BenTucker
Member
Hi all,
(If you'd like to skip my story and butt-kissing, skip to the section labeled "Getting to the Point".)
I don't post much on the forums, but rest assured, I lurk them. I have been keeping abreast of the latest happenings, and really liked the long video interview with the team that Amanda did recently (although it was too long for most mainstream people to watch, but she makes plenty of shorter videos, so that is not a criticism). Big props for hiring her...she is a real asset to the public relations cause. I could see her hosting an actual cable business show about blockchain tech in the future.
Anyways, as usual, I would like to open the post by saying how amazing the project is going and has been for me personally. I'm not a techie. I'm just a person who philosophically believes in decentralization, privacy, etc. As you can imagine, that attracted me to the cryptocurrency space, and eventually to Dash. I am not a well-to-do person (at all), so I had little to invest that I could afford to lose. But invest I did. I first bought Dash in the $2.50 range somewhere (can't exactly recall). When I had extra money, I chose to forego some social pleasures for the pleasure of investing in more Dash. My last buy, before running out of expendable income due to a myriad of medical issues (I'm fine, relax), was quite some time ago, at the $5 range. I never had enough to run a Masternode, etc., but I am MOST pleased with my investment in Dash (and looking forward to Evolution's decentralized Masternode shares). I just saw something different in this project that I didn't see anywhere else, and that is a testament to this community and the developers (especially Evan). I know a lot about reading people, in terms of body language, facial cues, cadence and tonality of voice, etc., and I don't read "scammer" on anyone whose face is associated with this project.
That is why I try to spend some of my free time explaining Dash to people I know, especially on social media and in groups therein. I actually started a group (actually a subgroup of a much larger group/community) inspired by Dash, on a social media platform, but not named for Dash specifically. The point is, I am very enthusiastic about the project, especially what Evan said about it being a decentralized bank. If I had any skills that would allow me to help the project, as a volunteer, or of course paid, I would. I just don't have many skills that apply at all (that I can think of anyways).
So, allow me to say, with a heartfelt purpose, THANK YOU ALL FOR ALL YOUR HARD WORK!
Now, onto the reason for this post...
Getting to the Point:
A major issue cryptocurrencies, and especially Bitcoin (who I see, correctly or not, as Dash's main competition) face is centralized exchanges and thefts that occur on them. Gox, Bitfinex, Kraken...the list, as you know, is large. This, to me, wears the stench of opportunity. The reason I post about this now is the following equation:
Good Luck (also known as Favorable Variance) = Preparation + Opportunity + Well-Timed Aggression
You guys clearly have the skills and smarts. I wanted to mention this early enough to allow for proper prioritization and preparation, as to facilitate the perhaps most important part of making our own "good luck"; well-timed aggression.
Now, I know you guys are super busy with everything already in play, so there isn't an immediacy to this at all, even if you think I'm right. So, don't think I'm trying to throw more on your already full plates. And you guys may already have this idea, so maybe I'm wasting your very precious time (for which I apologize upfront, if that is the case). BUT...I think we can solve this problem due to the on-blockchain funding and the DGBB.
Honestly, what I'm about to say is something I would submit for a vote if 5 Dash wasn't so damn valuable to me in terms of marginal utility (as I said, I am not financially well off, and frankly the future value I would be losing would be relatively large for me). Anyways, here goes...
When Evan said, in the Q&A with Amanda, that no decentralized exchange was in the works as of now on the Dash system itself (if I'm saying that right), I was like "damn...I really am hoping for that". But he mentioned some alternatives that I half recall right now. As I pondered this, and the way the Masternodes and the 2nd tier worked, I got to thinking...
If you guys aren't finding time (or priority, in terms of funding) as of now to build such a thing into Dash itself, that doesn't mean a trusted (as opposed to untrusted or trustless) exchange is not possible before that can be tackled (if ever).
Why can't you guys buy an old exchange, or build (or have built) a new one, and either offer insurance options for a fee to cover losses of traders and regular people trying to just buy Dash, OR why can't you collateralize the exchange, keeping funds transparently right on the blockchain? If whatever amount in deposits/present volume in the exchange was already exceeded by the Dash collateral fund, bingo, we got ourselves a fully collateralized exchange. Further, you could show transparently segregated funds, where deposits by customers are separate from the funds needed to operate the exchange. As Evan pointed out, the profits from this business could be returned in some portion or in total to the Masternodes! And it also could be similar to Shapeshift, if so desired, in terms of ease of use, fast transactions, anonymity and lack of time consuming registration annoyance.
Now, why do I suggest this (admittedly general, and not very detailed) project?
