I'm probably not going to be able to explain it very well, but,I myself had a similar idea in the wake of reading all the arguing in the following threads dramatized for my entertainment:
- Whether forkin' around will fuck the son-of-a-bitch
- Whether 1kb is too big or 100 petabyte is too small
- Bitcoin must have consensus or the entire project is a failure
I had this idea because it seems to me that most people apparently think there has to be one coin to rule them all, or some other such nonsense, when the real case is that cryptocurrency as a whole needs to survive to be viable.
In that light:
- The chances of one coin fitting all are nil
- Trying to agree on rules and protocols slows down progress dramatically
- Forking is good as it adds to wider decentralization
- Different rules should be relegated to different coins rather than forcing everyone to agree on what should be what
Therefore, what we need to make this better is another layer to bring all the coins back together for the users. Thus my idea was born. Unfortunately, I don't have the experience, confidence of financial peace of mind at this time to try to implement it. Instead, I figure I'll just mention it here and see if anyone wants me to elaborate.
My idea is to use the confirmation protocols of blockchain technology that uses/is in conjunction with exchanges to create a crypto mixer/trading platform.
This is the part I doubt I will be able to explain very well in this post.
If done right, it would allow trades to be done on the fly at rates determined by exchanges primarily and secondary by other users.
Basically, each user's copy would be a node wallet (sort of like core) in which the users add addresses they want to use for which coin recieving and/or sending they wish to use. When using to trade, make a purchase, etc., The node would search the exchanges (with the possibility of a feature to search other nodes) for a viable exchange between two coins and any fees associated with the trade, report the amount needed to the initiating user and if the user then wishes, makes the trade. The trade would then be confirmed by the exhange(s) and other nodes, (if only the nodes involved) Also, having the weight of a full blockchain could be optional as the blockchains involved in the trade would already have the information. This would allow for the trades to be amnesiac as well.
The entire purpose of this would be to allow purchases between coins in a manner that leaves the rules and protocols for each coin untouched so that every user can use, send, or receive any coin they wish in order to break down barriers between users and different coins.
This would encourage different forks and altcoins that could all run autonomously.
This would:
- allow miners to mine any blockchain they wished as more forks would lead only to more decentralization.
- allow traders and exchanges freedom in determining the rates of coins both locally and globally which would ease the one size has to fit all ideology, allowing better competition between different coins.
- eliminate the need for consensus, as if one group thinks they can do better, they can just fork and let the market decide what it is worth and they will be providing more decentralization.
- allow users to use whatever coins they want to use and accept without any prior agreement in a much easier way
A lot more planning and tuning would have to go into this idea before it could become an actual design and I do have a few thoughts on that, but I'm not sure if anyone would even be interested, other than to flame, so I guess I'll leave it for now and see.