Why should I care about Ellipticoin?
Let's start with because you can use it! Here what is on mainnet today:
Ellipticoin blockchain offering:
free and instant transfers of ETH, BTC, ELC, and DAI
free and instant trades between all pairs of ETH, BTC, ELC, and DAI (through the built-in automated market maker)
ability to provide liquidity between any of the above trading pairs for rewards in ELC each and every block
Bridge between Ethereum/Bitcoin and Ellipticoin, offering entrance and exit at the speed of Ethereum/Bitcoin
Minimalist website and in-browser wallet allowing you to try it out in a very user-friendly way
Ellipticoin, above all else, is a continuous stream of questions. Namely, it is the question "does anybody want this?" asked in the only credible way: by putting minimum viable software out into the wild and seeing if people use it.
The questions that Ellipticoin is asking today are:
Do users want to trade between the most popular tokens from the most popular chains instantly and for free?
Do users want to make markets between these tokens in exchange for Ellipticoin (ELC) rewards?
Do users want either of these enough to risk any amount of money on proof-of-concept level software?
Software Releases > Press Releases
Let's be real, crypto is built on hype. People prioritize building crypto-economically perfect software way above determining if any user actually wants to use the software they create. It turns out crypto-economically perfect software is hard to build, so future users’ attention is financed with debt via hype while teams struggle make good on their lofty promises. This a recipe for disgruntled teams and disappointed users. It's why Ethereum is so great, theoretically, but is used meaningfully in the daily lives of so few.
Ellipticoin seeks to change this. Ellipticoin will make no promises to you. Ellipticoin will simply put out working software that you can use and let you judge it with your money and actions, not just your Tweets. Part of this minimalist approach is making concessions. The software will not be perfect to start. It will not be theoretically pure to start. It will not be fully decentralized to start. People may lose money. But you can use it, and it will get better with each and every tightly-scoped release.
It can also be better in a shorter timeframe compared to most other software in crypto because quick iteration means frequent data-points on what better actually means. Ellipticoin stands out through its discipline, ignoring the noise and iterating quickly on things that actually matter to users. Because users who actually use it are more important than some logician in a vacuum saying "well, technically someone could..." If someone could and it's worthwhile, then they will. If they do, their actions will be taken into account. If not, Ellipticoin will save time by not worrying about it and focus on bringing you what you actually want.
Thoughts on the future
The only promises that Ellipticoin will make for the future is frequent software releases that you can use and priorities that update based on what you use and how you use it. That said, some features that have been discussed in detail are:
Making the bridge more robust and decentralized
Offering mining rewards to further decentralize mining
Adding borrowing and lending at the protocol level, similar to automated market making functionality
Adding more token pairs
Re-enabling generic smart contract support
Adding transaction fees (on the order of $0.01 per transaction)
For more information, please join the Ellipticoin Telegram, visit Mason’s Blog, and follow Ellipticoin on Twitter. And, of course, try it out here (with money you’re not afraid to lose).