Imagine Bitcoin users fatigued by the internal debates going nowhere over there and FUD about an Ethereum-like hard fork ruining immutability. Imagine how they watch as Dash solves all these issues, enacts capabilities Bitcoin only talks about, like fast transactions, user-friendly UI (Evolution cometh), real anonymity, fungibility, security, privacy, scalability and timely governance.
Now imagine they find out Dash has opened the first exchange, although centralized, that is run by a decentralized organization on the blockchain, and is owned not by some guy or team of guys who need to be trusted, but by an entire network of over 4000 Masternode operators and growing. Further imagine they hear this exchange is either insured, collateralized, or (my suggestion) both. And add segregated funds and transparency to that and we have a real enticement. What would the reaction be?
There are those in that community, and I suspect not a few, who would say "this is the straw that breaks the camel's back. This is not a perfectly decentralized solution, but it is going take away the major stress I have in this whole game...centralized exchange hacks and thefts." Some non-significant amount of users, vendors, etc. will switch, I would think (or at least integrate Dash alongside BTC, especially given all the great developments you guys are pushing out recently). Plus, people who want to use cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin, but haven't yet jumped into the space, would suddenly hear of this comforting thing which could push them over the edge and into the space. It truly is a major reason, aside from the lack of user friendly UI that Evolution will solve, people avoid the space altogether...in fact the main reason, among those somewhat enthusiastic about the possibilities of the technology (who aren't intimidated by the current UI).
If we wanted to leverage the plan even harder? Don't sell Bitcoin on the exchange. Only accept it when people buy Dash or other coins we feel are not direct competitors, and then sell it elsewhere to clear the books of it. This ensures a further decoupling with BTC, and ensures we don't add to their trading volume on the buy side (but do add to the sell side).
Anyways, that's my idea: a centralized exchange owned by the network, transparently accounted on the network (possibly including segregated funds), and collateralized and/or insured by the network (and redundancy by way of an overlap between these ideas wouldn't be a negative for the purposes of why I'm suggesting this).
Trusted, transparent, collateralized, insured, segregated and decentralized ownership...
This could be extremely profitable on its own...but in terms of continuing to grow market cap, Masternode count, price, etc., it would have an even greater impact (in my opinion anyways). Let me know what you think. Any feedback is welcome, and thanks again for all you do. And thanks also for reading this tldr post. I know how precious your time is.
(If you'd like to skip my story and butt-kissing, skip to the section labeled "Getting to the Point".)
I don't post much on the forums, but rest assured, I lurk them. I have been keeping abreast of the latest happenings, and really liked the long video interview with the team that Amanda did recently (although it was too long for most mainstream people to watch, but she makes plenty of shorter videos, so that is not a criticism). Big props for hiring her...she is a real asset to the public relations cause. I could see her hosting an actual cable business show about blockchain tech in the future.
Anyways, as usual, I would like to open the post by saying how amazing the project is going and has been for me personally. I'm not a techie. I'm just a person who philosophically believes in decentralization, privacy, etc. As you can imagine, that attracted me to the cryptocurrency space, and eventually to Dash. I am not a well-to-do person (at all), so I had little to invest that I could afford to lose. But invest I did. I first bought Dash in the $2.50 range somewhere (can't exactly recall). When I had extra money, I chose to forego some social pleasures for the pleasure of investing in more Dash. My last buy, before running out of expendable income due to a myriad of medical issues (I'm fine, relax), was quite some time ago, at the $5 range. I never had enough to run a Masternode, etc., but I am MOST pleased with my investment in Dash (and looking forward to Evolution's decentralized Masternode shares). I just saw something different in this project that I didn't see anywhere else, and that is a testament to this community and the developers (especially Evan). I know a lot about reading people, in terms of body language, facial cues, cadence and tonality of voice, etc., and I don't read "scammer" on anyone whose face is associated with this project.
That is why I try to spend some of my free time explaining Dash to people I know, especially on social media and in groups therein. I actually started a group (actually a subgroup of a much larger group/community) inspired by Dash, on a social media platform, but not named for Dash specifically. The point is, I am very enthusiastic about the project, especially what Evan said about it being a decentralized bank. If I had any skills that would allow me to help the project, as a volunteer, or of course paid, I would. I just don't have many skills that apply at all (that I can think of anyways).
So, allow me to say, with a heartfelt purpose, THANK YOU ALL FOR ALL YOUR HARD WORK!
Now, onto the reason for this post...
