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0 pointsbtown5y ago0 comments

It's refreshing to hear well-thought-out responses to the "isn't it just escrow" question, which I admit I've asked in a skeptical way re: cryptocurrencies in the past! Decoupling oracle-ness from a need to be a legally trusted holder of money is indeed something that broadens/democratizes the pool of viable oracles.

On that note, if an outstanding question is "how do we increase the supply (and thus decrease the price) of oracles beyond those who happen to know how to interact with smart contracts," I wonder if something like your Hedgehog tech, paired with standardized smart contract plugins, could make it possible for far more domain experts without crypto experience to enter and advertise themselves in the oracle market. Makes your system a one-stop easy-onboard volatility-reducing shop for the escrow problem you identified, for all participants in that marketplace!

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cadillion5y ago

Wow, you hit the nail on the head! To point to our long term vision, cryptocurrency has the nice property of being data, but the double-edged feature of being money.

In order to tell people how to get data from point A to point B you suddenly have to be a fiduciary financial adviser! We want to take that duty seriously and help people interact with the cryptocurrency ecosystem as a trusted adviser.

If we can help you customize and interact with smart contracts and plug them into existing regulatory frameworks, then we can unlock a lot of value for everyone.

mchusma5y ago

I still struggle with smart contracts. I am glad they exist, but right now I think they will be some super rare thing, used in cases that previously required eacrow.

I was in the e-signature world, and nobody tended to ever care about authentication. Nobody really wanted to pay for it, almost ever.

They smart contracts have 2 of the largest features of escrow: handing control of your money to a third party and not being able to use the money now/bad payment "terms". It mitigates some counterparty risk, as it's harder for the oracle themselves to steal the money.

It's also probably expensive, as oracles have to meditate disputes and take on risk.

So interesting, but unsure what it would be used for.

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