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> Blockchain only has one major use case; cryptocurrency. Currencies have value only because governments force everyone to use them for paying taxes and welfar

> Blockchain only has one major use case; cryptocurrency. Currencies have value only because governments force everyone to use them for paying taxes and welfare. Your 'tokens-as-shares' vision is flawed, because at the end of the day it devolves into a million little barter schemes, and barter sucks. (As we discovered back in the bronze age.) The only place where blockchain could provide a use is with smart contracts. If you've experienced buying or selling real estate, then you understand how insanely inefficient low-trust, high-value deals can be. Anything that removes this friction would be a great boon.

jondubois 8y ago
>> Currencies have value only because governments force everyone to use them for paying taxes and welfare. I used to think this but I don't anymore. Taxes are just one of multiple reasons why currencies have value. Some countries have no taxes and yet their currencies still have value. >> Your 'tokens-as-shares' vision is flawed, because at the end of the day it devolves into a million little barter schemes How is this different from the stock market? If you own shares of one company and you want to buy shares in a different company, you need to sell your existing shares for an intermediate currency first. It's a lot easier to do this using cryptocurrencies though (using Bitcoin as the intermediate). Using tokens to pay for services is a proven concept; plane tickets, movie tickets, concert tickets, metal tokens for laundromats, food stamps, prepaid data quota for internet access... These are all tokens - the main difference is that they are issued by a central authority. Cryptocurrencies open the door for universal services that have no central authority. They create an environment in which competitors can collaborate and mutually benefit through open source work.
KaiserPro 8y ago
>then you understand how insanely inefficient low-trust high-value deals can be. I think you misunderstand how real estate contracts work. Real estate contracts are more or less cut and paste, in fact you can generate them here: https://www.lawdepot.com/contracts/real-estate-purchase-agreement/?loc=US https://www.lawdepot.com/contracts/real-estate-purchase-agre... The thing that takes the time is due diligence, finding and arranging money, and/or buyers. The actual contract is the easy part, unless you are putting in custom stuff. Smart contracts are basically glorified escrow, but with no legal precedence. If something were to go wrong, and your smart contract doesn't complete properly, you'll still be going to court to carry out the remediation steps. Also, smart contract require mutual agreement to work properly, there is no over-riding system to mediate should things become undefined. (well, there could be, you need to program that in.) The friction in high value deals is the due diligence. it doesn't matter if the contract is smart. Undoing a house move is expensive, having a contract where one party can terminate instantly without warning or redress is a dystopian nightmare.
- KaiserPro 8y ago
  Also, the value of currency is not because of paying taxes, its because you agree it has value. In the same way that gold has "value" if that were the case US Dollars would have no value in failed states. There is nothing inherent in value, its down to consensus.

jondubois 8y ago

>> Currencies have value only because governments force everyone to use them for paying taxes and welfare. I used to think this but I don't anymore. Taxes are just one of multiple reasons why currencies have value. Some countries have no taxes and yet their currencies still have value. >> Your 'tokens-as-shares' vision is flawed, because at the end of the day it devolves into a million little barter schemes How is this different from the stock market? If you own shares of one company and you want to buy shares in a different company, you need to sell your existing shares for an intermediate currency first. It's a lot easier to do this using cryptocurrencies though (using Bitcoin as the intermediate). Using tokens to pay for services is a proven concept; plane tickets, movie tickets, concert tickets, metal tokens for laundromats, food stamps, prepaid data quota for internet access... These are all tokens - the main difference is that they are issued by a central authority. Cryptocurrencies open the door for universal services that have no central authority. They create an environment in which competitors can collaborate and mutually benefit through open source work.

KaiserPro 8y ago

>then you understand how insanely inefficient low-trust high-value deals can be. I think you misunderstand how real estate contracts work. Real estate contracts are more or less cut and paste, in fact you can generate them here: https://www.lawdepot.com/contracts/real-estate-purchase-agreement/?loc=US https://www.lawdepot.com/contracts/real-estate-purchase-agre... The thing that takes the time is due diligence, finding and arranging money, and/or buyers. The actual contract is the easy part, unless you are putting in custom stuff. Smart contracts are basically glorified escrow, but with no legal precedence. If something were to go wrong, and your smart contract doesn't complete properly, you'll still be going to court to carry out the remediation steps. Also, smart contract require mutual agreement to work properly, there is no over-riding system to mediate should things become undefined. (well, there could be, you need to program that in.) The friction in high value deals is the due diligence. it doesn't matter if the contract is smart. Undoing a house move is expensive, having a contract where one party can terminate instantly without warning or redress is a dystopian nightmare.

KaiserPro 8y ago
Also, the value of currency is not because of paying taxes, its because you agree it has value. In the same way that gold has "value" if that were the case US Dollars would have no value in failed states. There is nothing inherent in value, its down to consensus.