Idea for a new utility-based non-currency coin

MWD
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Idea for a new utility-based non-currency coin

Post by MWD »

Namecoin is the first coin that does something other than be a "coin."

An idea for another useful coin, I think, would be something specifically designed to do all the contracts / notary / deed registration / proof of authorship / proof of identity / proof of authenticity etc.-type stuff that has been discussed for BTC and NMC....you know, the coin that would replace almost every "service" governments all claim to be indispensable to "provide." But would do it in a voluntary, non-coercive, non-bureaucratic and much less expensive way. (Cryptocoins don't require offices, pensions, or men with guns to force you to accept them, and only them, for services.)

Maybe call it ContractCoin or something.

Another use of this could be a sort of non-governmental "trademark." i.e. a hash that would be read from a hologram image imbedded or laser etched into a commercial physical item. Something that would be impossible to counterfeit. Like you could tell if that Rolex really came from the Rolex company by waving your smart phone over it and checking the blockchain. And you could also check to make sure it hasn't been reported stolen by the owner. The owner would register ownership with a trusted source (Rolex, or a trusted third party that people accept, like the BBB).

If the watch is ever stolen, the owner would report it to the manufacturer rather than the police (who usually never find stolen goods). Maybe private detectives could find and return stolen goods based on tracking block chain transactions, and get paid a bounty if the owner wants it back. And if the owner ever sells the watch in a private sale, he could confirm the new owner's ownership in the blockchain.

IDEAL QUALITIES FOR THIS COIN: would be things that would be counterproductive in a money coin, but be very useful for this type of "registering data"-specific blockchain:

--Is designed to be easy to mine (like you could do it forever on a smart phone), and have a massive amount of coins. Possibly a number of coin approaching (for all practical purposes), infinity.

--Is designed to stay extremely inexpensive, like less than 1/5 the current price per coin of one Namecoin.

--Would employ a continually updating system for rejecting transactions by people who abuse the coin....By blocking people who "cybersquat" i.e. patent trolls, people like that). That functionality would would use an updating blacklist. Sort of like PeerBlock does for uTorrent.

The criteria for inclusion in the blacklist would be reached by consensus / group conscience of the coin's creators, with certain perimeters set at time of release. Being added to the list would probably have to be automatic, to keep the decentralized nature, and not have any person, or group of persons, in charge. Because persons could be swayed. Obviously, fixes could be added, but having them have to go through a process would minimize the possibility of corruption in each iteration.

Not sure how blocking would be done, IP address wouldn't be good. Maybe a heuristic combination of sort of AI-inspired features that sniff abuse through traffic analysis / action analysis? I am not smart enough to know how this could be implemented, but I know there are people on this board who could do it.

--Is designed to be able to store massive amounts of text, and have the ability for users to add unlimited namespace or element tags. So you could set up a program that could pick which parts of the blockchain it would download.

--Is designed to be easy to edit and fork. So other people could make new versions of it if they came up with a new function or feature that this coin's team doesn't want to implement. Or wants that new feature quicker than the team for this coin feels like coming out with updates.

--etc.

Also, how about calling the smallest unit of this coin a Biolizard? lol.

MWD
Last edited by MWD on Thu Feb 13, 2014 4:14 am, edited 2 times in total.
Namecoin, Dot-Bit and MeowBit are a complete new Internet ecosystem, building the roads to Web 4.0. http://www.meowbit.com
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GFox08
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Re: Idea for a new utility-based non-currency coin

Post by GFox08 »

That's such a great idea. I wish I had some more know-how to provide some answers. It is refreshing to see someone talking about the utility of coin rather than just wanting to regurgitate another alt currency.

drllau
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Re: Idea for a new utility-based non-currency coin

Post by drllau »

hmmmm ... trying to work out the principal components of such a service
- common standards for what is acceptable as a embedded personalty ... eg how to record right of entry to a park ... under some laws, child molesters are forbidden to approach within x metres of playgrounds.
- mapping some unique ID/property embodied in a physical (perhaps multiple formats to ensure redundancy) to a registry along the lines of the Torrens property system but at a sub-government level
- reducing the transaction costs of switching/recording ownership/possession/usage (think title/lease/guest of a property equivalent)
- robust under normal circumstances (death, disaster, deception), fallback mechanisms in case of imperfect contracts, and human intervention only in exceptional circumstances
- policing/enforcement service to remove duplications, monitor untoward behaviour (for human intervention) in a transparent manner

The last may be contentious, what is the difference between spyware and enforcement?

