The google keyword you are looking for is “colored coin”.
Shameless plug for my own proposal: https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/user-assets-peer-to-peer-exchange-off-chain-accounting-transitive-txn-in-btc-280292
Topic: Using the block chain as ledger for bitcoin securities (shares / bonds)? (Read 1073 times)
September 02, 2013, 12:38:38 PM
September 02, 2013, 02:57:09 AM
I was thinking about the risk of bitcoin securities exchanges disappearing etc and then thought to myself what if these securities could be tracked just like bitcoin in the block chain?
If someone wants to IPO, they can designate 1 BTC to represent the company's shares, then whoever buys them can hold them in a wallet just like normal bitcoins and traded independently of exchanges if desired.
Dividends can be paid directly to the addresses that hold the shares.
I am sure there are tons of technical difficulties to work out, chiefly how to treat addresses that have a mix of normal bitcoins and shares, mixed transactions, etc.
But I also think there could be a huge number of useful use cases for something like this outside of securities. It is essentially like creating another crypto currency within a crypto currency, but with supply / some aspects that can be controlled by central authority. Wonder if anyone has explored this already?
If someone wants to IPO, they can designate 1 BTC to represent the company's shares, then whoever buys them can hold them in a wallet just like normal bitcoins and traded independently of exchanges if desired.
Dividends can be paid directly to the addresses that hold the shares.
I am sure there are tons of technical difficulties to work out, chiefly how to treat addresses that have a mix of normal bitcoins and shares, mixed transactions, etc.
But I also think there could be a huge number of useful use cases for something like this outside of securities. It is essentially like creating another crypto currency within a crypto currency, but with supply / some aspects that can be controlled by central authority. Wonder if anyone has explored this already?
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