The bottleneck to adoption and utility is bootstrapping liquidity. Always has been.

Step #1: You need bitUSD liquidity.
Step #2: Do stuff that ONLY makes sense on a decentralized exchange and/or with stable crypto.

So we all know #1 needs to happen before anything else can occur. Once you've got decent liquidity:

a) The referral program will actually work because conversion will be good (people referred will actually generate income for the referrer). In fact, I would recommend lowering fees until you have some initial traction and conversion increases.
b) BitUSD can be used for gambling.
c) BitUSD can be used to securely trade altcoin derivatives on the DEX.
d) BitUSD can be used in countries with unstable currencies.
e) BitUSD can be used to buy stuff on the darknet (especially with stealth transactions).

A stable crypto has a ton of utility but only if it's liquid. Everyone who follows and develops for this project obviously gets that. The only discussion going on right now should be how to get to a liquid USD. The story of bitshares has, from the beginning, been a chicken and egg problem and I'm honestly not sure it can be solved at this point. Someone tell me I'm wrong?

Either markets are completely irrational or there is some development with LTC I'm not aware of.

This is a repost from forum.nullstreet.com

The Problem

1. Escrow. Merchants on DarkNet Marketplaces (Evolution, Agora, etc) have their BTC held in escrow until the goods arrive and the customer releases payment. During this time, merchants are exposed to Bitcoins volatility for 1 - 4 weeks. As a result, merchants have to inflate the price of their goods to compensate for Bitcoins potential volatility. This is the reason drugs on the DarkNet are priced higher than on the street.

2. Storing Profits. Merchants have to constantly cash out of BTC using localbitcoins because they don't want to expose themselves to Bitcoins volatility. Businesses need predictability to stay solvent. Storing profits as a merchant on the DarkNet is obviously a problem in need of a solution.

The Solution

Bitcoin makes a great payment mechanism but for the time being, it's a lousy store of value for DarkNet businesses who need price stability. If a DarkNet merchant could store their profits (and eventually escrow) in BitUSD or BitGOLD, I'm convinced this would:

a) Lead to rapid growth for any DarkNet Marketplace that adopts the practice.
b) Increase the value of BTS as BitAssets gain real adoption.

If BitUSD and/or BitGOLD were adopted as a hedging mechanism by DarkNet Marketplaces, the price of drugs would fall and eventually undercut the street value as merchants would no longer have to worry about Bitcoins unpredictability. I see a future where Bitcoin is used as a payment mechanism and then instantly converted into BitGOLD or BitUSD, allowing merchants to stay in a predictable, stable asset without leaving the pseudonymity of a cryptocurrency and without the headache associated with constantly cashing out on localbitcoins.

Ethics

A lot of people have a knee jerk reaction to the topic of drugs. I want to explain why DarkNet Marketplaces are completely ethical and benefit society as a whole.

a) They offer an eBay style rating system. If a person buys drugs "on the street", rating the dealer isn't an option. You have no idea what the quality of the product is. Are the drugs laced with something? Are they going to kill you? Probably not but it's nowhere near as safe as buying from a reputable merchant on the DarkNet. It's actually common practice for liberty minded chemists to buy some of the harder drugs on these marketplaces to test purity (and publicly post a review for harm reduction).

b) Most western countries have strong patent enforcement, which means you have to go through the traditional system and do not have access to generic versions of the drugs. If you live in the U.S. and do not have insurance, you're mostly screwed. For many, turning to the DarkNet is the only option for obtaining affordable, life saving drugs.

Of course, it's not all roses and butterflies. You can also buy heroin and other "hard" drugs as well. In a free market, this is expected; technology is agnostic and can be used for any purpose. For example, terrorists can use Bitcoin, but that doesn't mean Bitcoin is inherently evil.

Lateral Growth

Once BitUSD and other BitAssets take root on the DarkNet as a hedging mechanism, I predict we'll see BitAsset adoption in lateral markets. Use on the DarkNet will provide us with the network effect, liquidity and consumer confidence needed to jump into entire countries with unstable currencies (Argentina, Venezuela, Russia, etc).

Network Effect is bootstrapped by locating the most fertile soil to plant your flower seed. If you plant the seed in sand, no growth happens; if you plant the seed in the most fertile soil, eventually you'll have flowers everywhere. DarkNet Marketplaces are the fertile soil needed to bootstrap BitAsset network effect.

Operation DarkNet

So long as free speech is still an option in your county, Operation DarkNet is completely legal. It's an educational initiative aimed at raising BitAsset awareness in a niche that desperately needs our technology.

This is what we're going to do:

1. Raise BitUSD awareness on marketplace forums.
2. Create tutorials explaining in detail how to go from BTC --> BitUSD and back again.
3. Post articles on DarkNet blogs such as DeepDotWeb (I'll be a regular columnist from now on).
4. Advertise metaexchange.info once they have BitUSD liquidity.

This is a niche that desperately needs what we offer and they stand to benefit just as much as we do. For better or worse, Bitcoins only utility is for buying drugs on the DarkNet and the only reason it's retained it's value thus far. If BitUSD is adopted as THE hedging mechanism by major DarkNet marketplaces, we will instantly secure a solid number 2 position in terms of market cap. Investors want to see solid use cases so let's give them one.

I can't do all of this myself so I kindly ask that YOU join Operation DarkNet and help see this vision through to the very end.

EDIT: Changed name to "Operation DarkMarket".

After working with and observing first hand the quality of work Cass has done since he's been given creative control, I believe he absolutely deserves a second delegate position. At current market cap, he's not making much and he's somebody BitShares needs to hold on to. I've worked with a few web devs / designers in my line of work and I will vouch that Cass is definitely A+ material. Who would support a second delegate for Cass?

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate,
I am the captain of my soul.

I intend to register nullstreet.p2p and set the .com as a mirror. I'll use multi-sig to spread the .p2p private key amongst the founders of Bitshares. This is the same technique used to secure nuclear launch codes. Once Invictus is disbanded, I believe this model is necessary for Bitshares to operate on a similar level of efficiency as a centralized company while still remaining decentralized.

After much deliberation, I've determined it's too dangerous to have a point of operations controlled by any one person. I don't want nullstreet to be about Method-X. I genuinely want to ensure the success of decentralized money and will do anything and everything in my power to see that vision come to fruition.

http://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitshares-x/

$22,500 in the last 24h