(Originally posted in Alternate Cryptocurrencies forum)
I would love to see a P2P currency work, but I have serious doubts about current-day P2P currencies.
The most important thing any currency needs is (at the very least) day-to-day stability of value, and no P2P currency that I know about has that yet.
The best way to create day-to-day stability would be to peg the value of the currency to a big currency or a basket of currencies, which is what most developing and/or small countries do--at least until the currency is stable enough to be allowed to float.
I don't think it would be technically simple to create a P2P currency that works that way.
That being said, does anyone know of a P2P currency that pegs its value right now?
The mechanics of maintaining a currency peg call for control of the currency being pegged, control which is naturally absent in a true P2P currency.
Your best bet is to look into faux P2P currencies, currencies that try to capture some of the value of decentralisation while making concessions for some specific purpose. NoFiatCoin, for example, operates in a P2P fasion (based in Ripple) but is backed by gold.