---------------------------------------- | |
Geo-Coin Blackpaper | |
March 08th, 2018 | |
---------------------------------------- | |
In 2013 I had a conversation with a coworker about Bitcoin. What | |
is it? I asked. No, no, I mean, how does it all work? I repeated. | |
We went on like this for a few days before he eventually just told | |
me to read this whitepaper [0]. Ahh, now I get it... well mostly. | |
It makes sense from a logical point of view: how do you build | |
a platform that can naturally prove things true without needing | |
a 3rd party? Well, you build truth into its very existence. What | |
if the universe were nothing but a giant ledger? | |
At that time my coworker had become involved in a community | |
takeover of an alt-coin, a crypo-currency which had become | |
abandoned by its creator. He had some grand plans but the coin | |
failed to gain traction. In a sense theirs was a precursor to | |
Z-Cash and Dash in the anonymity space. It had great plans and | |
lofty goals, but no clear path to reach them. | |
Around that time I also gave some thought to another | |
crypto-currency which I thought had potential to be meaningful | |
from an economic point of view. My premise was a coin with a value | |
that relative to its transaction-point geographically. In short: | |
Geo-Coin | |
A crypto-currency designed for the development of local markets. | |
At the heart of the Geo-Coin system is the addition of geographic | |
proof to proof-of-work. Every mined coin is done so with | |
a specific geographic location attached to its identity. | |
Wallets, as points of reception in a transaction, also hold | |
geographic location as part of their identity. A wallet can hold | |
coin values without degradation if they share geographies. As | |
the wallet and coin increase distance, part of the value of the | |
coin is lost. In this way, the further a coin "travels" the less | |
its net worth in the system. | |
Why didn't I pursue this idea, you might ask (unless you're | |
already prepared to tear the idea apart, you vicious bastard)? | |
Well, I'm not sure it's sound, first-of-all. It's possible that if | |
you expend a great deal of resources you could create wallets | |
using a false location shared by the source coin, hold it all in | |
trust in a billion little wallets, and then trade without loss. | |
That is, assuming that the proof of geography is something that | |
can be spoofed. | |
That's surely part of the reason. The other big factor is that | |
it's a lot of work, and I don't care all that much. Great ideas | |
(if this even counts) aren't worth 1% of success. Well over 99% is | |
the effort you put in. I don't need to spend that amount of time | |
in crypto. The idea makes me feel gross. | |
Finally, I could never crack the big problem. How do you prove | |
location? Give it some thought and see if you can come up with | |
something that can't be manipulated. With that piece of the puzzle | |
the rest should be doable. If you can make it work, take it and | |
run. More power to you. All license or copyright or other legal | |
shenanigans is hereby revoked. | |
Enjoy (you vicious bastard) | |
[0] - Satoshi Nakamoto Bitcoin Whitepaper |