The problem is that this proposal would create economic incentives for collusion. Miners have no reason other than altruism to vote honorably, but since being a miner-endorsed database would be extremely desirable under this scheme, databases would profit from paying miners for their votes, so miners would have significant incentive to vote for the highest bidder regardless of whether it's reputable.
To the extent that people know about this vote-buying, the miner-vetted database list would be worthless. To the extent that people don't know, the miner-vetted database list would be controlled by LIBOResque kickbacks and graft (i.e. worse than worthless).
Topic: Idea for promoting trade and merchant reliability (Read 548 times)
Just thought of something: What if the 5% that goes to miners is the ONLY thing that goes into the coinbase?
I just had this idea and posted it to the alt coin section but I don't see why this isn't a good place as well.
If this was added to a coin, every time someone mines a block they would get one "Votepoint". These votepoints would be used to vote, once a month, on reliable databases(individual groups who compile lists of trustworthy businesses). Databases that receive enough votes compile lists of trustworthy businesses, provide the business information to the network, and mark down the price range of said businesses' goods. Then whenever someone goes to purchase an item from a business that is on one of the databases, the database signs the transaction: they tell the network "This is a legitimate exchange of goods/services."; and the business signs the transaction. This is necessary because once the network has verified that the transaction is an exchange of goods rather than someone simply sending coins to their other address, 10% of the transaction will be added to the coin base of the block that it goes into. 5% of this reward goes to the miners, 2% to the seller, 2% to the buyer, 1% to the database. This, I think, would provide a great incentive to spend your coins and would also remove the need to trust the buyer, because databases would be eager to accumulate as many businesses as possible while simultaneously ensuring that said businesses are trustworthy, because otherwise miners would simply stop voting for them. If the database signed off on a scam then customers would demand their money back and the databases would be obliged to do so (not necessarily, but that's the idea) to keep their reputation.
This could use some work, please provide feedback.
If this was added to a coin, every time someone mines a block they would get one "Votepoint". These votepoints would be used to vote, once a month, on reliable databases(individual groups who compile lists of trustworthy businesses). Databases that receive enough votes compile lists of trustworthy businesses, provide the business information to the network, and mark down the price range of said businesses' goods. Then whenever someone goes to purchase an item from a business that is on one of the databases, the database signs the transaction: they tell the network "This is a legitimate exchange of goods/services."; and the business signs the transaction. This is necessary because once the network has verified that the transaction is an exchange of goods rather than someone simply sending coins to their other address, 10% of the transaction will be added to the coin base of the block that it goes into. 5% of this reward goes to the miners, 2% to the seller, 2% to the buyer, 1% to the database. This, I think, would provide a great incentive to spend your coins and would also remove the need to trust the buyer, because databases would be eager to accumulate as many businesses as possible while simultaneously ensuring that said businesses are trustworthy, because otherwise miners would simply stop voting for them. If the database signed off on a scam then customers would demand their money back and the databases would be obliged to do so (not necessarily, but that's the idea) to keep their reputation.
This could use some work, please provide feedback.
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