Viewpoint | Implications of paper currency trading in the epidemic: Stable currency value is very important to circulation value, and privacy coins will replace the anonymity advantage of paper currency

Editor's Note: The original title was "Banknote Trading in the Epidemic and Its Inspiration to Digital Currency." This article has been deleted without changing the author's original intention.

A few days ago I went to Bank A's ATM, and planned to transfer the money from an unused Bank B bank card to another bank A card. At first, I transferred through the direct transfer function on the ATM of Bank A. However, the ATM tells me to exceed the transfer limit. I think that since it is not possible to transfer electronically directly, it can only be the next best thing. First, take out the money on the bank card of bank B, and then deposit the money into the bank account of bank A on the same ATM. Withdrawing money was very smooth. I found that the banknotes that were taken out were brand new and connected. I thought that the bank's epidemic prevention work was in place. It must be to prevent the epidemic from spreading through banknotes, so all the new banknotes were put in circulation. I took out the new money and inserted it into Bank A's bank card. I was going to deposit the new money I had just taken out into the same ATM. However, I was surprised to find that there was no option to save money on the screen of the ATM machine. If I looked carefully again, I still did n’t.

It was instantly understood that, also because of the control of the epidemic, the bank stopped the deposit and circulation of old money, so that the epidemic could be prevented from circulating through potentially viral banknotes.

Look at the bank business hall closed and closed, then I can only hold paper money in my hand. At this time, the 100 yuan note in my hand could not be quickly and easily exchanged for the electronic yuan corresponding to 100 yuan (note that it is not the digital yuan of the blockchain concept). Recently, various offline stores have been closed, and even if they are open, the stores tend to contactless electronic payment methods, that is, electronic payment through WeChat Alipay or credit card. Because banknotes are likely to carry infectious viruses, change at the same time is even more troublesome. Considering that during the recent epidemic, everyone's living materials were mainly purchased through online orders, which shows that in the current scenario, the use of 100 yuan physical banknotes is actually less than 100 yuan electronic yuan! At this time, isn't 100 yuan electronic renminbi more valuable and more popular than 100 yuan real paper currency, anyway, this is to me.

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It can be seen from this that the value of currency always lies in the breadth of the scene. It is also the legal currency Renminbi issued by the People's Bank of China, expressed in physical paper currency and electronic money. Under the background of the spread of the epidemic, there is a magical existence " Value.

At this moment, I think of a reverse scenario: In the past two years, we often encountered scenes where we only paid cash and could not use Alipay WeChat when driving at high-speed toll stations and parking lots. At this time, people often licked their faces and asked for charges Or the drivers in the back can change banknotes and then transfer them to WeChat to personally pass them. I believe that there are not a few people with this experience. Think carefully. In this scenario, the physical currency of RMB is more valuable than the electronic currency of RMB in WeChat Alipay.

There are still many similar situations in life. What inspiration does this have for blockchain-based digital currencies? I think there are at least the following three aspects.

First of all, the attribute of currency as a transaction is always primary, and the breadth of usage scenarios always determines the value of a currency. If there is no use case, the value of currency will be infinitely close to no value. Looking at the current status of the development of digital currencies, the problem that digital currencies generally face is that the digital currency / Token designed by the project party has spent a lot of effort in the design of the community and participant incentive mechanism. A lot of effort was spent on the level of circulation transactions, but the expansion of transaction scenarios, the promotion of transaction scenarios in the Token incentive mechanism, and the shallowness of the daily use perception of users and customers are all common problems that currently exist. I think that if there is a big breakthrough in the current blockchain digital currency, we must dive in and make a real breakthrough in the scene development level.

Second, stable currency values ​​are critical to the value of circulation. Any currency that can be traded on a large scale in daily scenarios must be stable in value. A currency with rapid price fluctuations will greatly increase the cost of human decision-making. Ordinary people who are the subject of transactions, in daily transactions, will not use their brains to make real-time conversions at the time. This conversion will become an insurmountable transaction cost, blocking the use of digital currencies in daily scenarios. So there must be a corresponding stablecoin. This kind of stable currency is not only limited to today's USDT or DAI stable currency that is circulated through exchanges and DEFI, but is more similar to the diamonds purchased by players in ordinary game companies, and it is roughly consistent with the existing fiat currency exchange rate. However, the difference between the stable currency planted in the trading scene and today's game diamond is that this stable currency should be mortgaged by his corresponding digital currency Token as the local currency, which is similar to the relationship between ETH and Maker Dao DAI. Only if there is a DAI similar to the diamond in the game in each scene, it is possible to reduce the user's cognitive cost and promote large-scale use scenarios. Here is a future blockchain game as an example. The stablecoins used for trading in the game should not be issued by the system, but should be mortgaged by a group of game NFT assets in the game or outside the game. Existing game currencies widely distributed in the game industry such as Q coins and Steam are included in a basket of currencies.

Thirdly, privacy coins will replace the advantages of paper currency anonymity. The large-scale use of electronic money to replace banknotes is an irresistible trend. China has been a world leader in mobile payments in the past ten years. It is believed that with the spread of the epidemic, mobile payments will be further promoted. The great advantage of banknotes is their anonymity (except for new banknotes). However, electronic money is gradually replacing banknotes, coupled with the current widespread use of big data, personal privacy protection is facing huge challenges, and electronic payment has exposed more personal privacy to the outside world. How to solve this problem? I think a privacy coin based on a zero-knowledge proof algorithm will be a very promising solution. So from this perspective, there is huge growth potential for privacy coins in the future.

The above is a murder case (thinking) caused by withdrawing money.

All in all, it is really a stupid way to spend time investing in digital currency usage scenarios. The ups and downs of the industry over the past few years prove that so-called shortcuts have never existed. A credible and free world cannot be achieved overnight. Spring flowers always bloom, but we cannot expect to open them in the next second.

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