All Things Alt: Starcraft Goes Crypto, Urocoin’s Future and a Mining Pool Prohibition

Even as the calendar turns to August, there has been no shortage of exciting times in the altcoin world. While the news hasn’t been all good – several high-profile alt scams have rocked the community in recent weeks – there’s no denying that the community is still filled with enthusiasm.

To get just a taste of what’s been happening – and what’s to come – keep on reading!

Developer Bohan Huang on the future of uro

The urocoin project has attracted a fair amount of controversy, both regarding its developer and the alt’s long-term viability. Urocoin is a coin backed by the market value of urea, a type of fertilizer used commonly throughout the world.

In theory, the value of each urocoin is pegged to one metric ton of urea, which at market prices puts each coin at just over $300.

These days, however, URO is trading at just above $2 despite once hitting a high of $18.

Speculation and criticisms aside, it appears that the uro initiative is proceeding full-steam ahead, with discussions taking place that will establish a payment network for uro to be used by urea sellers and traders.

All Things Alt caught up with uro developer Bohan Huang, who discussed the future of the coin and what he hopes to accomplish with the project. Notably, Huang is aiming to create a marketplace – with uro as its foundation – that enables commodity merchants and traders to profit.

Huang explained:

“We think this separation of ‘trading’ and ‘buying’ is a good thing going forward for markets like urea, because the purchasers are agricultural mainly as opposed to financial so they do not really want to deal with all the headaches of fluctuating prices, whereas traders and speculators love volatility for profits. So it’s a win-win.”

As for the future of URO-urea exchange, Huang said that the development team is working toward an agreement between urea producers and buyers to allow the usage of urocoin. Huang stated that, by consensus, parties within the system will agree to pay the set rate of 1 URO per 1 metric tonne of urea.

“In our case, it’s consensus to accept 12,500 uro as payment for a 12,500 metric tonne shipment of urea (smallest cargo ship volume),” he said. “So, as more customers use this payment option, demand and supply will slowly adjust the market exchange rate to the ‘correct’ level because the number of tokens is limited.”

The Uro Foundation, the trade organization overseeing efforts to integrate urocoin into the urea market, announced last month that the first-ever urea transaction involving 25,000 URO was conducted.

Given the volatility in the price of urocoin and lingering concerns among the alt community, it remains to be seen where this project will go in the months ahead.

Minerals community prepares for StarCraft II tournament

Previously on All Things Alt, we looked at several altcoins seeking to make inroads into the e-sports betting, a proposition that supporters of the concept see as a way for cryptocurrencies to gain broader adoption.

This weekend will see a critical event in this movement, as the minerals development team and a group of StarCraft II players are set to kick off the Immortals Minerals Invitational on 2nd August beginning at 10 am PDT.

Hosted by The Immortals, a globally ranked StarCraft II team, the event brings together six prominent players from the game’s international player set. These players will compete in a round robin while an open bracket with 128 slots. Registration is still open, according to the site.

Prizes are denominated in both US dollars and minerals, bringing the tournament in line with others that take place with thousand-dollar cash purses. The top prize in the event is worth 25,000 MIN, or roughly $250, with second and third place worth 10,000 MIN and 4,000 MIN, respectively.

As the website explains:

“This is an exciting Starcraft II event featuring six of the best players in the world and an open bracket to give 128 players a chance to play against their favorite pros. The tournament will be supported by a prize pool featuring a lucrative combination of both USD and Minerals cryptocurrency.”

The minerals betting platform, which has been undergoing an open beta for the past few weeks, will be available for MIN betting during the event.

Bitcoin Talk restricts mining pool posts

In an effort to cut down on pool-related spam, the moderator team for Bitcoin Talk forum has announced new restrictions on this type of posting.

As explained by forum moderator BadBear, the prohibition extends to all parts of the website, although much of the criticism behind the banned practice – spamming threads with pool advertisements – is focused on altcoin project postings.

The moderator said:

“Advertising mining pools is no longer allowed, including, but not limited to, altcoin announcement threads. Mining pool OPs should make one thread within the Mining section of Alt Currencies. Do not make a separate thread for each coin. Most OPs already link to pools available so advertising your pool is unnecessary and leads to too much spam.”

The community response was mixed, ranging from enthusiasm for the ban to confusion and concern that new altcoins – and the pools that service them will be at a disadvantage. Pool operators themselves decried the move, saying that those unfamiliar with navigating Bitcoin Talk will have a hard time finding information on which pools service certain altcoins.

It should be noted that thread posters are not restricted from listing mining pools as options for users. Instead, the prohibition – which began on 31st July – focuses on pool owners who stand accused of spamming messages in a variety of threads.

Strange alt of the week

The anonymous coin movement has produced a variety of alt projects, including well-established alts like darkcoin and XC and newcomers such as cloakcoin and keycoin.

Yet a relatively recent entry into this increasingly crowded space brings several unusual characteristics to the table, as well as some downright bizarre branding.

Robotsexnickels (sign: RSN), which officially launched on 19th July, offers a 600-year-long mining schedule – yes, 600 years – and a month-to-month reward structure that fluctuates throughout the year.

According to the official Bitcoin Talk post:

“Robotsexnickels is a secure anonymous cryptocurrency with a primary purpose of providing slick lubrication for frisky robot jiggy-jiggy. There is a 1% premine to cover bounties and web hosting costs. No humans.”

For its out-of-the-ordinary approach to the mining lifetime length, RSN has won this week’s Strange Alt of the Week award.

With an exact mining schedule of 603 years, the network will produce approximately 3.8 million robotsexnickels. According to the developer, “this roller-coaster shape is designed to discourage miners from dropping in and out short term and reward the smart bots who stick around.”

It’s unclear how long the coin will last with this kind of schedule, but in the words of one community member, the premine alone is worth six years of mining.

RSN is said to offer TOR implementation for anonymous transactions, and according to the developer, a “Robot Sex Nickel Slot Machine” is currently in development.

Starcraft II image via PC Magazine

Have a tip about a notable happening in the altcoin world? Email CoinDesk at stan@coindesk.com.

Disclaimer: This article should not be viewed as an endorsement. Please do your own extensive research before you consider investing in the altcoin space.