It may well be that there are multiple layers to this, a global chain, split into currency zones (which map onto physical spaces) which are allocated to firms much same way IPv6 address space, who in turn mutually agree to follow specific protocols or master swap agreements, who in turn sell registration services, which are used by consumers.

MWD
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Re: Idea for a new utility-based non-currency coin

Post by MWD »

drllau wrote:hmmmm ... trying to work out the principal components of such a service.....

...The last may be contentious, what is the difference between spyware and enforcement?
Whatever the coin creators decide it is. If a particular user doesn't like it, that user can take the code and go make "Spamcoin" or whatever. Then let the free market decide which version(s) gain adoption.

MWD
Namecoin, Dot-Bit and MeowBit are a complete new Internet ecosystem, building the roads to Web 4.0. http://www.meowbit.com
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drllau
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Re: Idea for a new utility-based non-currency coin

Post by drllau »

MWD-FreeSpeechMe wrote:
If a particular user doesn't like it, that user can take the code and go make "Spamcoin" or whatever. Then let the free market decide which version(s) gain adoption.

MWD[/quote]

the problem is that because the scheme allows for human intervention, then that means emergency temporary measures can be introduced at the registration level .... and did people know that federal income taxes (in Australia) were a "temporary" war-time measure? (hard to emigrate during a lockdown taking your property with you). Of course this went all the way up to the High Court who ruled that state taxes could co-exist with federal, but federal came first ... which meant that in the end all the states quit and allowed the federal govt to disburse back in a single tax mechanism (source of many bun-fights in allocating revenue to this day). Whilst switching is in theory possible, what is harder to solve is the other problem which is race to the bottom where lax enforcement creates problems down the track (eg not spending enough on datacentres) so switching your art collection to that offshore paradise data centre which gets hit by earthquake leaving you with illiquid paint splotches.

back in pre-civil war days, the US allowed private banks to issue own currency but any reading of history will show the ups/downs ... whilst there's a core who'd trust nobody with their wallet, and effectively are their own bank, most average joe don't want the mental overhead. so one key property of any registration P2P scheme is element of self-similarity in that can work both at individual level and higher scales to create emergent properties independent of a central single point failure.

how?

MWD
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Re: Idea for a new utility-based non-currency coin

Post by MWD »

drllau wrote:
MWD-FreeSpeechMe wrote:
back in pre-civil war days, the US allowed private banks to issue own currency but any reading of history will show the ups/downs ...

That only failed BECAUSE of government intervention and monopolies. AND I've heard it from several people as "proof that Bitcoin will never work."

You seem to be advocating for central banks. Are you? If so, do you think Bitcoin should have one? Should Namecoin DNS have a central authority to "protect" people?

The idea of decentralization is that the wild west has FAR more freedom, but also requires more self-responsibility and vetting of things.

Vetting can be done by the crowd, sites like Angie's List (and user comments on Amazon) are proof of that.

MWD
Namecoin, Dot-Bit and MeowBit are a complete new Internet ecosystem, building the roads to Web 4.0. http://www.meowbit.com
Dot-Bit Kitty Pix! The ONLY .bit-only kitty cat website in the world! http://dotbitkittypix.bit

drllau
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Re: Idea for a new utility-based non-currency coin

Post by drllau »

MWD-FreeSpeechMe wrote:
You seem to be advocating for central banks. Are you?
MWD
please don't put words in my mouth ... I'm observing from economic history there are a couple of forces here, Gresham's law and winner takes all property of networked services. Either a scheme becomes so popular it becomes the defacto standard or else people will arbitrage and the scheme collapses. If you want dynamic competition of cryptocoin services which also have enough economy of scale and user base to make it worthwhile evolving new services then some thought has to go into the design (also see Lipsey's work on General Purpose Technologies and evolutionary frontiers). Some countries have successfully transitioned fiscal schemes like China's dual track farm product pricing which worked because at the margin, competitive forces set the market.

