As long as cryptocurrencies are related – in any way – to traditional currencies, they don’t have a chance.
They need to be able to stand on their own two feet, to work in isolation.
It is possible, we just need to find a set of services that form a circular economy. Here is a non-exhaustive starting point.
Platforms/Currencies that it can revolve around
Crypto
Game
Metaverse
Advertising (Google/FB)
Venture Capital
Crowdfunding
Equity Crowdfunding
Peer2Peer Lending
Services Platform (Fiverr)
Digital uses for the currency (must be primarily labour-intensive)
Web design
Game design
Graphic design
Writing
Journalism
Guest Posting
Translation
Programming
Tech Support
Consulting
Life Coaching
Virtual Assistant
Customer Care
Tutoring
Music / Voice Over / Jingles
Video Editing
Transcription
Influencer Marketing
Community Management
Offline (must be primarily labour-intensive)
Modelling
Personal Trainer
Gardening / Landscaping
Driving / Delivery (not own vehicle)
Hairdressing (for someone else’s salon, or from home)
Massage
Child care
Cleaner
Housesitter
Photography
Mystery Shopper
Furniture Assembly
The above is literally a starting point. Somebody might need to intuit the system that works, for it isn’t easy to deduce. What is likely needed is degrees of separation that connect the above.
For example:
Game Developer pays Graphic Designer 1LC (LifeCoin)
Graphic Designer pays Accountant 1LC
Accountant pays Bakery 1LC <<< is not a primarily labour-intensive business, has real-world, fiat currency costs!
Bakery pays SEO company 1LC
SEO Company pays Game Developer (for in-app ads) 1LC
We effectively have a bartering system that uses a cryptocurrency. It works great on a simplistic level.
Major issue – the balancing act
What if the Graphic Designer gets more LC than they can spend? With a fiat currency, our entire world revolves around it, and finds a use for it. Not so with a fledgling currency that needs to be different and not convertible.
(Why not convertible? Well, it renders it meaningless – why not just use the dollar anyway??)
So we need an extra mechanism, one that takes care of deficits and surpluses. A bank? With interest rates?
That still doesn’t work – because you can’t cash out beyond what is available to buy with a LC. And, initially, that is limited.
And we cannot convert it to a fiat currency. So what else can it be used for? What has value and is open-ended?
Here are some random ideas, not to be taken seriously, just testing the water:
Status – hey look at me, I have many!
Offspring – your great-great-grandchildren might need a personal trainer
Capital Investment – there is value in ownership beyond dividends
Charity – labor-intensive charity work could be paid
My Best Guess (so far)
Some Facebook-esque corporation will create an Augmented Reality overlay of our world (info, social and advertising), and link it to a virtual world of socialising and gaming. It will have an internal currency.
There are 2 ways a crypto-currency can launch, aside from speculation and ponzi schemes:
- A major corporation with a digital product simply brings it into being:
Google – receives money for digital advertising, and digital entertainment products, and gives money in the AdSense network.
2. A circular economy, based on labour-intensive work:
It still needs a catalyst. A play-to-earn video game is my best bet. A game so good that is success drives the model.