Re: Payments and Trust

On Wed, Sep 26, 2012 at 7:39 PM, Manu Sporny <msporny@digitalbazaar.com> wrote:
>
> I do think that there is a technology solution for the Web Payments
> problem (creating an open, decentralized, payment mechanism for the
> Web). I do not think that there is a technology "solution" for the trust
> network problem because it is constantly evolving. That is, your trust
> network is only good until it gets gamed. Building something that is
> game-proof is going to have to be an iterative, long-term effort. An
> effort that has no end. It's certainly something worth attempting, but
> definitely not something that should be standardized at any point in the
> near future.

Just to pointlessly (?) give away more trade-secret-quality in-house
theory, the "trust problem" can't be solved, but it /can/ be modeled,
by providing a way for individuals to quantify trust in other
individuals.

In the tipjar marketplace vision, where vendors only accept their own
scrip, a vendor sells their scrip at par (one euro of
bonegan-muzikon-vendejo.com script is sold by bonegan muzikon vendejo
for one euro) so someone who wants to purchase tunes from bonegan
muzikon vendejo can exchange what they have, through the market, for
bonegan muzikon vendejo script. Trust comes into it when the customer
doesn't have any euros in their account, but they've got whatever they
have instead, including their own scrip and other things they might
hold. Let's say Joe Consumer only has his own scrip, which is
redeemable for an hour of drunken consultation on any topic, realities
of scheduling and travel permitting. (I think many people reading this
mailing list would be able to find a small market such a scrip.) Joe
needs music store scrip, so he sells some consultation scrip to those
who have expressed trust in Joe by offering euros or things that can
be converted to euros for Joe scrip.

Ta-daah! Just disintermediated most bank loan infrastructure.

Received on Thursday, 27 September 2012 22:57:30 UTC