TIL Darksend, InstantX, and Sporks are not unique to DARK, just broken copies of things BTC already does:
It's easy to bander the term "unique" around until you sit down and think about it:
- Darksend: a poor implementation of CoinJoin. To quote the actual inventor of CoinJoin (gmaxwell) on the topic of Darkcoin: "That other stuff was initially "hey this coinjoin stuff is great, we put it in an altcoin!" to which my result was "hey, idiots, the whole point of coinjoin was that it already worked in bitcoin. If you're talking about something incompatible there are much better approaches" ... and they've since gone off to do other things, but uh.. seemingly without a lot of thought in advance."
- InstantX: a clone of the GreenAddress instant Bitcoin transaction system, or more accurately a clone of Natanael L's "Secure zero-confirmation payments using temporary notarized P2SH multi signature wallets".
- Sporks: turns the Bitcoin alert key system into a remote kill switch that one person can use to disrupt the network at will. Awesome."Darksend: a poor implementation of CoinJoin"
It appeared that that statement was based on wrong assumptions on how Darksend actually works. It is possible a lot of criticism stems from such misunderstandings. Obviously the state of documentation could be better, but as things are still in a constant development, spending time and effort in writing whitepapers against moving target is not essential.
"InstantX: a clone of the GreenAddress"
If you read what
GreenAddress actually is, you will see they are not at all the same. It can never be used from personal wallets, as the recipient has to
trust the previously published sending address not to double spend.
"Sporks"
A feature must have in rapid development. DASH, unlike Bitcoin or Litecoin, is constantly pushing new features and creating value for its users and investors. Spork usage can be abandoned or limited in the future - for example the spork could be usable only in the duration of between blocks n and n+5760 to guarantee a smooth transition from an old version to new one.