Quote from: Stephen Gornick on July 23, 2011, 02:22:28 AM

Quote from: Zerbie on July 23, 2011, 01:41:26 AM

Instead, make a modified system of contract ownership that can be traded through a blockchain accounting system.

Are you aware of Open Transactions?
- http://en.bitcoin.it/wiki/Open_Transactions
- http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=20425.0

Also:
- http://forum.bitcoin.org/index.php?topic=28841.0

Yes. Sorta like those.

I envision a tradeable contract. For example... I create the following text and then sign it with my private key

-------------
Zerbie Contract #: 0000153

I promise to ship the owner of this contract $1 in 90% U.S. coins anywhere in the continental United States.

To redeem, contact me at:

Signed...
PGP key for Zerbie@bitcoin.org
-------------

Now I do an md5sum and attach it to the block chain in one of my BinCoin wallets. Note that it does not have the text, but simply shows that I own the thing that has the given md5sum. (Add more checksums to be sure...) Now I go and sell this contract to whomever trusts me enough to give me BTC for it. If my reputation is good, I'll get a good price for the contract.

When I find a buyer, the buyer will give me his email address and his BTC address. I will send the text of the contract to him as well as opening my wallet and sending him the ownership of the md5sum I created to show the ownership. The buyer can then do the same for successive buyers of the contract.

When the final owner wishes to redeem the contract, he contacts me, then sends me ownership of the md5sum to show that he owns it and is now redeeming it. I then take his shipping address and send him the silver.

NOTE: A more advanced system would store the contract distributively so everyone can see the text of the contract and there is no need to ship the text via email.

If my reputation is world rewound, then my contracts will trade for a premium. If my reputation is shaky, my contracts will trade for a discount, and will probably be redeemed quickly.