Does this mean that this payment only network would have a transaction fee equal to the data storage cost? – Whereas in the final completed network the transaction cost is 100% subsidized by the data network?
edit: transaction cost == payment (moving coins fee)
@oetyng can you clarify the level of privacy this payment network will provide?
Will the nodes be controlled by Maidsafe. That nodes, for the future data Safenetwork, only can be added when needed is the projects biggest Achilles’ heel. As it won’t be able to compensate rewards for huge price swings by letting nodes leave or join at will.
Yeah, enough to start testnetting it very soon, like with data. We’ll keep hitting friction points just like before, but when payments only we would have a smaller scope to deal with.
It would use the same logic as when paying for data, but instead for a transfer.
I would think right now that the cost for those will not be the same in the end. But the exact proportions or setup is for later development.
It depends a bit what is compared with. The topic is complex. But there is nothing changed from what the current network has now. We did remove RingCts recently, which was a way to obfuscate relations with decoys. (More info on that can be found in some of the more recent dev updates.)
We are still using one-time-keys which should do much in the end (I cannot verify that it is developed into its full potential yet) and bulletproofs to hide the amounts. But to give a more thorough explanation as to how much privacy that is, I think perhaps @davidrusu or @dirvine can say a bit more.
If it were to be anything else then just a test network, then the design and aims are the same as with data network: decentralization.
I’ll point back to what @JimCollinson said here though:
This is an interesting area, the supply/demand dynamics. I think it would deserve it’s own topic.
The mechanism has been included in store cost, as that has been developed so far. But there is much still to do there.
So it is not sure if it will go beyond
?
Has any thoughts been had yet on how many nodes will be able to join. If the transaction fees will only be for moving data then it feels like the whole payment network could be hold by 20 nodes or so. In that case I would hope that you guys think about and consider locking the payment network to nodes controlled by Maidsafe. It could be the worlds coolest and fastest payment network spread across a few data centers and maybe partners across the world or similar. Just thinking out loud as have not given it a few weeks of thoughts.
It’s very early still, so we cannot say for sure what will happen or what will unveil as we continue exploring the paths. But we will be scoping out the ways it can be done.
We will have to see. Too early to say anything for certain now. More info will come as we have it!
Yeah, cool, keep it coming. All ideas and thoughts are welcome!
You see, the thing is… I helped in Filecoin, for which I received a miner in the main network and ~$19k. If SN is counting on free help from the community - well, I just have a lot of other things to do, including work.
Thanks for answering our difficult questions so fast, I understand it is early in the process. Looking forward to dvelve deeper on the nodes join & reward topic in the future. In my head i can vision on one side a dynamic system which let’s nodes join or leave and the system will find equilibrium on it’s own, on the other side I vision a system that will be in need of maybe some sort of governing entity to help balance the rewards if various price shocks would affect the SNT token.
Also what just come to mind would be to maybe also look towards a few other existing solutions for this payment system network, like Ethereums proof of stake and similar, if that could be combined in some way to secure relative few nodes. Very excited for the future it feels like the payment system has potential.
Personally I do not too much be angry if only payment network works 
I know this is a distant question but if the payment network is successful and it’s a parallel currency how would the new coins be distributed? To existing maid holders or a new ico?
It seems like they will test airdrop with the payment system, so that means it should be distributed to current MAID/eMAID holders.
I think it is a really really great idea to start with the payment network, and agree with all the stated reasons for that! I’m sure this forum would then have a so much more life to .
There are numerous options here that are wise to explore, so I’m not going to pin anything down at this stage. But one contender among them, given that we need to prove out the redemption process for the data network, would be an airdrop to MAID/eMAID and distribution to shareholders.
But again, just to be clear, these are at the exploratory stage and need to be examined carefully, including via the legal team, just so it’s all buttoned up.
Thanks for the clarification. If they are airdropped to were I store my maid (paper wallet) would I have to use my BTC paper wallet private key to redeem the payment network tokens? Only asking because id prefer to leave my maid where they are till launch but would obviously like to get involved with the payment network. Thanks
As some are seeing this as co-existing with SN and I’m assuming that’s not the intention (but that this is a test, and a stepping stone), I’m wondering how the transition would be achieved - through testing of the update mechanism perhaps?
If not using the update mechanism, we could well end up with two ‘rival’ networks. I’m not sure what the implications of that would be.
Thanks so much to the entire Maidsafe team for all of your hard work! 
Also where is the website where I can get the price of EMaid?
hmm on my currency no …
