Good day everyone,
How’d you enjoy the @BitsTODAY clubhouse / podcast with @artz and the whole gang? We thought that was a great conversation (p.s., they all are). If you missed it, you can catch it on Spotify from the @BitsTODAY here. Speaking of missing things, would you prefer to receive these notes in your email as opposed to on Medium? Make sure to sign up for our Substack here!
Guest cover designed by @charliehilton
Today’s Clout Covered:
- BuzzClout:Exclusive look at today’s movers and shakers presented by @bitcloutsignal
- Ubiquitous UX Drops: MOAR DEFLATION (and consternation) 😡
- Mega-Threadz: The hottest threads from across the clout 🧵
- The Cloutifieds: Bitclout Hits the NYC blocks 🌆
- General Absurdity: Range Rover <> $clout exchange confirmed 🔜
Diamondhands’ drops 💎
#1 BuzzClout
First things first. In partnership with @bitcloutsignal, here’s an exclusive look at today’s movers and shakers:
#2 Ubiquitous UX Drops: MOAR DEFLATION (and consternation) 😡
Happy Monday team. There’s a raft of updates on the core UX / platform side, especially as it pertains to developing updates on the $clout supply cap side. We will quickly note that a new dark mode is officially live (…ok), but let’s dive in deeper on what we think are more key long-term changes from the past 24 hours.
First and foremost, there’s been some notable consternation and concern among non-core developers that the mining pool was decimated today. The Bitclout core team has decided to transition the platform away from proof-of-work, aka rewarding miners to solve complex math problems to maintain the Bitclout blockchain, to proof-of-stake (much like the Ethereum blockchain is contemplating).
This is no small change. The positive here is that this should allow the platform to expand in a more green way (mining crypto with GPUs requires a lot of electricity). As writes @diamondhands on github (here):
“I am proud to announce that the dev community has committed to moving to a zero-waste consensus mechanism, and that it is taking a major step in that direction with a new update.”
Further, here’s what @diamondhands had to say about the roadmap of moving to proof-of-stake (“POS”):
“There is still more work to do to move to a zero-waste consensus mechanism without compromising on decentralization (e.g. full proof of stake).”
What is POS? No, it’s not pictures from @BitsTODAY 🥩 dinner in Miami. Rather, it refers to a consensus mechanism by which $clout holders would ‘stake’ their coin, aka allowing it to be held, earning more in the process. Sounds nice, yeah? Earn some APY on your $clout? Well, the benefits of such a system would accrue to the largest $clout holders. And with $clout already highly concentrated, with more than half of supply having gone out in the genesis block, moving to proof-of-stake could consolidate the share of $clout even more. It’s early to speculate, and @diamondhands and co may have other ways to mitigate this consolidation drawn up — we’ll see. But this does give us pause, as it does many others in the dev community:
With mining effectively being phased out, this also cuts into the amount of $clout that we thought would be available to mine for the next ~30 years. Which in turns cuts into the final total supply of $clout that we’re tracking towards.
Turns out the mining gold rush was … short-lived. (*puts down ⛏️😔*). What has miners even more miffed however is that apparently, mining pools like @korbin’s @cloutreactor were compensated by the Bitclout team directly for the about-face, but miners themselves were not. Speaking as someone who almost was knee deep into some NVIDIA graphics cards expressly to mine $clout, I can see how this almost constitutes a rug-pull of its own.
We’d be lying if it didn’t feel like the team is making updates and changes by the seat-of-their pants so-to-speak… not that we aren’t too, and perhaps that’s a more common characteristic of decentralized projects vs. centralized ones, but… things are getting a little helter skelter here to start the week.
More importantly, the team does look like they’re looking to roll-out infrastructure to make future decisions about the platform truly decentralized. @Maebeam noted they were back to working on functionality that will let users weigh in on Bitclout-dev decisions, after first surfacing it as a priority last week. We forgive the slight delay, @Maebeam. As to what the implications are here, @dgsus is far more knowledgeable than us:
(Editor’s note: since publishing this issue, Diamondhands has released a statement on Github. Read it here.)
