Bitcloud
= a distributed autonomous corporation that hopes to "decentralise the current internet": "We want to replace YouTube, Dropbox, Facebook, Spotify, ISPs, and more with decentralised apps based on proof of bandwidth". [1]
URL = http://bitcloudproject.org/w/Main_Page
Definition
"Bitcloud replaces the blockchain with a distributed database that can be used for decentralized systems of trust." [2]
Description
1.
"Bitcloud aims to harness the same methods used to mine Bitcoins, to provide services currently controlled by internet service providers (ISPs) and corporations.
Individuals would perform tasks such as storing, routing and providing bandwidth, in return for payment.
The founders are searching for developers for the project.
"We will start by decentralising the current internet, and then we can create a new internet to replace it," they said.
Just as Bitcoin miners provide computing power and are rewarded for solving complex mathematical equations with the virtual currency, so individual net users would be rewarded based on how much bandwidth they contribute to the Bitcloud network.
"Adding the profit motive to the equation gives this project a chance to succeed where many others have failed in the past," reads the group's white paper." (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-25858629)
2. by NICHOLAS TUFNELL:
"What Bitcloud is proposing is a Tor-like anonymous internet made up of numerous nodes that carry encrypted data; unlike Tor, nodes will use any incoming traffic to mine for cloudcoins, the Bitcloud cryptocurrency. This gives those using the anonymous network an incentive to contribute to the infrastructure, because not only do more nodes mean a faster browsing experience, but there is the promise of capital from simply contributing to the system.
The same concept applies for hosted content. Any content hosted on a server needs to pay a sort of "toll charge" any time data is transferred from the server to the node. However, the more hits a website receives, the richer the server becomes, allowing for a sort of perpetual growth and a system in which, theoretically, everyone earns money from everyone else.
It is this idea of incentive that is so crucial, and unique, to Bitcloud: "One of the many problems of certain free and open source projects in the past has been the lack of a profit incentive," explain the developers. "With Bitcloud, nodes on a mesh network can be rewarded financially for routing traffic in a brand new mesh network. This removes the need for Internet Service Providers." (http://www.wired.co.uk/news/archive/2014-01/27/bitcloud)