I wrote this article. I was amazed at data revealed by Peter R in his post. And I'm wondering if anyone sees it differently.
Do people focus too much on anything they perceive as new? Is it all just a game between speculators and the resulting bag holders?
Do you personally care about actual use, or are you only in this for the daytrading?
I'm obviously biased in favour of Bitmark since I'm involved in the project, but I'm more interested in discussing the concept in general. This doesn't have to be about Bitmark at all.
From:
http://bitmarknews.com/2014/08/12/why-bitmark-will-be-important/ I came across an interesting post by Peter R on the Bitcointalk forums that really helped put Project Bitmark into perspective for me.
The people who use the currency drive it's price tag:
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.6025866The plot confirms for me that the value of bitcoin comes from the network of people who use it. If we keep finding new ways to use bitcoin, the rest will take care of itself.
This might seem obvious to some people. But seeing data to back up what you've been thinking is always nice. And confirming that we've been focusing on the right thing from the start makes what we're doing with Project Bitmark even more important.
Most, if not all, cryptocurrencies that have emerged this year have focused on developing novel technology that differentiates themselves from Bitcoin. Anonymity, Proof of Stake, exotic Proof of Work algorithms. These are all real technological improvements that have been achieved to varying levels of success so far in 2014. Their value proposition is that they are "better" than Bitcoin. But people seem to be forgetting what makes a currency a currency is the people using it. And making it fun and easy to use is what motivates people to actually adopt a currency and spend it. Not as just an investment, but as money.
A currency focused on adoption is more likely to succeed in the long term than one that focuses on the latest trend on Bitcointalk. Giving people an easy way to use their money is the most important thing that enables a technology to be adopted as an actual currency with utility. Other additional technology that proves useful to that end can be adapted for use when it's proved to be both stable and useful. That should come after, not before, giving people something they can spend. People will continue to pioneer these emerging technologies, and once they have proven themselves, they can be integrated into Project Bitmark. But only if they actually provide value.
The priority of Project Bitmark is to create a technologically stable, easy to use, daily use currency. And that's the focus of our effort. The proof that providing value in that way also happens to also provide price tag value is illustrated in Peter R's chart. Knowing this helps since it enables people to be comfortable in the fact that supporting, growing, and helping Bitmark do what it set out to do will provide real financial benefit. Knowing that you're on the right path, and that you'll be rewarded for it helps toughen resolve.
I want Project Bitmark to be the first alternative to Bitcoin that actually drives toward creating a real large scale network effect driven by actual use of Bitmark as currency. In my opinion Dogecoin has been the only currency thus far that actually put in an effort and flirted with the idea. But they focused on building a community around Dogecoin itself, while we focus on bringing Bitmark and
Marking to existing communities instead. Showing people something that provides value and can be adopted by millions of communities that exist already is, in my opinion, a much better strategy than trying to recruit people into a specific subculture based around a meme. It's not that they did anything wrong, their community sprung up organically and will continue to exist indefinitely. But by providing the tools for people to build their own communities(
Discourse +
Marking being one example) we can spawn thousands of organic communities rather than just one.
It's still very important that we continue to reach out and continue to build our own core Bitmark community. We need more people participating on all levels. Development, design, any value anyone can provide is greatly appreciated. Even just being interested and following the project is valuable. But the core cryptocurrency enthusiasts that surround us are not going to be what defines Bitmark. That will be up to the people who see the value in it and adopt it. People will define the use of Marks in anyway they see fit. Payment, reputation, tipping, content filtering, anything you can imagine. Marking can be used in a infinite amount of ways. It solves lots of problems and breaks down barriers that exist on the web today. People don't have to be into Bitcoin, or be an altcoin trader to use Marks on their favorite website. But the door will be open to them if they decide they are interested and want to learn more.
So if you're new to Project Bitmark, or you've been here from the start and wonder if adoption really is the most important thing a currency should focus on, the proof is there with Bitcoin. Bitcoin has yet to have a real competitor when it comes to competing against it as a currency. Every time a new store takes Bitcoin, that's a new store that now has the technology in place to accept Bitmark as well. And we can find out what their problems are and solve them directly with Bitmark. Give them another alternative and tailor our value proposition to them. Bitcoin is clearing the path and making it easier for us. We're in a very good position to take advantage of that.
A. Marha
Bitmark Community Manager
Project Bitmark is 100% community supported through donations. No IPO, no premine, no instamine, nothing unfair. Just a bunch of people who want to make a useful currency. Come join us on Github, IRC, or our Bitcointalk thread:
https://github.com/project-bitmarkhttp://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=bitmarkhttps://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/bitmark-660544 
