I’d like to propose the community gathers together in a small dialogue for the purpose of discussion the value of implementing a community forum coin. This coin would not necessarily be intended to hold a certain value, but might instead have a useful function in the form of a facilitator of exchange. Creating the coin is simple as is defining its parameters. Community members simply create a wallet on Counterparty.co by generating a password with no extra software being installed or personal information being required (the process is instant and takes seconds). The benefits of such a coin seems to be many yet the risk of experimenting with the process are nil. The effects and intrusiveness on the forum are negligent and the only direct change is that players might start to display their public address in order to receive tips, donations, and payments in the form of Poker Forum coin.
Can a forum really have its own digital coin?
In short yes. Because of a new technology built of the bitcoin solution called Counterparty, anyone can create their own coin with there own specifics. Let’s Talk Bitcoin, arguably the most prominent bitcoin news site, has already launched their own crypto-currency called “LTB coin” after they were and already established community.
What is Counterparty?
https://www.counterparty.co/about/
Counterparty is an innovative platform for peer-to-peer markets and financial instruments. Unlike Wall Street and other centralized financial institutions, Counterparty provides open, secure financial tools and markets that do not require a trusted third party or middleman to use. The first of its kind, Counterparty aims to decentralize and democratize finance in the same way the Internet itself has done with creation and sharing of information.
The platform is built on top of Bitcoin, and extends the functionality of the Bitcoin network in new and unprecedented ways. With Counterparty, anyone with an Internet connection gains access to financial instruments that were previously cost prohibitive or not available at all.
The primary goal of Counterparty is to enable entrepreneurs, developers, artists and more to build a new, productive economy: doing things that have never been done before, made possible by the amazing technology behind Bitcoin. We want to unlock the potential of “Bitcoin 2.0″ for thousands of people, who will then create profitable businesses, as well use the technology to further the social good. Read more about how to get started on building with Counterparty technology.
Counter party allows users to create their own coin called “assets”. These coins can be based on physical assets or anything users want. Creators can controller the distribution rates, methods, and whether assets can be divided or not. Once the coin is setup, users of the group it was set up for (ie the poker forum community) can sign up for a wallet and receive Poker Forum coins instantly.
For people who have never heard of or used crypto-currency, Counterparty is incredibly user friendly for creating a wallet and is as simple and as fast as generating a 12 word password. It takes seconds to get setup and arrive a user interface that is more user friendly than a traditional banking site. https://counterwallet.co
What is LBTcoin?
LTBcoin is a brand new kind of thing. It is a crypto-rewards system where people who help LTB to be useful are rewarded for their efforts. And it’s built on Bitcoin!
LTBcoin is the proprietary token for the Let’s Talk Bitcoin Network. It is the exclusive token accepted for sponsorships. It will provide the user a significant discount in the network wide and ACT-specific e-commerce stores. It can be used in the network for tipping and will generally be useful in every corner of the LTB universe.
LTBcoin does not use computational mining. Instead, coins are distributed to the content creators, the community and the platform according to a fixed schedule. After a period of 260 weeks (5 years), all coins will be distributed and no new coins will be created.Introduction of LTB coin http://letstalkbitcoin.com/blog/post/introducing-ltbcoin-our-new-crypto-rewards-program-for-ltb-creators-and-community
LTBcoin was released even “after” the Let’s Talk Bitcoin forum was up and running. By using Counterparty individual LTB accounts can sign up to receive certain distributions of LTB coin based on certain levels and types of participation on the LTB community. Forumers of the LTB community can post there “public key” and receive payments or donations from each other in the form of LTBcoin. This creates a new dynamic for the community by introducing a small incentive, voting, and market option.
Content creator receive the majority of LTBcoins, while participants on the forum also are given a portion of the released coins.
LTBcoin will be distributed over a time span of 260 weeks with new tokens created and distributed weekly. The weekly distribution will be:
65% will be distributed to content creators
25% will be distributed to the audience.
10% will go to the platform development and maintenance.
The first weekly distribution will be on July 5th, 2014.
LTBcoin generates value largely from selling advertising space in LTB “auctions”. The process works much like Ebay but you must have LTBcoin to participate.
Demand for LTBcoin is derived from the value it has as the exclusive currency used for purchasing ads on the LTB network. LTBcoin will also be the exclusive token that lets you participate in our contests, buy gear at discount in our stores, and participate in promotions and other surprises we come up with along the way!*
Effective July 1st, 2014 LetsTalkBitcoin.com, the Let’s Talk Bitcoin! show, and the LTB network will only sell sponsorship space (on the web properties) or airtime (on the show) for LTBcoin, to the highest bidder, in LTBcoin, at our regular auction events
After 5 years, LTB has decided no more LTBcoins will be created.
What could a Poker Forum coin useful for?
If 2 + 2 wanted they could also sell a certain portion of advertising space however there are many less intrusive uses for a Poker Forum coin. Players could create there own home games with coins as entry tickets. Coaching sites might choose to accept Poker Forum coins for certain products they offer. Any poker related software might choose to use the community generated coin in order to attract customers from their target market.
Forum users can send and receive tips based on helpful posts or pm’s. This might create incentive for more participation and better content. There might even arise some interesting possibilities for decentivizing troll like behavior.