Getting to the Point:
A major issue cryptocurrencies, and especially Bitcoin (who I see, correctly or not, as Dash's main competition) face is centralized exchanges and thefts that occur on them. Gox, Bitfinex, Kraken...the list, as you know, is large. This, to me, wears the stench of opportunity. The reason I post about this now is the following equation:
Good Luck (also known as Favorable Variance) = Preparation + Opportunity + Well-Timed Aggression
You guys clearly have the skills and smarts. I wanted to mention this early enough to allow for proper prioritization and preparation, as to facilitate the perhaps most important part of making our own "good luck"; well-timed aggression.
Now, I know you guys are super busy with everything already in play, so there isn't an immediacy to this at all, even if you think I'm right. So, don't think I'm trying to throw more on your already full plates. And you guys may already have this idea, so maybe I'm wasting your very precious time (for which I apologize upfront, if that is the case). BUT...I think we can solve this problem due to the on-blockchain funding and the DGBB.
Honestly, what I'm about to say is something I would submit for a vote if 5 Dash wasn't so damn valuable to me in terms of marginal utility (as I said, I am not financially well off, and frankly the future value I would be losing would be relatively large for me). Anyways, here goes...
When Evan said, in the Q&A with Amanda, that no decentralized exchange was in the works as of now on the Dash system itself (if I'm saying that right), I was like "damn...I really am hoping for that". But he mentioned some alternatives that I half recall right now. As I pondered this, and the way the Masternodes and the 2nd tier worked, I got to thinking...
If you guys aren't finding time (or priority, in terms of funding) as of now to build such a thing into Dash itself, that doesn't mean a trusted (as opposed to untrusted or trustless) exchange is not possible before that can be tackled (if ever).
Why can't you guys buy an old exchange, or build (or have built) a new one, and either offer insurance options for a fee to cover losses of traders and regular people trying to just buy Dash, OR why can't you collateralize the exchange, keeping funds transparently right on the blockchain? If whatever amount in deposits/present volume in the exchange was already exceeded by the Dash collateral fund, bingo, we got ourselves a fully collateralized exchange. Further, you could show transparently segregated funds, where deposits by customers are separate from the funds needed to operate the exchange. As Evan pointed out, the profits from this business could be returned in some portion or in total to the Masternodes! And it also could be similar to Shapeshift, if so desired, in terms of ease of use, fast transactions, anonymity and lack of time consuming registration annoyance.
Now, why do I suggest this (admittedly general, and not very detailed) project?
Imagine Bitcoin users fatigued by the internal debates going nowhere over there and FUD about an Ethereum-like hard fork ruining immutability. Imagine how they watch as Dash solves all these issues, enacts capabilities Bitcoin only talks about, like fast transactions, user-friendly UI (Evolution cometh), real anonymity, fungibility, security, privacy, scalability and timely governance.
Now imagine they find out Dash has opened the first exchange, although centralized, that is run by a decentralized organization on the blockchain, and is owned not by some guy or team of guys who need to be trusted, but by an entire network of over 4000 Masternode operators and growing. Further imagine they hear this exchange is either insured, collateralized, or (my suggestion) both. And add segregated funds and transparency to that and we have a real enticement. What would the reaction be?
There are those in that community, and I suspect not a few, who would say "this is the straw that breaks the camel's back. This is not a perfectly decentralized solution, but it is going take away the major stress I have in this whole game...centralized exchange hacks and thefts." Some non-significant amount of users, vendors, etc. will switch, I would think (or at least integrate Dash alongside BTC, especially given all the great developments you guys are pushing out recently). Plus, people who want to use cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin, but haven't yet jumped into the space, would suddenly hear of this comforting thing which could push them over the edge and into the space. It truly is a major reason, aside from the lack of user friendly UI that Evolution will solve, people avoid the space altogether...in fact the main reason, among those somewhat enthusiastic about the possibilities of the technology (who aren't intimidated by the current UI).
If we wanted to leverage the plan even harder? Don't sell Bitcoin on the exchange. Only accept it when people buy Dash or other coins we feel are not direct competitors, and then sell it elsewhere to clear the books of it. This ensures a further decoupling with BTC, and ensures we don't add to their trading volume on the buy side (but do add to the sell side).
Anyways, that's my idea: a centralized exchange owned by the network, transparently accounted on the network (possibly including segregated funds), and collateralized and/or insured by the network (and redundancy by way of an overlap between these ideas wouldn't be a negative for the purposes of why I'm suggesting this).
Trusted, transparent, collateralized, insured, segregated and decentralized ownership...
This could be extremely profitable on its own...but in terms of continuing to grow market cap, Masternode count, price, etc., it would have an even greater impact (in my opinion anyways). Let me know what you think. Any feedback is welcome, and thanks again for all you do. And thanks also for reading this tldr post. I know how precious your time is.
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