Question:
I'm a farmer and have 100 apples. Am i correct in that I can issue 100 shares for my apples?
When I sell an apple colored coin what happens to the coin when the apple is eaten? Does the time-stamp just act like a receipt?
When the apple is eaten, the counterparty assigns it to another apple or recolors it.
So for clarity, the buyer destroys the coin upon taking possession of the apple? or only after the apple has been eaten?
The colored coin was an apple future. He exchanged it for the apple.
He's not describing a futures contract, he's describing a voucher. Just use Groupon if you want to sell vouchers
Colored coins can represent vouchers, futures contracts, or many other things; it's up to the issuer to decide. Colored coins are unlike anything that has ever existed before. They allow people to create and trade assets like apple futures contracts, shares in a company, or IOUs for gold stored in a vault, just to name a few. The open-asset protocol is what allows these assets to be subdivided and freely traded without the need for the issuer to record and account for the trades--the protocol does this for him. Colored coins will be an exciting addition to the bitcoin ecosystem.
I understand what colored coins are and they sound cool. However the apple seller doesn't sound like he wants to write a futures contract. He wants to write a voucher.
But since his business is a startup Groupon is better for him since they can also distribute the vouchers to their user base so he doesn't need to do his own marketing.
I don't know if he really wants to sell apples or its just an example.
Personally I think its a terrible business plan to secure financing by selling vouchers. He's better off using a presale model like Kickstarter if his goal is to raise capital. Either that or just take out a business loan
The other thing to consider is even you can color coins for futures contracts why would you want to? Most people who trade futures prefer cash setlled and trade them for speculation. What they care about is liquidity. If the colored coin transaction takes 10 mins, the market makers will be forced to widen the spread which will make them unattractive for trading. Plus there's already mature exchanges for futures. What is the advantage to using blockchain compared to what we have now?
It has the same problems of bitcoins. Why bother using it when there are superior options like credit cards and ATMs everywhere.