I believe this is the first website to support the buying and selling of Factoids.

https://www.dcxtx.com/Default.aspx

Thanks for the questions.

In order to respect the privacy of the early Factoid purchasers the Foundation will not be releasing individual transaction ids for participants, as we didn't ask for or seek their permission to release transaction details.

For those interested in checking / auditing the proportion analysis of the holders of Factoids you are welcome to check the public Genesis block when it is released as part of the Factom Genesis version of the live Beta. The Genesis block will show the amounts of Factoids owned by all participant addresses that took part in the early sale (20%), main sale (50%), and the early contributors (30%).

I'm happy to talk about the reason for the early sale of Factoids. It was done in order to provide support for the core developers of the Factom Client from the period beginning in mid 2014 through April of 2015. There have been more than 5 full time core developers working on the Factom Client during that period and getting paid to do so was the only way they could afford to focus all their efforts during that time in order to create the Factom Alpha and now the Factom Beta.

The early purchase period of Factoids was not private or invite only, anyone that approached the Factom Foundation about supporting our efforts was informed about the early purchase opportunity. Similar to the early contributor pool the Foundation was very public about welcoming any community members to help write and review Factom code, spread the word about Factom or otherwise contribute to the project and all their efforts were recorded and included in the Factoid pool for early contributors. More than 70 members of the Factom community took part in being community leaders, code reviewers, advisors, or making other contributions. This whole process has been done openly with repeated calls to the community for support.

Its important to note, the participants of the Factoid early sale didn't get any preferential treatment compared to the price paid by the main sale participants. A similar amount of support was collected during the early sale as was collected during the main sale, but split among a 20% pool instead of a 50% pool. In the end Factom Foundation can't make any predictions about the future price of Factoids, we only know that the protocol connects the utility of the Factom Network to the use of the Factoid tokens via the use of entry credits. The consensus paper is worth checking out on that topic. https://github.com/FactomProject/FactomDocs/blob/master/FactomLedgerbyConsensus.pdf

I hope that information is helpful : )

Here is the link to the post about release candidate one. All the coding is done from end to end. The code is currently under a "freeze", meaning no new features, only bug fixes are being accepting between now and reaching milestone 1 / launch of the live beta.

http://blog.factom.org/post/124249017699/technical-update-release-candidate-one

You and anyone else tech savvy are welcome to join the testing community of folks installing and trying out the functions of the Factom client, participating in the stress test and otherwise finding ways to make the software more robust. Just hit up BrianDeery1 on Skype if you want to be added to the testing group.

Here is the link to the install guide. https://github.com/FactomProject/FactomDocs/blob/master/communityTesterDirections.md

The Factom core developers are targeting next week for release candidate two. Presuming no major bugs are discovered in RC2 the Beta will come shortly after that.

That's about as close to a schedule as one can get. The goal is to have robust software that will work when the genesis block goes live at the launch of the Beta. Security is the top priority. Real value is at stake in this software and so the team is running a huge number of tests (currently more than 179 per day) in order to be confident Factom is stable and preforming as expected.

I hope that sets the schedule in context. Its all open source / open development so you are welcome to track the progress on Factom's Github repos.

The Factom Inc. BnkToTheFuture syndication of shares with investors finishes tomorrow.

https://bnktothefuture.com/pitches/2087/_factom-inc-bringing-the-blockchain-to-business.html

We thought it best to let it run the full 30 days.

Heads up to the Factom community.

Bitcoin Magazine Coverage of the Factom Client Release Candiate One.
https://bitcoinmagazine.com/21268/factom-team-launches-release-candidate-one-calls-test-participation/

Here is the blog post:
http://blog.factom.org/post/124249017699/technical-update-release-candidate-one

The goal for GG / Factom Inc. is more to create generalized blockchain / Factom tools for auditing, finance, land titles and so forth. Doing some consulting for large enterprise clients is a means to defining these general software tools. In short the goal for Factom Inc. is not to be primarily a consulting company, but rather to build software tools that can be used by dozens and eventually hundreds of different companies.

As for the work hours, both the Foundation and Factom Inc. teams actually do often work 16 hour days, plus weekends (you can see the late night commits + weekend commits time stamped on Github).

In general the Foundation is focused on supporting the core developers and the for profit is supporting the marketing / business folks. The two organizations staff will become more and more divergent over time. For example Peter Kirby serves as the CEO for the for profit while Paul Snow serves as the CEO of the Foundation given their different focuses.

