@gstefans - any development news ?
This is what is going on at the moment:
We're testing the coin in a real course (two, actually) and it'll be interesting to see how that pans out.
Everyone seems to agree that Bitcoin is becoming useful and interesting as a direct result of actual use, not just because it is a cool idea or because of speculation. Similarly, the main cause of failure in the AUR experiment was probably a lack of applications. In that scenario there is only a supply but no real demand and this can only lead to a dump towards zero value.
The same applies to the SMLY: The initial mining led to a dump and there is no demand (to speak of) for the coin, but a constant supply of new coins through mining (and later through educational rewards).
The next step is therefore to find some actual applications and we would love some feedback from you folks. Since the SMLY is used to reward students, it should be possible to use these wherever stores or companies are willing to give students a discount. We are thinking about things like the following:
- Discounts in campus bookstores, coffe shops
- Swap SMLY for points at selected airlines
- Use SMLY as a currency in a computer game
- Buy or get discounts for on-line books
- Buy or get serious discounts on used PCs being sold from campus computer labs
A slightly different way is to approach stores with discounts for certain card holders or club members to either
- give 20% discount to students who can pay e.g. 1 million SMLY
- take SMLY directly as payments, corresponding to an hourly rate for student's work (not the exchange rate)
Some of these are just ideas; others are being investigated through formal cooperation with other groups and research grant proposals.
We're also looking for cooperation with economists and industrial engineers who can use the SMLY in their classes. For example an econ instructor can set up a class project to find ways to implement SMLY in different ways or an industrial engineer can ask his class to optimise how to buy or sell SMLY at exchanges or provide liquidity. One of these is already underway.