Problem is, there's nothing free in this world. Nothing. Where's the value of sth, if it's free? One Bitcoin costs in electricity only is couple thousand of dollars (I don't remember exactly).
Sb always pays for a service, here - money transfer. So ask yourself a question. How free Nano can compete with sth (not necessarily BTC) that ppl get paid for enabling others to use it?
I like Nano as an idea. I invested in it. But I don't see any intrinsic value in it. Just speculation. And the lack of proper PR (like Charlie Lee does for LTC, or dr. Hosp for TENX) just makes me sad.
Let me help you understand. XRB boils down to a proof of stake system. All of the consensus is determined by nodes called representatives. People choose representatives to validate transactions, and their stake is proxied to these representatives.
Where is the value? The value is in the opportunity cost of the XRB. If the value of the XRB is used for something else, like selling the XRB and investing the proceeds in stocks and earning dividends, then this value will make profits. That lost profit (for those who don't sell XRB and invest in other assets) goes into the XRB network. Rather than burning up electricity, or diluting the money supply, individuals simply hold XRB they will use anyway and the
opportunity cost is sunk into the value of the system.
That means, the more valuable XRB is, the more secure is the system because the opportunity cost is greater. This is like bitcoin where the more expensive it is to mine a bitcoin, the more secure the system is.
This XRB system requires only that a few people run
very inexpensive nodes. If you have a raspberry PI and a $10 SSD card, you can run a representative node for about 2 watts of power. This can easily be paid for by any business that may have an income based on the utility of XRB. For example an exchange, or payment processor, or even a business that simply accepts XRB as a form of payment.
So, even though it requires a little "altruism" to run a node, the investment is negligible for any business, XRB community member, or even hobbyist.
You are right, nothing is free, but in XRB the costs are hidden because they are somewhat esoteric (opportunity costs). But ask any economist or investment advisor and they will tell you that when it comes to investments, opportunity costs are very real.
