so excited right now
once people realize the potential of blackhalo and nightTrader and how revolutionary they really are, i'd expect many more people to get enthusiastic about BC.
huge stuff really.
We really need simple non-abstract practical examples of how they can be used and what they can do. Like, "if I want to trade X for Y with Z, I will do this and that" etc. I know I would appreciate those examples.
Well, as I understand it (smart contracts in general via cryptos) a 'paraphrased' example in real life could be:
Party A wishes to purchase a piece of furniture from Party B. However, they don't really know each other, share no friends in common, and both feel the other party might be attempting to scam them. They also don't necessarily want the other person to know where they live or what they look like. The value/agreed upon price for the piece of furniture is $500.
Party A places $500 in cash in a dual-keyed safety deposit box (which he also pays the deposit on), and gives one key to the receptionist at the front counter of the bank.
Party B places the furniture in a storage unit (held by deposit as well) with two padlocks and gives the key to one of the padlocks to the receptionist at the front desk.
Both parties mail each other the 1 key they have in their possession still.
Important side-note: The two receptionists actually know each other because they live next door to each other on Blockchain Street.
Party A goes to the storage locker and uses their key... the receptionist goes with them and unlocks the second lock... Party A likes the furniture and starts loading it in their truck. Meanwhile the bank receptionist does the same with Party B as far as the deposit box is concerned. Both parties go on their merry way... and because everything went so smoothly both the bank and the storage company mail the deposit checks back to their respective parties. (And this is where it's totally not comparable to this IRL... as you'd just lose both).
On the other hand if say Party B puts a bowling ball in the storage locker... Party A is
not happy. He tells the receptionist and hands her his key. She calls the bank receptionist who takes the box key from Party B and the deal is 'rescinded'. Because he didn't do anything wrong, Party A goes back to the bank and simply collects his $500 back from the deposit box, and the bank refunds his deposit. Party B, however, has 'exposed' his scam to not just Party A, but also the receptionist (who tells everyone on Blockchain Street about it...) he can still get his bowling ball... but he gets no refund and no $500 for his trouble.
On the other hand if both parties just get cold feet and decide against the whole deal entirely - they merely hand the respective receptionist their key - and the receptionists trade them that night and hand them back to both parties the next day allowing them both to retrieve their originally offered item. Both also would receive refunds in this case because they essentially just 'backed out' the entire deal amicably.
Hopefully that little novel will help someone having difficulty with the concept itself. There are flaws in the analogy, and it's possible to draft contracts that are infinitely more complicated (like having Party A deal with Party B for something that Party C actually wants). But for the most basic concept I think it works pretty well.
The most simplistic (and obviously inadequate as well) tl;dr of that would be: "decentralized escrow service" I suppose. It sure takes less time to type.