I’ve created this post as a thought experiment for the Electroneum community, as the starting point for an open discussion of what would make Electroneum the ultimate “go to” cryptocurrency for someone to choose (whether consumer or merchant) in a world full of viable alternatives. Let this be the field where new ideas are sown for the Electroneum community to ponder… no matter how wild or crazy it might seem.
I’ve been in Electroneum since the ICO and, like most of you reading this, I like Electroneum. I believe in the product, I believe in the team and I believe it will be one of those products still around in 5 years as we modernise the way value is transacted and forge our place in the next industrial revolution. And that last sentence is important because whatever the currency is, it needs to have real world value.
When talking with my friends about blockchain currency I am often laughed at because cryptocurrencies hold no real world value, they’re seemingly not backed by “anything” tangible and are therefore deemed worthless. This opinion is not isolated either, it is a common view many sceptics of cryptocurrency hold - but they are wrong - very, very wrong. Cryptocurrencies are backed by information, and information is perhaps the most valuable asset of any government or commercial enterprise. Subsequently it is the quality and type of information held within the blockchain that define the value of the currency, from the currency itself to the metadata held for every transaction and every wallet.
And this begins my thought experiment, and I preface this with an apology for overuse of the word “imagine” but that’s exactly what I want you to do.
Imagine all of the information Electroneum has access to when making purchases - the items, the business, the franchise, the customer, the location, the cost price (for merchants), the sales price (for customers) and the tax implications (for governments)… the the list goes on. We generate so much “valuable” information making a simple transaction.
Imagine a wallet that could give you a detailed, itemised receipt of all of your purchases and transactions, right down to the sales tax applied to each item (of course I could mark certain transactions as private so, for example, my wife couldn’t see what I am buying her for her birthday). This would greatly help me track and control my spending and I could then use this functionality to separate my purchases at tax-time so expenses and deductions are simple to prepare and, more importantly, prove (and what government objects to proof provided with transactional KYC?). Imagine if I could select individual items on a given invoice to request payment from another wallet, this would help me split that restaurant bill when my friends and I paid as one.
Imagine a wallet where I can identify the categories of goods and service that interest me, or one that optionally derives them from my spending. A wallet where I can anonymously elect to “opt-in” to marketing campaigns for those interests and where I am paid directly by marketing agencies for the privilege of using my information and/or history. A wallet that provides product discounts specifically for me that are automatically applied when I pay for the item using my wallet. Imagine a world where I didn’t need a thousand and one loyalty cards because the merchant is acquainted with my loyalty every time I use my wallet. Imagine a wallet that allowed me to earn reward points that aren’t limited to a specific brand or chain.
Imagine a wallet that integrated with QuickBooks or MYOB to help facilitate the recording of such purchases, one that could also be used for payment of my salary.
Imagine a wallet that could provide a “track and trace” facility for purchases made online, one that facilitated an escrow-like ability to insure your product and its delivery. And imagine a wallet that allows you to optionally leave feedback or provide a rating for every purchase, for both the buyer and the seller - Electroneum has its advantages over other more traditional platforms because we’ve all had to KYC and cannot simply change wallets to “start again”.
So much possibility.
Now I will be the first to admit none of these ideas is simple and indeed some beyond the scope of possible delivery, but in my humble opinion these ideas highlight some of the things that might help make cryptocurrency an attractive prospect not just for consumers, but for the commercial sector and government as well - something all cryptocurrency needs to develop and evolve in order to promote itself from a simple store of value into a widely accepted medium of exchange.
I would love for the Electroneum community to build on this and throw some more ideas into the ring.
Finally (and very shamelessly) I’ll leave my wallet address - if any of the ideas presented in this thread end up helping define the commerce of tomorrow then I certainly won’t complain if you throw a couple of ETN my way:
etnk4wMoikhbThmZm3updARcXekjeNzx8EB6DXmcqjQE5FEPFbo98Y9i9vUCmadvFdd1KU9Ba9GbCYtqTwHiEqhM1gm9q1mX3e
