My name is Mac, most people know me from Telegram.
I currently admin the Grin community telegram group (formally Grin hub) alongside @david , the Grin trader group and also run the Grin Privacy twitter account.
I wasn’t cool enough to be in Bitcoin wizards but heard about MW on a r/Bitcoin Reddit thread in early 2017; I didn’t really understand it, all I knew is that it could add privacy + scalability and that it was created by a pseudonym. Being into privacy-focused coins (Monero) this all sounded pretty awesome. I then found out there was a MW project launched called, Grin, which was founded by another even cooler pseudonym( I miss Igno) and have followed along ever since. Joined the mailing list/ Gitter chat/ the forum shortly after it was created. So have a decent perspective on the origin/ vision and how things have played out thus far.
I’m applying because I want to see Grin become the P2P digital currency that Bitcoin isn’t. Unlike a lot of people who were interested in the earlier days, I’ve been resilient, and haven’t lost interest from the poor price performance For me, Grin becoming a well-known and widely used (useable) P2P currency would be far more satisfying than any monetary gain. From my perspective; fiat money is doomed, it’s a ticking time bomb. Eventually, decentralized currencies will replace it and the origin story/ fair launch of Grin puts us in a unique position vs pretty much any other currency currently in existence.
I do appreciate the Grin council’s conservative (Bitcoin-like approach), I value minimalism/ simplicity and I’m particularly fond of @tromp. However, I do believe Grin needs to take a more experimental approach and fully investigate the boundaries of MW. Especially when it comes to R&D- it’s like we’re scared to investigate new ideas and run the risk of becoming stuck in a closed-minded loop. I’d like to spice things up.
Everyone acknowledges that it’s hard to find developers who are willing to contribute, there are all sorts of reasons for this, however, what stands out for me is that there’s nothing that generates excitement anymore( there’s no developer hype), we’ve done nothing to attract attention. Until very recently there hadn’t even been an official bounty proposed with an actual monetary backing behind it. It was promising to see the first bounty started by @quentinlesceller [AVAILABLE] Support Ledger Wallet and for there to already be a solid application!
It gives me hope that if we start offering more bounties that actually have a monetary backing behind them, then we’ll soon find more developers. From a community perspective; it seems almost pointless coming up with bounty ideas at the moment when they have to be 'signed off by the council, which seems like an uphill battle. Having a separate fund controlled by the community, or even a jointly controlled fund could change that and lead to new innovative ideas.
In terms of proposals; I’m most in support of the Fund Alternative: Another Split Fund ProposalI like this first and foremost because 1) it gives another/ more community focused implementation full autonomy over funds 2) it keeps a percentage of funds(35%) in a Grin community/ ecosystem fund that both the council and community have control over. So both council and community still need to make decisions together( there’s some unity) which mitigates the risk of a hardfork, it’s also why I don’t support the Fund Alternative: A Split Fund Proposal I’m concerned that some members of the council and community would rather see a hardfork and for both Grin implementations to eventually go their separate ways, which I want to avoid happening at all costs. I don’t support Fund Alternative: A Grants Model Proposal because it seems a little too complicated/ too much bureaucracy. I’m concerned it would be inefficient if the council++ have to vote to get anything done. I also don’t see how it’s much different to now if it’s made up of 6 legacy council members and requires a 6/11 vote.
What do you want to see happen? SOME COOL SHIT! It’s time to Dream BIG again
First and foremost I’d like us to create a clear and universal vision of what Grin is trying to achieve and start implementing that vision now. If we really are “Electronic transactions for all", designed for “the decades to come”, "without censorship or restrictions” then we need to work out a path(roadmap) of how we’re going to achieve those goals and need to take action on that path immediately. Just because there’s no usage today and might not be for many years to come, doesn’t mean we shouldn’t implement tomorrow’s features, today. The average( non-technical) person looks at Grin and thinks 1) it’s not as private as Monero( &privacy is broken- Thanks Ivan!), so why use it as a privacy coin? 2) It’s hard to use, so why bother 3) it doesn’t scale in terms of TPS, there’s no TPS scaling solution implemented, thus it will never be a better solution than Bitcoin as P2P cash. So, what’s the point of Grin?
^paraphrasing here from a rant I had in our telegram group recently
- A MW V2 Whitepaper. A V2 whitepaper would be seen by new eyes/ and old eyes. Something like this would get picked up by all the main crypto news outlets. Could be the biggest MW story since “Breaking MW” . Once we bring back the hype, we could then start running bounties for some of the open questions proposed in the V2 white paper. This should improve the odds of attracting new developers. Mimblewimble Whitepaper V2
- Better privacy | This needs to move ahead now: Mimblewimble CoinSwap proposal Privacy even appears to trump usability for many: https://twitter.com/DavidBurkett38/status/1303498860225007619?s=20 Many think of Grin as a “privacy coin” yet there’s currently no TX graph obfuscation. It would also be nice to put the nail in the coffin on Bogaty’s breaking Mimblewimble article and challenge him to perform the same attack.
- Atomic swaps with BTC( but not until privacy is improved). The reality is hardly anyone will use atomic swaps, especially if there’s no real use case. Use case with better privacy could be BTC > GRIN > BTC like a mixing service. Ether way Atomic swaps are a cool/ marketable feature that should have value one day
- A 2-round transaction scheme (A bounty for a secure scheme could be created)
- Implementing Payment channels. I’d like to see funding allocated to implement a scaling solution( perhaps a bounty). If Grin is designed for the decades to come( not just for tomorrow) then why isn’t a scaling solution implemented already or being worked on( I know @antioch spent lots of time on NRD kernels) But where is Grin Lighting? If we’re going to stick with ITX, one of the advantages is that it will be easier to onboard users to a lighting-style network. However, the real problem is onboarding new users in the first place. It would be easier to onboard new users to ITX if it also meant that learning a new tx method would mean more speed & scalability. At present, there’s no reason(incentive) for new uses to learn a more complicated tx method.
What am I going to do for Grin?
To be honest, probably not a lot compared to others! I’m not going to offer any contribution in terms of code or cryptography, I would be more akin to a Grin ambassador/ Evangelist- However, I’m not going to be lowering myself to disingenuous/ shitcoinary marketing tactics. I want to present Grin to people and then let them make their own minds up. I’m in the process of making a Grin Youtube channel. New video content is something Grin is seriously lacking. So that will be my contribution.
Grin’s journey so far hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing, however, it’s far from a shipwreck( Coin isn’t dead for any Grin boss fans reading this). I’m still extremely optimistic and excited about Grin’s future and feel like things are just starting to get interesting…
Just to add to this and share some train of thought: I was initially hesitant to apply, however, various people encouraged me to do so. So I had to ask myself why apply for this candidacy/ why should I have the power to make decisions? The first thing that came to mind is that I’m diplomatic, I’m willing to compromise and meet in the middle, and generally stay on good terms with all sides. I’m also consistent with my views and approach, which is important for building trust. The other thing I thought about is that I don’t really seek the power to make decisions. Which according to Plato means I could be right for the job 
: “Only those who do not seek power are qualified to hold it”
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