For any of these poker related companies adopting the system of spending and receiving the Poker Forum coin is just as easy as signing up as a community forum user.
What about the specifics of the coin?
The specifics can be anything the community desires. It can be a fixed release rate, a one time drop, and deflationary rate, anything we choose. The coins schedule can be locked so there can be no changes or interference made.
How would the coins be distributed?
Again this is something the community can decide, and to be honest it might not really matter. We tend to think of “money” as the creator and destroyer of wealth, but used in this form our Poker Forum coin would not necessarily represent a suppression by wealth but rather a facilitator of the exchange of goods, ideas, and services. Even if only a handful of player’s received a one time only drop, the coins are only really as useful as the network they cover. This means everyone who possesses them has utility to pass them out and use them.
Other ways coins can be distributed is through free rolls, moderator appreciation, bonus’s, poker sites, and perhaps in the future based on advanced statistics such as forum post counts and specific types of participation.
Can we really create a market for such a coin?
Yes.
Metcalfe’s law states that the value of a telecommunications network is proportional to the square of the number of connected users of the system (n2).
Reed’s law is the assertion of David P. Reed that the utility of large networks, particularly social networks, can scale exponentially with the size of the network. The reason for this is that the number of possible sub-groups of network participants is 2N*−*N*−*1, where N is the number of participants. This grows much more rapidly than either the number of participants, N, or the number of possible pair connections, N(N*−*1)/2 (which follows Metcalfe’s law). so that even if the utility of groups available to be joined is very small on a peer-group basis, eventually the network effect of potential group membership can dominate the overall economics of the system.
Sarnoff’s law states that the value of a broadcast network is directly proportional to the number of viewers. It is attributed to David Sarnoff.
For example, a network with 100 members is 10 times as valuable as a network with 10 members.
All that is needed is a few players that understand the value of the addition tool/option that a Poker Forum coin would bring to the community. If a few of the poker related communities and businesses joined in to participate their could be an immediate advantage to holding some Poker Forum coin. Coaching sites might have a few videos specifically unlock-able with only Poker Forum coin. Perhaps some well established coaches might advertise or auction a certain block of coaching time only redeemable with Poker Forum coin. Any poker relate sites including the community might allocate a certain portion of advertising only redeemable with this coin. Even some small poker sites might set up Poker Forum coin entry tournaments or cash games and eventually even bigger sites might get involved and choose to accept Poker Forum coin for tournament or cash game tickets.
The point is that having this extra option in the poker economy changes the dynamic and the interaction between all the interested parties.
What are some other advantages?
There has been a lot of talk about the possible benefits to the poker community in relation to the new technology bitcoin gives us. However the adoption of such technology takes time, and specifically in regards to poker sites, their business model are likely too cumbersome at this point to shift to adopting bitcoin as a payment system. One the other hand some players have recognized bitcoin brings the possibility of nearly frictionless transactions between players and sites, and this ability to liquidate our rolls might bring a poker service of higher value (ie lower effective rake). Having community forum users participate in a very user friendly crypto-currency system with zero risk to the user, might actually help educate the masses on the benefits of crypto-currency.
Furthermore players on the forum can display their public keys and begin to create a unique identifier which is attached to their Poker Forum coin wallet. Although not a completely secure solution, this might help incentivize players to keep one account and to stay truer and more honest to it.
Small fees can be used to enter certain discussions or sections of the forum, such as the marketplace, which act somewhat like a proof of participation. In this way, coins beings to act like a “vote”, which is another avenue the community might want to explore. The public address acts as a sort of “hall pass” which might be used to identify the legitimacy of the former in regards to the timeframe they have kept their account for.
Staking, another subject to big for this writing, is an area of poker that would benefit greatly with the new money technology available. A Poker Forum coin might help get the discussion on this going. The efficiency that crypto-technology brings transforms in to value that goes back into the poker economy.
The future of Poker Forum coins?
Perhaps the the first generation of this coin will flop. The community can just decide to create a new more evolved version. Many advances implementation can certainly arise, and many projects are in development to facilitate such advances. Multiple coins could (and will likely) be created to specifically facilitate certain functions that are valuable to the poker economy and the poker community.
Perhaps after some time the forum itself might adjust to facilitate different properties and systems for crypto-currency
What would be involved in launching a Poker Forum coin?
Launching the coin would be relatively simple, and once the properties are decided the specifics the asset could be created in minutes. The success of the release would be solely based on the community’s support for it and so we might decide a schedule in which early adopters have an early bird benefit. A type of referral program may prove useful for a more rapid adoption, as would a type of marketing strategy that uses mutually beneficial agreements between poker related business and the players community.
The coin itself may not have that much value, yet the implementation of it and the possible functions it might possess may prove to be incredibly useful. Many different ideas and innovations for the poker world may arise just like in the new global economy bitcoin is fueling. LTB just went through the process of adopting such a system and many peoples’ experience with it seems to be quite favorable. The initial discussion period and implementation need not have a giant portion of the community involved and in fact one of the main benefits of actually finally having a community coin is to facilitate future decision processes on the systems the community may wish to have.
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