#3 Mega-Threadz: The hottest threads from across the clout 🧵
As we continue to curate content from across the clout-iverse, we’ve noticed a growing amount of stellar longer-form threads that have been receiving a lot of attention. Part of this is driven by the @Cloutted contest we covered in yesterday’s issue (here), but below we’ve also collected some thoughts about where we are in the market cycle for #clout as well as additional content on soft fork. For your consideration, here are some of the most worthwhile threads we’ve seen hit the wires in the past few days:
- @LvlUpGuy breaks down where we are in the $clout market cycle and where the most value is long-term (read here, and kudos to @GeneGMB for sparking the thoughts)
- Mega boss @craig gives us his perspective on where the platform as a whole is headed and why he’s certifiably #bullish (read here).
- The musical artists of Bitclout including @ClayPerryMusic and @mp3 also posted stirring responses to the @Cloutted contest we mentioned earlier, describing the turns their lives have taken thanks to Bitclout. Oh, and as predicted, we knew the first Bitclout relationship would be here soon too ❤️❤️❤️ !!! (read here).
- There has been a buzz in the dev community regarding recent changes and @HPaulson brings a couple of the main questions to the community seeking answers. (Read it here).
#4 The Cloutifieds: Bitclout Hits the NYC blocks 🌆
Still got major Miami FOMO? Or maybe you even made it to Miami and you’re already missing hanging out with your favorite clouters in person, making new connections, and making fun of @ASG live? Well… buckle up ladies, gentleman, bots and more, because there’s no rest for the wicked in the clout-iverse. Next stop for this wild wild western rodeo? The big apple! 🤠
You heard that right. @bitclout_nyc, @nigeleccles and @flickapp are gearing up to put on an in-person meet up for folks in the financial capital of the world. Only 10 days away, clearly some clouters who enjoyed Miami (*cough cough, @nigeleccles*) couldn’t get enough of the in-person energy and are looking to keep the festivities rolling all summer. We’re all for it.
Not sold simply by the prospect of meeting some of your friends off Bitclout IRL? Rumor has it that @sourdough will be catering the event and everyone will get fresh baked bread. Maybe @UniqueSnacks will make it to the New York event and people will be snackin on #🥨. @justinspannuth should definitely find the UPS driver who “lost” the Miami pretzels. Try FedEx this time for NY? Don’t forget to follow the @bitclout_nyc account to connect with other attendees and for all the deets!
#5 General Absurdity: Range Rover <> $clout exchange confirmed 🔜
Today in general absurdity, we have the first ever car for $CLOUT exchange, courtesy of @Dylanjaggerlee. In case you thought you were bullish on Bitclout, here’s a gentle reminder: @Dylanjaggerlee still has you beat. They traded in what looks to have been a pretty slick Range Rover with a matte finish for 420 $clout (blaze it 🔥), between $50-$60k depending on your OTC price point du jour.
We didn’t pry too hard on who the buyer is, but we imagine this was a 🐋 who had some $clout to spare. Will they rue a day soon when $clout has gone 5x and they could have gotten this whip for less? Perhaps, but they can roll their windows down, hit the gas, and let the wind from this baby’s acceleration wipe the tears from their face. At least that’s what we would do. Shoutout to Dylan for this absolute boss move.😎
@Miyazaki, might we suggest this one for the almanack?
Elsewhere in general absurdity? @dharmesh is more than half-way to his stated goal of investing $1M USD across Bitclout. That’s some mega-space-whale status commitment to seeing this platform thrive, folks 💪💪💪
Here’s a tasty piece of what @dharmesh has to say about Bitclout in his post — we recommend you all read the full treatment accompanying his commitment to invest $1M here.
“First, I’ve been a believer in BitClout from the early days. You know, like waaay back in March. I just think the potential for a platform like BitClout is immense. Will it be the one that actually achieves that potential? I don’t know, but it’s the best implementation I know of a blockchain powered, crypto-based social network.”
Thanks for joining us for another edition of @BitsTODAY, folks! Peace and blessings. ✌🏼
