I first heard about Bitcoin in 2013.

A peer-to-peer electronic cash system.

Like most people, soon after I allowed myself to inquire and ponder - Bitcoin: A peer-to-peer electronic cash system - I quickly fell down the proverbial rabbit hole…

What is money, fundamentally? How can you have a unique, digital asset that cannot be copied like a photograph or music file? Anyone remember BitTorrent (or Kazaa)? You could copy anything on the internet : (“would you download a car?” ads).

So wait - if this is real - I’m not dreaming - What are the repercussions of a cheap, global money that cannot be stopped? Machines and robots that can programmatically allocate money? What new ideas will an, intelligent, artificial, permission-less system create?

The possibilities are seemingly endless. Or were they?

Bitcoin was such a new, creative, and interesting idea for me that it quickly consumed the majority of my thoughts. For months, dreams and ideas exploded in my mind. It drove me a little crazy but I couldn’t stop myself from thinking and reading as much as I could about Bitcoin. It was an insatiable, dare I say, insidious, idea that consumed my life. I had never experienced anything like that before and - it’s entirely possible - I never will again.

How often does any idea and a real working implementation come along that so effectively obliterates your concept of reality, about what’s really possible, that it inspires you to think {outside the box} about creatively new and exciting ways of using money. Money of the future.

It was so exciting watching Bitcoin grow from 2013 to 2015, watching other people learn about Bitcoin and see and hear their excitement, too. You would harass your friends incessantly about Bitcoin and the price - going to the m00n! - but they called you a crank and never bought it. (hindsight's a bitch, though, right?)

People tipped each other on forums - which, I ironically enough, is finally coming back.

Businesses started accepting bitcoin. Like BIG businesses. Going from alpaca sock sellers to underground, electronica drug markets to Overstock.com - Dell.com - …maybe Amazon?….

Exchanges were expanding. Some died. Some lost money. But the strong survived and if you survived you did great. The goal to survive was of utmost importance. But it was hard and temptations crept in or you lost faith.

But everything grew!

But, in 2016 and 2017, it was starting to become apparent that things were changing and momentum was wanning. People started thinking Bitcoin was originally designed to be a digital gold. A new-age precious metal.

It was becoming apparent the internal and diehard developers and supporters (like me) of the Bitcoin protocol started seeing separate visions of the way forward. A true split had developed in the community and only a true, hard, fork could solve it.

So Bitcoin split in two.

And that’s OK.

The two groups now have the opportunity to fully follow their vision and make it reality. Separately.

But this begs the question:

Which reality do we really want? A “Bitcoin: A peer-to-peer electronic cash system” OR a “Bitcoin: A digital gold Smaug hodling asset”?

Since Bitcoin hard forked into Bitcoin (SegWit) and Bitcoin Cash on August, 2017, I feel that that Bitcoin community finally has a chance to reduce the amount of infighting. We’re free to experiment with the different directions the projects have taken - a “digital gold” vision versus a “peer-to-peer electronic cash” vision.

So which is more fun?

I’m excited for Bitcoin Cash because of it’s vision is as a low fee, peer-to-peer , electronic cash system for everyone - the original vision that excited me so much to dream about Bitcoin and inspired me to imagine all the unprecedented, new, and revolutionary ways of using money.

Bitcoin Cash has once again sparked my creativity.

So, I thought it would be fun to share some Bitcoin Cash (BCH) ideas that were recently bouncing around in my head with you.

By the way, these are just ideas - you have some too! - so if your similar idea is better, GO FOR IT. Follow your vision.

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1.

As shown in the image above, one could create little paper wallet slips for tipping waiters or waitresses at restaurants. On the front of the paper slip, a public key QR code is shown where the customer can use their personal cellphone wallet to deposit any amount of BCH they wish to leave as a tip. You could also write the displayed amount on the outside.

On the inside of the paper slip, the corresponding private key is displayed for the waiter or waitress to redeem the tip later. What if the tip was later given to someone else? Maybe the chef for his delicious meal?

The paper wallet slip can be folded and protruding section of the edge can secure the slip closed via the opposite slit.

What I like about this idea is that it’s a very low tech solution to using Bitcoin Cash in restaurants.

Why does Bitcoin have be a high-tech, futuristic currency? What if it’s more like a peer-to-peer cash system?

The customer and waitress don’t have to interact with their cellphones or exchange face-to-face.

Of course, a thief could steal the paper wallet slip before the waiter or waitress retrieves it, but, these same risks exists for physical cash. Do you steal $10 tips from other tables?

(You do! You tried to steal from that private key! Jokes on you! It's not valid!)





2.

Undoubtedly, as Bitcoin Cash wallet solutions improve, a variety of wallets will be created for different uses.

The image above shows the transition of an individual’s personal funds from a Bitcoin Cash Wallet/Vault (cold storage), that they might keep at home, to a Bitcoin Cash Wallet (warm storage) that they might have on their cellphone for use during the day.

a) Morning: The individual has 20 BCH in their Vault (cold) and sends 3 BCH to their Wallet (warm).

b) Instead of storing the full 3 BCH as one output/amount in the Wallet, the Wallet’s software automatically divides this amount into smaller denominations. You can think of this like taking a $100 bill from your Vault and, instead of putting the $100 directly into your wallet, you are able to break this amount down into smaller denominational bills (five $1, three $5, $10, $20, $50).

c) During the afternoon shopping, these small denominations are used to purchase different goods and services (lunch, parking, and flowers)

d) At the end of the day, funds are sent from the Wallet back to the Vault for safe keeping.

There’s two things that I like about this idea.

One, it helps increase privacy by creating a lot of outputs. Movement of Bitcoin Cash is good because it increases pseudonymity. Were those bills paid out to myself, or were they payed out to another person? Just by looking at the blockchain, how would you know?

(Secretly there going to me …muAHAHA…!!!…)





2. It allows you to spend money fast. When you send a transaction, if it’s not the exact amount, you get change in return. This change is a part of the pending transaction waiting for confirmations to clear. You have to wait until it also confirms (6 confirmations used by most services) before you can use it.

Instead, this method better allows the ability to send the exact amount in some instances - $15 lunch? - and not have to wait for that transaction to end. You have another $15, maybe for second-lunch, already confirmed in the wallet ready to use.









3.

An electronic device is wrapped around a tree. Every year, or month, or week, the device awakens and searches for the frequencies from nearby individual’s cellphones that are using an app to sync with the device. The device divvies out a pre-set amount of BCH to each individual that participated. In a way, a reverse wishing fountain, that gives funds back to the local community.

I thought this was fun! What if you frequencied out and donated 1 whole BCH for a yearly project, of which 0.1 BCH was a given out per year (for 10 Years!) Just think of the price of 0.1 BCH at year 10!!

The Giving Tree.

At last, Bitcoin Cash’s low fees, and peer-to-peer global connectedness, offer amazing ways of radically transforming the concept of donations, giving, and community participation.





So...