[seibelj]

Blockchain allows you to run certain types of programs in a purely decentralized manner. You can create a smart contract and allow anyone to use it, and pay for its operation, forever into the future without maintaining any infrastructure. The user pays.

The use cases are novel and not necessarily directly applicable to current problems, just as the Internet was novel and required entrepreneurs to invent new business models.

But let’s imagine you created a new protocol for email. You decide that all emails in the new protocol require the use of a token. You are now incentivizing early users to bootstrap, improve, develop, and promote the protocol. What was previously unfundable is now profitable.

I’m only scratching the surface, but with some imagination you can see how “not crazy” this is.

[epanchin]

Much easier to charge users using their own credit cards. Don’t see what crypto is solving here?

In your email example, what is the advantage to you over charging a subscription? How do you create ongoing revenue?

[seibelj]

No one profited from the creation or success of the SMTP protocol except those who created services that operated on top of it.

Similarly, someone creates a new open-source project and AWS hosts it and earns all the money.

Blockchain allows you to create protocols that actually profit as more people use the base layer. This is a brand new thing.