Multiple Teams Creating Bitcoin-based Prediction Markets

NEW YORK (InsideBitcoins) – Truthcoin is a concept for decentralized prediction markets created by Paul Sztorc in late 2013. At the core of the system is an attempt to create a low-trust oracle that could be used to resolve bets on the blockchain. Sztorc has stated that this oracle could be the basis for superior versions of everything from Bitshares to Ethereum, and that he’d like to eventually see the concept implemented as a sidechain to bitcoin. In a recent update to the Truthcoin website, it was revealed that multiple teams are working on various implementations of the Truthcoin protocol. These teams plan to complete their work around April or June of this year.
Building Truthcoin as a sidechain
Sztorc has been in touch with Blockstream (the company currently working on a sidechains implementation for bitcoin), but, unfortunately, the final version of sidechains is not ready yet. Bitcoin core developer and Blockstream co-founder Gregory Maxwell recently stated that a demo, federated version of sidechains would be available in ‘a few months,’ but it does not appear that anyone is working on a Truthcoin implementation for that beta stage of sidechains development.
Instead of working on a sidechain directly, the Blockstream team recommended that Sztorc simply work on an altcoin. It should be noted that this is not actually an altcoin in the traditional meaning of the word. Sztorc explained:

This post was published at Inside Bitcoins on Mar 3, 2015.