Thanks Agent86.
I completely get the notion of a currency that is controlled by a majority of its users as opposed to a minority in power, but it seems that any entity that has authoritative or physical control of the network, implicitly has the power to shut such a thing down. So as a tyranny "resistant" form of trade, I don't quite get it. One need only to look at Argentina's currency manipulation and China's manipulation of the internet to see that they are pretty much two sides of the same "coin".
As a complementary form of trade that parallels and piggybacks existing currency, I can imagine a subset of trade that would benefit the anonymity and security of crypto. But I'm still at a loss for a compelling use case for a Susie Q Homemaker. Even more so when you consider that every crypto currency like Bitcoin is a fixed sized asset that will continue to get smaller and smaller over time, causing its own form of deflation against any assets pegged to it.
The only time I had an "ah-ha" moment, was when I started thinking about a Bitshares like concept, as applied to physical assets, "owned" by an anonymous crowd.
I live in Colorado. We've had legal Marijuana sales for a number of years, but not till this year did the feds promise not to prosecute banks that worked with them.
http://www.bbc.com/news/business-26248396Perhaps a huge opportunity was lost for the crypto community. I can imagine someone setting up a (legal) pot shop and issuing digital shares in exchange for resources to start the business (cash, utility bills, store front, etc). I can imagine how shareholders could be paid profits in some form of digital currency that could then be exchanged for more conventional currencies. It also offers some interesting options for consumers to pay with digital currencies - how would the mandatory taxes be calculated?
Another use case is gun sales in Wyoming and Texas. After Colorado's recent high capacity magazine ban, many of my friends are (legally) buying their toys in Wyoming for cash and bypassing what the Boulder and Denver tried to impose on the rest of Colorado.
I'm still trying hard to imagine a sustainable business model where the act of mining is NOT a primary aspect of the business. Something that offers value by what it _does_ rather than speculation of what it might be.