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The point is that these services work via e.g. the ethereum blockchain (and the best of them will actually have something to gain by being decentralized and tru

The point is that these services work via e.g. the ethereum blockchain (and the best of them will actually have something to gain by being decentralized and trustless). Good luck sending euros to an ethereum address.. Of course it's still up for debate whether it's necessary to have a separate ERC20 (standard ethereum token protocol) token, instead of simply paying with eth directly. One argument I've heard for this is to have the method of payment decoupled from the price volatility of eth, but I'm not entirely convinced by that.

novalis78 9y ago
As the case of the recent 'whoppercoin' for BurgerKing in Russia exemplifies, tokens also can take on the form of reward points. In a world where all of these various enterprise related token fields are 'shapeshiftable' fascinating economic incentives and dynamics emerge. Your investment in one tech project might thus allow you to eat for free for a year and if Burgers aren't healthy in your ideal world you might soon walk into a farmers market and pay electronically with tokens shifted. If everyone is a bank and investor - capitalist I guess you could say - then all of a sudden (central) banks face their 'internet moment' just like publishers, music, retailers did before them.
- paublyrne 9y ago
  You're not eating for free if you pay for the privilege ... The future you describe where the value of everything is obfuscated by currency proxies sounds like something we should be trying to avoid. Just like foreign aid restrictions often stipulate that machinery purchased with aid funds needs to come from the donor country, it would be a matter of time before fast food companies tried to pass off partial renumeration in coins redeemable only in the business, as a good thing. Edit:I realise I'm making a leap from what you describe and being speculative. But this is the sort of thing I feel this road leads to.
  - novalis78 9y ago
    You'd be eating 'free' in the sense that one of your investments might pay off and as soon as you step into BurgerKing your token will autoexchange to 'Whoopercoin' - purchased by your wallet app refilling your Burger King wallet. In fact there might be subscription services that tell you when the whoppercoin market experienced a pull back allowing you to take advantage and invite your friends. Yes, all speculative but technically absolutely doable.
dragandj 9y ago
With a reference to the OP, good luck storing your data there too.
alexasmyths 9y ago
"The point is that these services work via e.g. the ethereum blockchain (and the best of them will actually have something to gain by being decentralized and trustless). Good luck sending euros to an ethereum address.." Nobody cares about the issue of decentralization, but a small group of people, moreover, their concerns are not practical, they are intellectual. (Unless they are trying to do something illegal, in which case their concerns would be practical) From the average 'token user of Euros or Dollars' perspective - the current financial system has incredible integrity. There is zero advantage in 'decentralization'. There is zero risk from short term holding of any major currency. And they're massively liquid, especially in the natural region of that currency. 100% of 'Ether-anything' are nearly useless to the average person anywhere, whereas dollars are amazingly useful to Americans and others, for example. If there were a single, global, well thought-out 'Ehther' type currency, that were used in major and minor transactions - I can see some theoretical value in that. Conceptually, it's not crazy. But in practice, especially in terms of these small, one-off ICO's - they don't make any sense at all.
- kaffeemitsahne 9y ago
  You and the average american don't care about trustless decentralized services -- so what? If we only developed whatever tech the average person cared about, we wouldn't be typing here on this website today.
  - alexasmyths 9y ago
    100% supportive of speculative tech development. But the point of tech is to create value, ultimately. 'Decentralization' doesn't necessarily offer anyone a whole lot of value. Ironically, it may have value in low-tech places with totally ridiculous currencies. But even in those areas, using USD or Euros, or even RMB would be a better option.

novalis78 9y ago

As the case of the recent 'whoppercoin' for BurgerKing in Russia exemplifies, tokens also can take on the form of reward points. In a world where all of these various enterprise related token fields are 'shapeshiftable' fascinating economic incentives and dynamics emerge. Your investment in one tech project might thus allow you to eat for free for a year and if Burgers aren't healthy in your ideal world you might soon walk into a farmers market and pay electronically with tokens shifted. If everyone is a bank and investor - capitalist I guess you could say - then all of a sudden (central) banks face their 'internet moment' just like publishers, music, retailers did before them.

paublyrne 9y ago
You're not eating for free if you pay for the privilege ... The future you describe where the value of everything is obfuscated by currency proxies sounds like something we should be trying to avoid. Just like foreign aid restrictions often stipulate that machinery purchased with aid funds needs to come from the donor country, it would be a matter of time before fast food companies tried to pass off partial renumeration in coins redeemable only in the business, as a good thing. Edit:I realise I'm making a leap from what you describe and being speculative. But this is the sort of thing I feel this road leads to.
- novalis78 9y ago
  You'd be eating 'free' in the sense that one of your investments might pay off and as soon as you step into BurgerKing your token will autoexchange to 'Whoopercoin' - purchased by your wallet app refilling your Burger King wallet. In fact there might be subscription services that tell you when the whoppercoin market experienced a pull back allowing you to take advantage and invite your friends. Yes, all speculative but technically absolutely doable.

dragandj 9y ago

With a reference to the OP, good luck storing your data there too.

alexasmyths 9y ago

"The point is that these services work via e.g. the ethereum blockchain (and the best of them will actually have something to gain by being decentralized and trustless). Good luck sending euros to an ethereum address.." Nobody cares about the issue of decentralization, but a small group of people, moreover, their concerns are not practical, they are intellectual. (Unless they are trying to do something illegal, in which case their concerns would be practical) From the average 'token user of Euros or Dollars' perspective - the current financial system has incredible integrity. There is zero advantage in 'decentralization'. There is zero risk from short term holding of any major currency. And they're massively liquid, especially in the natural region of that currency. 100% of 'Ether-anything' are nearly useless to the average person anywhere, whereas dollars are amazingly useful to Americans and others, for example. If there were a single, global, well thought-out 'Ehther' type currency, that were used in major and minor transactions - I can see some theoretical value in that. Conceptually, it's not crazy. But in practice, especially in terms of these small, one-off ICO's - they don't make any sense at all.

kaffeemitsahne 9y ago
You and the average american don't care about trustless decentralized services -- so what? If we only developed whatever tech the average person cared about, we wouldn't be typing here on this website today.
- alexasmyths 9y ago
  100% supportive of speculative tech development. But the point of tech is to create value, ultimately. 'Decentralization' doesn't necessarily offer anyone a whole lot of value. Ironically, it may have value in low-tech places with totally ridiculous currencies. But even in those areas, using USD or Euros, or even RMB would be a better option.