So it's not actually an API - rather a centralised site for handling ebay-style reputations? With an API?

The core philosophy to this looks to me like an attempt to de-anonymise the currency (and I'm not sure that that is a good thing) by putting all participating payments through a central system (and I'm not sure that's a good thing) in a non open-source/transparent way (and we all know that's a bad thing)... for money.


Bitcoin could really do with some system that allows people to build an ecosystem of applications on top of it... but it needs to be something like The Apache Foundation, rather than someone who looks like they're operating out of a rented mailbox, with a website with self-referencing links embedded in the page - presumably to trick google.


What we need is:


Open-Source
Free
Decentralised


And not just for the simple fact that we don't want another MtGox-style, opaque, single-point of failure going tits-up on us... but also because of the spirit of the thing. The currency itself should be optimised for scarcity, the supporting infrastructure should not be.