Peer-to-peer smart asset exchange

There is a lot of talk in the media about BitCoin; but most of the discussion around the technology treats it as if it were only a currency.

In reality, it is actually a more general purpose technology; the first (and most common) application of which is as a currency.

In reality, the technology is actually about ownership -- without the need for a central authority of any kind. The decentralisation is considered a good thing, because a central authority necessarily creates a single point of failure; increasing systemic risks.

The same technology that underlies BitCoin can also be used to implement any system where ownership is a key concept.

Some people have put forward the idea of "smart property" where BitCoin-based tokens are used to denote ownership of (and control access to) physical goods. However, in my mind, the most obvious thing that springs to mind is stocks and shares, since they are (at least potentially) entirely electronic.

Now, obviously, real stocks and shares are heavily regulated, as is the trade in all financial instruments.

However, we could create something that acted in a somewhat analogous manner; excepting that all legal and contractual controls are replaced by cryptographic guarantees. (If we went down this route, we would have to be prepared to pause for a bit at some point to sort out the legal position; but others have done this sort of thing before, and it should not be too big a problem, as long as we show good faith and act with appropriate levels of probity).

Now it is not clear what form this might take.

Initially, I am imagining something like a BitCoin wallet that is controlled by a committee. Spending money requires a majority vote from the committee. Voting rights are controlled by tokens that can be bought and sold. All of the mechanics are implemented in a peer-to-peer manner; using similar technology to BitCoin itself. This would be somewhat crudely analogous to the way in which a private company operates, where the owners form a board of directors, who collectively have the final say over the company money is spent.

It would also be interesting to think about how we could implement bonds with BitCoin technology: I.e. create transactions today that are executed at some point in the future; regardless of the funds currently present in the wallet. (Digital I.O.Us.). This infrastructure could power lots and lots of interesting applications.

Finally, it would be good to think about peer-to-peer auction technology for arbitrary instruments. Obviously, we would need to tread carefully here, lest we end up facilitating trade in illegal goods (a-la-Silk Road) - but there are a ton of really interesting applications here - not least of which is the autonomous-vehicle-logistics leasing idea.