network and peers verify whether it's correct or not. Whichever transaction gets consensus first wins - even if you created 100 transactions spending the same coin, only one of them will succeed.

    Being dumb enough to believe that your transaction is good without this verification is equally as dumb as believing that an IOU from a random stranger you've never met before will be paid. Hence no-one actually does this - they only consider themselves paid when the network verifies that the BTC are owned by their wallet.

  13. Re:More important than just taxes by vakuona · · Score: 2

    A currency is both a medium of exchange and a store of value. The two things go hand in hand. A currency is what allows you to work work today, be paid in a month and spend your money a year later. If the currency can't store its value reliably, then people will not accept it, and it loses its ability to function as a currency.

    Storing its value allows a currency to perform the inter-temporal transfer of wealth function.

    Money supply is number of units in circulation x value per unit. You are just used to the left hand term varying, but mathematically the right hand term can do the varying while the left one stays fixed.

    Basically, in your "equation", if I understood correctly, you are saying that the number of units stays fixed while the value varies. I am saying you want both to be fairly stable. You want the amount of currency in circulation to be fairly stable and linked to the amount of economic activity and thus increase as the value of economic activity increases, and you want the value to be fairly stable to allow holders to store their wealth in it.

    If the value cannot be stable, then you can't keep your "money" in Bitcoin. If you can't keep your wealth in Bitcoin, then why would you accept Bitcoin in the first place? Why not just demand dollars and avoid having to transact into and out of Bitcoin?