Crypto-currencies vs. Crypto Equities

[merivercap]

Yeah if you read Nick Szabo's work Shelling Out: Origins of Money and the ideas of collectibles, unforgeable costliness, the history of the clock, time wages etc.  It's very insightful.    Time and cost is not always an accurate reflection of value, but they can be used as a proxy for value.  In Bitcoin's case you have a measure of time (10 minute confirmation times) & cost (electricity).   Hence even seemingly wasteful work can still provide psychological validation.  I just think Szabo's theories are fascinating. 

We can try to be more of a crypto-currency, but I think it's ok that Bitshares is more of a business/platform/DAC.  Companies and platforms that provide lots of value can grow exponentially in value so investors should be happy.  If we maintain focus as a decentralized exchange and payments system we should do well.   Sometimes it just takes time to get people fully on board, but we're in very good position when you look at the blockchain landscape. 

I think we should find ways to work together and complement the strengths of other systems such as Bitcoin & Ethereum & Maidsafe.  Right now I feel like a pariah when I go to Bitcoin meetups and some of it is because of Bitcoin maximalism, sometimes it's a product of historical Bitshares maximalism, and sometimes it's just that we haven't communicated our value proposition the right way especially when it comes to DPOS.     Anyways I think it would be great to work together with other ecosystems more closely, especially Bitcoin. 

[Empirical1.2]

I think Bitcoin is unique and is more like a commodity & digital gold than crypto-equities.  The less Bitcoin does the better so it's better if there aren't too many externalities that may change the 'use value' of it (ie. color coins).  I've become more bullish on Bitcoin, but it's a tad boring like gold.  I see crypto-equities as more of a complement to Bitcoin with value fluctuating based on business applications that can grow or shrink.  There is some potential for crypto-equities to be used more like a currency in the far different future, but that's not my expectation.

Bitshares has a lot of potential to be a great complement to Bitcoin or any future currency.  It is also currency agnostic so whatever asset becomes the future currency or unit of account (gold, silver, bitcoin, xyz asset) it can still provide monetary liquidity.  Just like banks can create money to provide liquidity based on assets via loans (esp real estate), Bitshares is able to allow people and organizations to create monetary liquidity with BTS, real estate, businesses or almost any existing asset there is a market for.

  I think that's a good analysis

I'm also more bullish on Bitcoin, seeing its performance, resiliency and how it's used in response to local currency problems during devaluations, capital controls and banking risks. I think there is a bright future for good crypto-currencies.

LTC also had a strong year, despite limited development, marketing and wasting tens of millions dollars on mining.
(Meanwhile BTS has lost 75% of it's value YTD doing the opposite...)

Bitshares has a lot of potential to be a great complement to Bitcoin or any future currency.

As a crypto-currency may be a compliment to BTS and not a threat & given there is a clear market demand for crypto-currencies, including as demonstrated through BTSX, perhaps Graphene/BTS could be leveraged in some way to benefit from it?

Option 1...

Thanks to FBA's and the Referral programme, personally I don't think BTS will be competitively hamstrung if it removes the reserve pool and commits to being a 1% inflation crypto-currency for eternity, with the amount not selected to be spent on basic blokchain maintenance & witnesses being given as POS rewards. (Thereby incentivising removing your BTS from exchanges.)

This commitment should, if adhered to over time, give something similar to sound money status, vs. a company which always has the threat of large dilution/merger. 

Option 2...

Perhaps some elements of Graphene could be used to create some sort of POW/POS crypto-currency but with a referral programme and even a few BitAssets? Surely it would be superior to many other offerings and have some value?

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Beacause of lack of legal fallback and few sellable use-cases for decentralized blockchains besides crypto-currency to date, DACs seem to be fighting an uphill battle to gain value, while crypto-currencies with much less effort and much more waste are often making some gains. It seems a pity to miss out on that value when BTS has some of the best blockchain technology & there does seem to be a future for good crypto-currencies.

[Zapply]

https://bitsharestalk.org/index.php/topic,20368.0.html

[merivercap]

I think Bitcoin is unique and is more like a commodity & digital gold than crypto-equities.  The less Bitcoin does the better so it's better if there aren't too many externalities that may change the 'use value' of it (ie. color coins).  I've become more bullish on Bitcoin, but it's a tad boring like gold.  I see crypto-equities as more of a complement to Bitcoin with value fluctuating based on business applications that can grow or shrink.  There is some potential for crypto-equities to be used more like a currency in the far different future, but that's not my expectation.

Bitshares has a lot of potential to be a great complement to Bitcoin or any future currency.  It is also currency agnostic so whatever asset becomes the future currency or unit of account (gold, silver, bitcoin, xyz asset) it can still provide monetary liquidity.  Just like banks can create money to provide liquidity based on assets via loans (esp real estate), Bitshares is able to allow people and organizations to create monetary liquidity with BTS, real estate, businesses or almost any existing asset there is a market for. 

[Empirical1.2]

Given recent decentralized developments partly pioneered by BTS like the referral programme & FBA's...

What advantages does a crypto-equity have over a crypto-currency?

- Any blockchain addition worth developing will probably find sufficient funding via an FBA.
- Marketing is now incentivized via the referral programme instead of direct dilution.
- Transaction profits &/or a very small pre-defined dilution rate can fund basic blockchain development & maintenance.

With the exception of 2014, POW crypto-currencies have experienced strong year on year growth since Bitcoin was created in 2009.
When you consider the vast sums wasted on mining & their minimal development and marketing, this performance is even more remarkable.

An existing crypto-currency like DASH or a new one could add FBA's and the referral programme.

Is there any reason to think crypto-equities with flexible dilution have any major competitive advantage?