[Cryptography] Drop Zone v0.1 released

[17Q4MX2hmktmpuUKHFuoRmS5MfB5XPb at Safe-mail.net]

Announcing the first release of Drop Zone, a new e-commerce system that uses The Bitcoin network to preserve the opacity of supply chain activity. It is completely decentralized because it is built on The Blockchain.

You can see screenshots of the project below:

Github Link:
https://github.com/17Q4MX2hmktmpuUKHFuoRmS5MfB5XPbhod/dropzone_ruby

Rubygem Link: 
https://rubygems.org/gems/dropzone_ruby

It is a command line only client for now, but it is perfectly functional, written in Ruby, and tested to the hilt.

- Install ruby. This program was built on version 2.2.1
- gem install dropzone_ruby
- Run "dropzone help" to get started
- Fund a testnet and mainnet key with BTC/tBTC
- Create a seller or buyer profile, and start using Drop Zone

The basic commands of the protocol are simple to execute, and very simple to use, though I anticipate that the average non-dev will not find picking it up an intuitive experience.

Obviously, just as Bitcoin was when it was released, this is an alpha release and it is experimental. As is the case with even the most meticulous code, there will have to be significant refactoring and updates as bugs are found. Below, and within the code itself, I have listed the bugs that are already known. The project is built with separation of concerns in mind, serves as a defacto reference for implementation in any language, and is trivially extensible by any interested programmer.

This project leverages the anonymity, time-stamping, and persistence of the Bitcoin test network for its buyer/seller communications. The security, immutability, and "network effects" of the Bitcoin mainnet is leveraged for the advertisement and discovery of goods and reputational events by market participants.

Bitcoin makes the security of message passing within Drop Zone a trivial concern. It also allows users to hide behind their addresses. Simply, while this is the first release of Drop Zone, it achieves what I outline in the white paper, and outsources all scalability concerns to The Blockchain.

While development is a humble, sometimes thankless exercise, I would like Drop Zone to stand on its own as the project that inspired other developers to begin their work on The Blockchain. If this works, it is a new era for Bitcoin - the protocol that shows that The Blockchain is made for more than simple value transfers. It is a robust and valuable application for the purpose of disintermediating counterparty risk amongst parties engaging in high-risk transactions.

While I have no certainty of it, I think that Drop Zone stands a chance at being the first Blockchain protocol to achieve widespread use. It is a scalable application that is built to use the Blockchain for nothing more than risk mitigation by way of an immutable queue of messages. Unlike many of the systems proposed today, Drop Zone allows for uptime of stores; as long as The Blockchain is up, a store is as well. This prevents sellers from having to take on the risk of hosting their own store or signing up for hosted services in the cloud.

Drop Zone works as a secure message passing protocol, a marketplace, and has elements of a reputation system built in. While this first, command line version is not for the faint of heart, I hope to see an ecosystem of mobile integrations, block explorers, and subsequent commerce as the community realizes the potential of Drop Zone.


Today is a Beautiful Day,

Miracle Max
(17Q4MX2hmktmpuUKHFuoRmS5MfB5XPbhod / mw8Ge8HDBStKyn8u4LTkUwueheFNhuo7Ch )