Here is the website for the Factom Inc. for profit company working with enterprise clients to get them using the Factom Network and technology: http://www.factom.com/

Answers to a lot of the questions people are asking are covered in the latest Factom blog post.

See at this link or the text below.

http://blog.factom.org/post/119043767999/thank-you-for-supporting-the-factom-foundation-and

Thank You for Supporting the Factom Foundation and Open Source Software
We completed our software sale this morning with over 4.3 million Factoids sold. Paul Snow CEO of the Factom Foundation said this morning, “It has been incredibly humbling to receive such an enthusiastic welcome from the bitcoin community. The Factom Foundation wants to thank each of you for helping to secure the future of the Factom Project and allow us to bring our dream of more honest systems to fruition. Over the next few months we will continue to improve the Factom API and educate developers on how to incorporate Factom into their software”.

Whats next for the Factom Foundation?
Factom will release a stable working BETA software product in Q3 2015. Developers and businesses can begin to build on top of Factom now. If you would like to learn how connect with us here.
As with any new system, user testing is a key to its long time stability and growth. If you’re interested in testing the software or want to run your own Factom server, please reach out directly.

I bought Factoids, now what?
Factoids become usable and tradable software tokens with the release of the beta Factom client. Factom network will begin rewarding the federated servers after milestone 3 is complete and all 32 federated servers have been elected. Each customer will have a Factom wallet and can use their Factoids to buy Entry Credits or send them to fellow Factom customers. Many exchanges have expressed an interest in making Factoids tradable on their platform, so stay tuned for more partnership announcements.

Where do I learn how to build on Factom?
You can find the full coding tool set on GitHub. You’ll also find useful links to developer tools and documentation. You can learn more about the community and connect directly with fellow developers at www.factom.org.

How will the end user redeem their Factoids?
When the system goes live, there will be a basic command line wallet. With this wallet, users will be able to create a Factoid transaction. They can redeem Factoids for the Entry Credit Public Keys. The master passphrase can be entered into this wallet to create the crypto signatures needed to reassign the Factoids to other addresses or to purchase Entry Credits. Easier to use wallets will be developed later on.
How will users verify their software sale identity and receive on-chain Factoids?
The purchase process already credits their identity with Factoids. The payment process sends the Factoid public key along with the bitcoin payment. 
The koinify wallet sent bitcoins to: https://blockchain.info/address/35gLt5EgB367enjSjyEDahhWWcy6p1MGf6 and each payment was tagged with an OP_RETURN value.

This code: https://github.com/FactomProject/FactomDocs/tree/master/token_sale shows how the master passphrase was used to derive the public key in the OP_RETURN.

When the Factoid genesis block is created, all the people who sent in Bitcoins will be credited with the appropriate number of Factoids. Factoid wallets will be able to assign those to new Factoid addresses or redeem them for Entry Credits.

Is Factom building a Wallet?
Yes, Factom is building a CLI wallet for Factoids. We are starting out with a rudimentary wallet. It will be usable by command line users and computer programs. During milestone 2 a storefront will be set up. These businesses will be able to use Factom without touching cryptocurrency.

What is the timeline of the chain going live?
The Factoids will be issued with the genesis block. We have targeted that for Q3 2015.
Everyone at the Factom Foundation would like to thank you for your interest and support in our project. We are working hard to finish testing the Beta and making Factom easier to use and build on. Please stay tuned to learn more about partnerships, and new developments.

Good questions.

1. So the milestone #1 delivery will give us a live Factoid chain so exchanges / Shape Shift and others will be integrating Factoids then and that will create an open market where anyone can buy and sell Factoids.

2. This answers the question as the second milestone and the store front will be after the launch of the Factoid genesis block and anyone will be able to sell Factoids.

Best to stay tuned. Regular updates are posted on http://blog.factom.org/ As you mention Shape Shift has announced it will be among the first integrators of Factoids. But first the genesis block needs to go live as part of the milestone 1.

Trading of the Factoids will start after the genesis block is released. Which is part of the first milestone that must be delivered. You can see the code coming along here on Github: https://github.com/FactomProject/

In short the code is getting close. Paul Snow will be providing a developer update next week on the Factom blog. Testing will be key for the core developers to feel confident to release the Factoid chain live. For those will the dev skills assistance with testing is very welcome.

Thanks for the questions.

