[ThrustVectoring]

Smart contracts absolutely can, just like regular contracts can. A bank granting a line of credit backed by future sales unsold gas station inventory is money showing up from 'thin air'. Move that to a smart contract and you've got money - that is, a promise to deliver future real value - getting generated.

[Retric]

Try and write a loan on Etherium via a smart contract.

I apply, get eth, cashing out by selling it to someone else, then get hit by a buss or just ignore you.

Now, in what way can the system enforce that loan?

If you can get the eth from someone that gave me money then they are not going to give me money in the first place. If you say, sue someone in the real world that's fine. But, the smart contract did not actually do anything. If you say I need to put up eth as collateral then you did not give me a loan.

[jessaustin]

I don't know much about ETH, but would it be possible to write a contract using an escrow concept? I.e., there would be a wallet that eventually would pay out to one party in one circumstance, and to some other party in some other circumstance. (If you want to get complicated, it could even blend payouts among multiple parties.) We wouldn't have to trust you not to get hit by a bus, because the value wouldn't be in your wallet.

If they went to the work of creating digital contracts and didn't consider escrow, that seems to be a fairly significant omission.

[Retric]

If the value is not in my wallet then how do I get cash to pay for a house etc.

Escrow accounts are fine if I am doing contracting work, but that are not a loan.

[jessaustin]

Ah, ok, I think now I better understand the point you made above. I can accept that value per se is only created by one or more parties, but the coin itself can make it easier for them to do so profitably.

[ThrustVectoring]

How is this any different than someone trying to get a loan from a bank without providing their identity?