“I’ve been working with Jordan for over half a year now, and I’ve never seen him reveal anything about where he’s from, how old he is, what his background is, or even a single pop culture reference. I think he will politely decline to answer anything that could help people track him.”
That was the warning I received from the NuBits marketing and communications director, who goes by the name David. “I’m using a pseudonym to protect my identity until we see what the regulatory environment ends up looking like,” he told me.
The entire NuBits team has been secretive from the beginning about their project. In fact, when they first announced the NuBits project, they didn’t even say what it would be.
They even made me agree to sign a non-disclosure agreement before they provided me with one of the only advance copies of the NuBits white paper.
The Peercoin community seemed to have a lot of faith in the development team, especially in its head, Jordan Lee. So when they announced the NuBits project, and said “some might even call this the most important development in the cryptoasset space since Bitcoin was released,” they reacted with an enthusiasm rarely seen in the cryptocurrency world riddled with scams, bogus projects, and broken promises.
Lee agreed to sit down with The CoinFront (through a highly encrypted communication channel; Skype just wouldn’t do!) and spend some time discussing the nature of the project.
Hi Jordan, thanks for taking the time to chat with The CoinFront today.
I’m pleased to have the opportunity to speak with you about our exciting innovation.
What is your background? How did you first get into cryptocurrency?
I was initially interested in cryptocurrencies because I saw the potential they had to provide something that people need (money) in a way that is no longer dependent on centralized intitutions, which are typically associated with corruption and the use of force. Cryptocurrencies hold the promise of a more peaceful and cooperative world.
For those who don’t know, could you give us a brief overview of NuBits and what it hopes to accomplish?
NuBits offer users all the benefits of the Bitcoin network without the volatility. They are pegged to the US dollar. For those who do not want a stable currency and would rather have a stake in the ownership of the network that may appreciate in value, we offer NuShares. Our key innovation is the separation of the currency and share aspects of the network.
Where did the idea for NuBits come from? How did you come up with it?
The idea of creating Peershares was an important prerequisite. A Peershares implementation permits shares of a business or venture to be managed using a decentralized ledger. With this technology in hand, I began to think about how I could use an implementation of it to fix the volatility issue cryptocurrencies have demonstrated. To have a stable price, you must be able to expand or contract either the supply or demand for the currency. I realized shareholders could expand the supply by voting to create it in the hands of particular entities and also support the price by increasing demand for the currency by paying interest on NuBits when necessary.
Fantastic. And Peershares was the reason why you chose to implement it on Peercoin, I gather? Were any other coins considered, or was Peercoin the obvious choice from day 1?
I don’t have confidence in the decentralization or sustainability of proof-of-work assets such as Bitcoin, so I needed a well distributed proof of stake asset external to the Nu network. Peercoin is a popular and stable proof of stake asset with a strong community backing it.
But you must have heard of the recent fiasco with VeriCoin and MintPal. That’s caused many to express concern about proof of stake coins. What you think think about the future of them?
It’s probably not a good idea to have a large percentage of the control of a network in one entity’s hands. That why we are planning to quickly decentralize the possession of NuShares by selling them for a low price.
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Why do you think having a cryptocurrency with a fixed value is so important?
So that it can move beyond the realm of a speculative asset and become an important facilitator of commerce. Businesses and consumers need to know what their money will be worth in a month and a year. Bitcoin has solved the volatility problem by partnering with banks via Bitpay and Coinbase, both those are centralized solutions. This will allow commerce without banks on either side of the transaction.
So you see NuBits as more useful as a currency because it has a more stable value? Where would you like to see NuBits a year from now?
Yes. A currency must be fungible, transportable, divisible and a stable store of value. NuBits possesses these attributes more than any other currency in the world. We have a lot of work to do in encouraging them to be widely accepted, however. In a year I hope NuBits will be used for lending and commerce around the world. It’s very good for international commerce.
I hope so too! So you’ve fixed NuBits’ value at $1 USD. Why did you choose this price?
Because the US dollar is the most widely used measure of value and the $1 makes conversion easy and intuitive.
You’ve managed to build a lot of excitement around the NuBits project without releasing much information. To what do you attribute that excitement?
The reputation of those involved. We are mostly long term members of the Peercoin community that have built trust over time. This combined with the importance of the problem we are solving (volatility) explains the excitement.
And other than NuBits, what do you think is the most interesting development in the world of cryptocurrency right now?
Technologies to support equity based assets such Counterparty, NXT Asset Exchange and Peershares.
In the NuBits whitepaper, you described two different roles for people involved in NuBits: custodians and shareholders. Could you explain the difference between these two?
A shareholder owns a fraction of the network and can control what the network does in proportion to size of his or her equity stake. Custodians are entities or groups (using multisig trnasactions) that are given control of a finite quantity of network revenues by shareholders.
Do you have any other projects up your sleeve once NuBits launches?
There is a lot work left to be done on the Nu network. We are working on improving privacy, scalability, acceptance and ease of use among other things. I can be most effective working on these issues.
An Interview With NuBits Head Developer Jordan Lee
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