1. I agree transparency is important and Factom will certainly be open about how BTC / USD is spent.

2. I think it is reasonable for the Factom Foundation to report its expenses in detail, you can count on this.

3. Koinify did not place any BTC into the sale to my knowledge and they certainly didn't get it back. You can see the address for the Factom sale is a 3 key multi signature address which is not in the control of either the Factom Foundation or Koinify but two of the three keys are held by the independent evaluator and BitGo. The same goes for the ItBit account it requires the authorization of the independent technical evaluators.

4. The Factom Foundation is certainly committed to full transparency and you can expect us to be using our own time stamping to improve that audit ability.

5. The Factom Foundation is going to be very open about this whole process as we have been with writing the whitepaper, development of the code, and so forth.

6. The Factom Foundation does have a CPA and will be doing accurate book keeping. Of course none of this will be begin until the Factom Foundation is released the first 33% of the token sale revenue which happens after the 1st milestone is delivered and approved by the technical evaluator.

In essence what the community has done is place a few thousand BTC in escrow and it only gets released when the code is complete and milestones are met. That is a best practice I hope to see replicated in the ecosystem to prevent bad actors from taking token purchasers money.

You are welcome. Thanks for the well articulated questions.

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You are indeed understanding correctly. 50% of the genesis block Factoids will come from the software sale, 20% from the early sale, and 30% from the early contributors. One note, there are no "insiders" these Factoids in the early contributor pool are rewarded to everyone who added value to the Factom project before its launch post May 15th. This includes white paper reviewers, advisors, community leaders, core developers, and everyone else who the Factom team recorded as having added value to the Factom project. This process was open to anyone and the team has repeatedly invited members of the community to join the effort and earn Factoids from the early contributor pool. This open process and transparency has been one of the main drivers of the large team and community that Factom has gathered.

To answer your question, Yes, that does mean that if 10 million Factoid are sold during the software sale, the total number of Factoids will be 20 million in the genesis block.

Thanks again for the great questions.

Thanks for the questions. See here below.

#1. The genesis block of the Factoids (to be released post May 15th) will contain all Factoids from the software sale, early contributor and early sale pool participants as described in percentages on the Factom Koinify profile: https://koinify.com/#/project/FACTOM

So to answer the question directly. No. The genesis block will contain all Factoids that will be valid in the protocol and they will come into existence at the same time, no Factoids (beyond for testing purposes) will be created before the Factoid Chain is released.

#2. No Factoids will be created after the Genesis block of the Factoid Chain, except for the 10% annual emission you highlight. Its worth highlighting that this 10% annual emission is multiplied against the genesis block Factoids and is thus non compounding. Specifically the number of Factoids in the 10% annual emission is set by the genesis block and stays the same in absolute terms year after year. Thus the percentage of the Factoids rewarded to Federated Servers declines as a percentage of the total Factoids that have been issued over the history of the network.

#3. There will not be a cap on the number of Factoids. The emission will continue in perpetuity.

#4. Shape Shift has committed to integrate Factoids into their system and so yes it is anticipated that Factoids will be tradable after May 15th, though this is out of the control of the Factom Foundation and will depend on third parties conducting integrations.

#5. The Factom Foundation does NOT have its own pool Factoids separate from the early sale, early contributors and software sale. Though the Factom Foundation is able to hold Factoids as part of its endowment in addition to the BTC that is collected during the software sale or later via donations from sponsors.

This question of holding Factoids has come up as one the purchasers in the early sale pool failed to complete the committed amount of the purchase and the Factom Foundation ended up holding these Factoids as part of its endowment. Though not originally planned this scenario resulted in the Factom Foundation holding a minority of the Factoids in the early sale pool.

#6. On the question of if "Factom" will provide "Off Chain Transactions" I could interpret this question is several ways. Provided you are asking about Factom supporting financial transactions off the bitcoin blockchain, I'd say that any record can be recorded in Factom, though generally speaking this is data records and not financial transactions. Though given Factom doesn't have any gate keepers or restrict the type of data a user adds to the system its possible users will add financial transactions to the Factom system. Will these qualify as "off chain" I suppose in a way they would, though given Factom places an anchor every 10 minutes into the Bitcoin Blockchain this data is secured to the blockchain periodically though without having to place nearly as many transactions into the Bitcoin Blockchain to accomplish this security and audit ability.

