I want to tell the truth about cryptocurrencies, continuing the tradition of my first balanced report on cryptos.
First, I want to apologize for becoming influenced by the Steem platform over time. You see, my first big article was this unbiased observation on cryptos. But as I became influenced by other writers and concentrated on Steem, I lost connection with other blockchain communities. I wanted or tried to earn attention here and my articles became worse or at least a little biased. Despite this I believe I did an ok job.
A Brief Warning
I should put here at the top a warning about non-backed currencies.
Any crypto based solely on information can be duplicated or forked, creating competition with its sibling based on popularity and hash-power. New users may simply choose the second chain. There is no guarantee of value and many other problems. Perhaps only a backed currency is safe.
My Past Statements
I said that Ethereum was fragile, which proved true. In fact, it has fractured into two chains and has required fixing many times. Now it is less fragile, but the Dao really took a hit meantime.
I also said that Steem as a crypto really had some potential. Its early success is probably no surprise to this community, however.
But something I said in warning was that a listing or reputation system independent from the currency system would be needed. But popularity/value on Steem is still mostly merged with money. Later, I suggested an off-chain reputation system as a compromise, which happened. Also new categories such as "Promoted", “Feed" and "Active" were added, which helps.
I see it as a weakness that one can use possessed money to represent themselves as popular, and then make even more money. One of the best indicators of good content is still money earned, yet many great articles remain at 0, never seen or judged.
Another prediction I made much later, is that Steem would decrease in value overall, until the total capitalized value reflects its actual worth. I set this at 20 million or less, but I see it likely rising again, afterwards.
There are some challenges and legal issues brought up by Steem. I suggested that off-chain filtering could be provided and perhaps trade-secret protection through government-requested hard-forking.
The Future
DAO
The idea of a DAO is still filled with potential. I hope people such as Stephan Tual don't give up hope, although a new approach may be needed.
OpenBazaar
OpenBazaar has not had its due attention lately, but a working decentralized 'Amazon' is such a important idea and is so needed. Amazon is the open market put online, completely controlled by a centralized entity.
It is capitalism and free markets working well (online) and thank you Amazon doing this, but its time that taxation by corporation end. The free market must be free.
What is ok is governmental taxation based on seller/buyer countries. And this is because governments are still providing citizens with important services related to money/commerce.
OpenBazaar And Reputation
OpenBazaar's reputation system looks interesting. I believe it is useful if it costs something to down-vote or up-vote a user, thus encouraging responsible voting. But there must be some system for preventing reputation wars and selfish voting. What a very intriguing problem.
What I have read on OpenBazaar's website reminds me of what I and others have written on trust, reputation, sybil attack, and identity. Is this problem even solvable? This is like the two-general's problem but worse, bringing in subjective reasoning, ethics, and everything else. Maybe all we can do is mirror the real-world.
Decentralized Social Media
A decentralized social media platform may need certain features to succeed. I believe many currencies or sub-currencies may be needed. Different currencies or voting-tokens need to be able to go up or down in value depending on what they represent.
Reddit is a successful company whose core concept is clearly defined. Its Karma token basically represent one's ability to answer questions well and respectfully. Facebook 'likes' represent how someone (you probably know) feels about your content. Youtube views represents how willing people are to spend time watching your content. Translations into money are subjective and market based. (Steem doesn't quite have this separation.)
So multiple currencies, representing different categories, could be used by a social media blockchain. If scientific articles become important, then relating voting-currencies also go up in value. If videos take over, those currencies or sub-currencies also go up in worth. If personal blogging and sharing becomes more popular, those votes also increase in real-money cost.
It is like a stockmarket of voting-tokens. Or a tree-currency could be invented whose branches and sub-branches change value based on demand. It could be a fluid system evolving from user agency or behavior.
Bitcoin and Improved Bitcoins
The upcoming lightening network looks very promising. It accepts basically unlimited transactions, is basically safe, and does not introduce big changes to an already secure bitcoin. Safer pure-bitcoin transactions for large amounts still possible. Thus bitcoin may have solved its biggest problem.
I have made a list of improvements that any worldwide currency should have. One of these is backing. I still believe that an unbacked currency may possibly never have dependable value. (Original idea: … such a [pyramid-like] currency may possibly never mainstream, unless it is accepted simultaneously by everyone.) See my published koin ideas.
How to Create a Decentralized Platform
There should always be at least two websites presenting a decentralized chain. Websites such as OpenBazaar or Steemit could be replaceable or complemented by a program running on one's personal computer. That's how bitcoin works. Despite this, I love the online tools Ethereum has for submitting transactions.
There must be something special the currency or platform accomplishes. OpenBazaar is a fee-less online trading-post. Steem focuses on open social-media. Ethereum offers smart-contracting.
Bitcoin with lightening represents secure money, created only by algorithm. This is the idea, right? To provide an alternative to some failing national currencies. To allow a worldwide free market or a cooperative one.
We could use a physical-asset network. Do you know how much extra money is spent buying cars or real-estate? It may cost 10% of the total amount just to verify details of the purchase.
We could also use a information-verifcation or trust network that allows users to score people's trustworthiness or credit.