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How I see it, the most important exchanges increasingly from now onward are those between cryptocoins. Btc is just an onramp and offramp into the cryptocurrency

How I see it, the most important exchanges increasingly from now onward are those between cryptocoins. Btc is just an onramp and offramp into the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Such exchanges can be totally anonymous, including who runs them. They don't deal with people or fiat currency. Just usernames and blockchains. People trust them based on their history, like an ebay seller, and admins realize there's no need to rip off users because it's not worth it to them in the long run (let alone what might happen to them if they are personally outed for doing so.) People can go in and out of them for very short periods of time to lower the risk it should disappear during that time, ie to lower their "exchange risk." They could also have a set lifespan... "we will operate from 2015-2018" this might lower risks as well.. imagine if Silk Road had a fixed shelf life that expired before it was caught.

simondlr 13y ago
Agreed. By the end of next year there will be thousands of altcoins. By 2015 when it gets easier for anyone to create and sustain one (including the problem of securing small chains), there will be an explosion. Millions of coins. There will be a very long tail.
- adrianwaj 13y ago
  Yeah, I was thinking about my idea in the comment below, and realized that if a company (or conglomerate of companies) like IBM or a set of airlines which had an intra-coin that they used internally, may actually want it available to the public, as it indicates that the coin has a backing and importantly, it could be a good way for a company to raise capital.. instead of selling stock, it'd sell its intra-coins. In such cases only certain employees can actually withdraw underlying coins for special reasons, otherwise the underlying blockchain is hidden to staff who just see balances in their logins and transfer between other staff for day-to-day tasks.) Same with a government, who may fund projects and accept taxes in their own coin. The tyranny or tax to watch out for on top of all this is if some group comes in and says "I demand x% of all coins from your new blockchain." On a similar note, Litecoins are big in China. If the blockchain were to come under attack, a large group of Chinese people would be pissed off enough to come together to do something about it. Or, more importantly the Chinese government may have high up officials or execs that hold Litecoins, and it could end up the preferred blockchain of the Chinese, and they turn a blind-eye to regulating it.
  - dobbsbob 13y ago
    I thought about releasing CAD coin transparently so it can be auto traded in p2p exchanges but laws are stupid on that kind of voucher. Coins could later be redeemed but can't allow people to trade it with each other without involving ID bullshit. Otherwise would be an awesome idea to solve exchanger problems
javert 13y ago
There is an ecomomic law (that I identified, not sure if economists actually recognize it) that people use the currency that is most convenient for whatever kind of trading they are doing. There is no reason for anyone to prefer altcoins for trade unless they are useful for something bitcoin isn't (which I haven't really seen yet). Demand for trade is the only difference between bitcoin and a hot potato stock in a company with 0 earnings and 0 capital. In other words, in the long run, absolutely essential. In summary, altcons have no reason to exist unless they can do something bitcoin can't.
- simondlr 13y ago
  Unless altcoins can freely float with any other altcoins. Then an altcoin simply becomes a stock in a network effect that altcoin can sustain. There's a reason why Dogecoin (as a "joke" as it is), has almost a $10 million market cap, and it just over a week old. Next year, we'll start seeing altcoins pop up for anything and everything. The marketcap doesn't have to be millions.
  - adrianwaj 13y ago
    Just because some coin's last trade was at $100 doesn't mean someone who holds 1 million of them is worth $100 million... volume and depth is important too.
  - steveklabnik 13y ago
    > has almost a $10 million market cap A few days ago, I was talking to my co-workers about DOGE, because I'm pretty into it. This morning, when I walked into work: "Hey, remember how I was saying DOGE had a $2MM market cap the other day and you were laughing? Today it's $12MM. It's now the 8th biggest altcoin (and is almost 7th)." http://coinmarketcap.com/ http://coinmarketcap.com/ has the whole list of altcoins and the numbers and graphs for them, if anyone is interested in this kind of thing. DOGE specifically has changed my entire perspective on cryptocurrency. It's incredibly interesting.
    - tlrobinson 13y ago

simondlr 13y ago

Agreed. By the end of next year there will be thousands of altcoins. By 2015 when it gets easier for anyone to create and sustain one (including the problem of securing small chains), there will be an explosion. Millions of coins. There will be a very long tail.

adrianwaj 13y ago
Yeah, I was thinking about my idea in the comment below, and realized that if a company (or conglomerate of companies) like IBM or a set of airlines which had an intra-coin that they used internally, may actually want it available to the public, as it indicates that the coin has a backing and importantly, it could be a good way for a company to raise capital.. instead of selling stock, it'd sell its intra-coins. In such cases only certain employees can actually withdraw underlying coins for special reasons, otherwise the underlying blockchain is hidden to staff who just see balances in their logins and transfer between other staff for day-to-day tasks.) Same with a government, who may fund projects and accept taxes in their own coin. The tyranny or tax to watch out for on top of all this is if some group comes in and says "I demand x% of all coins from your new blockchain." On a similar note, Litecoins are big in China. If the blockchain were to come under attack, a large group of Chinese people would be pissed off enough to come together to do something about it. Or, more importantly the Chinese government may have high up officials or execs that hold Litecoins, and it could end up the preferred blockchain of the Chinese, and they turn a blind-eye to regulating it.
- dobbsbob 13y ago
  I thought about releasing CAD coin transparently so it can be auto traded in p2p exchanges but laws are stupid on that kind of voucher. Coins could later be redeemed but can't allow people to trade it with each other without involving ID bullshit. Otherwise would be an awesome idea to solve exchanger problems

javert 13y ago

There is an ecomomic law (that I identified, not sure if economists actually recognize it) that people use the currency that is most convenient for whatever kind of trading they are doing. There is no reason for anyone to prefer altcoins for trade unless they are useful for something bitcoin isn't (which I haven't really seen yet). Demand for trade is the only difference between bitcoin and a hot potato stock in a company with 0 earnings and 0 capital. In other words, in the long run, absolutely essential. In summary, altcons have no reason to exist unless they can do something bitcoin can't.

simondlr 13y ago
Unless altcoins can freely float with any other altcoins. Then an altcoin simply becomes a stock in a network effect that altcoin can sustain. There's a reason why Dogecoin (as a "joke" as it is), has almost a $10 million market cap, and it just over a week old. Next year, we'll start seeing altcoins pop up for anything and everything. The marketcap doesn't have to be millions.
- adrianwaj 13y ago
  Just because some coin's last trade was at $100 doesn't mean someone who holds 1 million of them is worth $100 million... volume and depth is important too.
- steveklabnik 13y ago
  > has almost a $10 million market cap A few days ago, I was talking to my co-workers about DOGE, because I'm pretty into it. This morning, when I walked into work: "Hey, remember how I was saying DOGE had a $2MM market cap the other day and you were laughing? Today it's $12MM. It's now the 8th biggest altcoin (and is almost 7th)." http://coinmarketcap.com/ http://coinmarketcap.com/ has the whole list of altcoins and the numbers and graphs for them, if anyone is interested in this kind of thing. DOGE specifically has changed my entire perspective on cryptocurrency. It's incredibly interesting.
  - tlrobinson 13y ago