#7. Factom is a general purpose data verification layer in which the user can write and read from an immutable set of records that have been secured to the blockchain. Factom does not have any application layer features. Anyone issuing tokens, securing records, creating transactions on top of the Factom data verification and auditing trails would be doing so independent of the core Factom protocol which only provides for the writing and reading of data. In short, there is virtually no overlap between Counter Party, Omni Layer, or other decentralized applications which have features such as decentralized exchange, token issuance, smart contracts and so forth. In fact the goal is as Factom proves itself a stable protocol for the publishing and reading of data done in a way that is secured to the blockchain, but allows for much greater scaling, speed and cost efficiencies, that platforms such as Counter Party and Omni will integrate Factom into the way they secure meta data for their different features.

I hope those answers are helpful.

 

Thanks for the questions.

First, the demand for the Factoids / Entry credits will be driven by demand in the market based on those seeking to use the capabilities of the platform.

Second, the Factom team can't make an predictions or set any expectations about the future price of Factoids as this is entirely determined by the open market.

Third, its worth reading the whitepaper on http://factom.org/ to understand the how Factoids function.

Here is a useful video on the topic: https://youtu.be/MlzyI1bfyD4

In short the primary function of a Factoid is to convert into entry credits which are used in the Factom system to make entries into the blockchain secured Factom ledger. Basically publishing the hash of a larger data file in a way that is immutable, time stamped and decentralized. This is helpful for auditing and other business processes. I recommend checking out the Use Case videos on the Factom website.
 

Thanks for the questions. Firstly the software sale is using bitcoin because it is a non reversible type of payment. If one were to accept a reversible type of payment for a non reversible application specific digital token, then one would encounter a fraud problem. A fraudulent buyers would send funds (from a credit card for example) the buyer receives the digital token and then simply calls up his credit card company to reverse the charge on this card. The seller of the applications specific digital token has no way to reverse the send, so the fraudulent buyer walks away with the digital token, but the seller has kept no value.

The Factom protocol and clients have been developed to the Alpha stage and the Beta will be released after the software sale post May 15th. As part of releasing the Beta and the Factoid chain capabilities requires there to be an number of tokens created in the genesis block at the launch, because the reward in the Federated server system is a multiplied by the number of tokens in the genesis block (10% of all tokens in the Genesis block).

Its worth understanding that if the Factom Foundation or some central entity had been the one selling Factoids that it effectively becomes a gate keeper in the system. Factom is designed to have no gate keepers so a centralized issuer was not an option.

Thanks for the question.

Factom isn't very similar to existing cryptocurrencies as its main function is not to act as a payment network or currency, but rather as a decentralized platform for publishing and reading generalized data from an immutable ledger.

If I were to pick any project I'd say Side Chains is a good analogy (though very different in function). Where Side Chains is a means of moving value (in the form of coins) from one blockchain to another, Factom is a means of securing / time stamping data that has been hashed and anchoring it into the bitcoin blockchain. With the ability to trace back that merkle root into the Factom directory layer and audit the hashes that have been published.

So perhaps one could say Factom is to data what Side Chains is to coins. That is a means of scaling the blockchain in that particular function.

It not a perfect analogy, but I hope that answers your question.

  

To answer the question:
How are we going to be able to trade Factoids - will they be on crypto exchanges?

Shape Shift has already announced their plan to integrate Factoids after May 15th when the software sale is complete.
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Shape shift is just a way to convert currencies not a trading exchange. What will determine the value of a factoid? The way I understand this is you want to keep the price of a entry credit to 1/10 of a penny and will create new factoids to keep this price at this level, so how will increased adoption increase the value of a factoid?
Thanks for your patience, I really want to understand this."

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Thanks for the note. I'm happy to talk through the details. You make a good point, Shape Shift is a good way of convert tokens but doesn't itself have an order book and thus isn't an oracle for a price. I expect a number of exchanges will make the necessary integration with Factom to support the trading of Factoids. I'll wait to name, names until they much public statements.

The Federated Servers will determine the conversion rate of Factoids to Entry Credits, however yes the number that we putting out there as an example is a tenth of a penny for entries.

To be clear there will not be any "new Factoids" created for the purpose of maintaining or locking this price or ratio. The new Factoids that are created in the system go to the elected Federated Servers for the purpose of rewarding them for auditing and publishing of the hashes.

So think of it this way the Factoids are traded on the market at a dynamic price. The Federated Servers will react to this price change by increasing or decreasing the conversion rate of Factoids to Entry credits between the upper band of being cheap enough to attract users, but expensive enough to prevent spam. 

To answer the question:
How are we going to be able to trade Factoids - will they be on crypto exchanges?

Shape Shift has already announced their plan to integrate Factoids after May 15th when the software sale is complete.