If there is a competing notary service based on a cryptocurrency, then who are the early adopters, what are their needs, what risks need s to be engineered into any protocol. I would hope answering why comes before the how (leaving who up to the technoentrepreneurs)

MWD
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Re: Idea for a new utility-based non-currency coin

Post by MWD »

drllau wrote:
MWD-FreeSpeechMe wrote:
You seem to be advocating for central banks. Are you?
MWD
I wasn't putting words in your mouth. That's why I said "are you?"

You answered "no", and I'm satisfied with that.

If we want to turn this into a Sheldon Cooper infinite loop, I could point out that technically, YOU are putting words in MY mouth by saying "don't put words in my mouth" when I clearly wasn't.

lol.

Thank you,
MWD
Namecoin, Dot-Bit and MeowBit are a complete new Internet ecosystem, building the roads to Web 4.0. http://www.meowbit.com
Dot-Bit Kitty Pix! The ONLY .bit-only kitty cat website in the world! http://dotbitkittypix.bit

MWD
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Re: Idea for a new utility-based non-currency coin

Post by MWD »

drllau wrote:Either a scheme becomes so popular it becomes the defacto standard or else people will arbitrage and the scheme collapses.

I'd say that's not entirely true. Computer operating systems are an example. Let's forget for a minute that there is government tyranny acting both FOR and AGAINST Microsoft and Apple and Google doing what they do, and just talk about the four most popular operating systems:

Windows
Mac
GNU/Linux
Android.

Which one is the de-facto standard? You couldn't say that it's any single one of them without a asterisk and a long paragraph. (Unless you ask Stallman, then the answer would be: "GNU/Linux. Period.")

There can be more than one "de facto" "winner" when there are several competing technologies, especially if some offer something that the others don't.

Namecoin is the 6th most traded coin. If you only look at the numbers, it's a loser. If you only look at the numbers, Litecoin kicks Namecoin's butt. But if you don't only look at the numbers, like everyone on this board, Namecoin is a clear hands-down winner in one category that none of the others are even in.

I traded ALL of my BTC (nearly two BTC) for NMC last week. I wouldn't do that if I believed the "one de facto standard winner" idea.

And I didn't cash out my BTC for NMC as speculation. I don't really think NMC is going to skyrocket in price. I cashed out my BTC for NMC because I believe in NMC, even if it's not the "de facto winner."

MWD
Namecoin, Dot-Bit and MeowBit are a complete new Internet ecosystem, building the roads to Web 4.0. http://www.meowbit.com
Dot-Bit Kitty Pix! The ONLY .bit-only kitty cat website in the world! http://dotbitkittypix.bit

drllau
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Re: Idea for a new utility-based non-currency coin

Post by drllau »

MWD-FreeSpeechMe wrote:
drllau wrote:Either a scheme becomes so popular it becomes the defacto standard or else people will arbitrage and the scheme collapses.
There can be more than one "de facto" "winner" when there are several competing technologies, especially if some offer something that the others don't.

MWD
there's a distinction between protocols and firms ... economists note that a stable market segment exists with 3-5 oliopolists, if anything the monopoly are niche like when NSI grabbed the DNS registry from DARPA or standard setting entities like IEEE, International Maritine Organisation etc ... also have to distinguish between the stages of the technology. In early days, there may be 1 or several brave hardy souls, then when it reaches a critical turning point, explodes with dozens of people trying to muscle into action, but when the demand drops (trough of disappointment according to Gartner) then enter phase of consolidation ... look at example of Standard Oil morphing into 7 sisters, IBM during 360 heydays, or early car industry ... fortunately, the Japanes/Koreans had their own agenda.

at moment, probably starting the explosion with multiple crypto-currencies, I believe even MorganStanley tried patenting a variant ... fortunately knocked back ... but I expect the larger capitalised firms to issue branded cryptocurrencies in the not-so-distant future ... then when all the big players have seen who are successful, they'll come in and attempt a consolidation (though debateable what is there to consolidate).

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