4. Who's left holding the bag? If this collapses, who loses out? Presumably, merchants. Is there any provision made for this possibility? The investors are lef

4. Who's left holding the bag? If this collapses, who loses out? Presumably, merchants. Is there any provision made for this possibility? The investors are left holding most of the bag. In the end it will look like what we did amounted to the equivalent of taking money from investors and handing it out to people. We have a provision for what happens when our USD reserves fall to the level at which we can only meet our present obligations. It's called the Disruption event (see other comments). If Disruption hits, merchants are still guaranteed to get a certain percentage of their GD converted into USD, as specified by the reserve requirements stipulated in the contract they signed. We also have a single required USD reserve level to back the non-merchant accounts. Initially, our reserve requirements for everyone will be 100%, then we'll gradually lower them. At any given time, users will be able to see how much of their GD balance is guaranteed to convert to USD. The GD balance is divided into three parts denoted in three different colors: GREEN: GD that is guaranteed to convert to USD even if Disruption occurs at the soonest possible date given current USD reserve levels. YELLOW: GD that is guaranteed to convert to USD even if everyone stops spending their money immediately and allows their GD to sit idle. RED: GD that would be suspended (not convert to USD) if everyone stops spending their GD immediately. Users will be encouraged by seeing their red and yellow balances shrink with time as the potential Disruption date moves further into the future.