You have just mention the Maslow's basic needs of the hierarchy of needs. If bitcoin can be used just to satisfy the basic necessities to stay alive, that'll bring bitcoin a little closer to adulthood and a more stable price. That is the problem now ... not many merchants are accepting bitcoins.
If we are following that we are going to need bitcoin hookers too.
I've been toying with an idea for an escrow (and ratings?) service (running on Tor) for potentially dangerous in-person transactions (major drug deals, prostitution, etc.) where the potential for violence or nondelivery (by counterparty or government) is high. This would involve delayed payouts, forwarding addresses in case any of the parties end up incommuincado (dead/imprisoned/tortured/etc.), etc. It would be difficult to do arbitration, so it would probably involve really high escrow that include insurance for nonperformance by either party and/or some sort of refundable deposit from each party as collateral for a successful transaction. Mutual ratings and transaction history would help with insurance underwriting, etc.
That and a cash-settled marijuana price futures exchange would probably make Bitcoin attractive enough to large-scale drug cartels and gangs that it would drive adoption and value very high and very quickly. Then again, it would probably increase the motivation of the powers that be to destroy the Bitcoin network, possibly before the network is resilient enough to survive a concerted attack.
oldest profession. I guess you'd be right!
surely we can come up with some cool ideas?
