[vlovich123]

I'm still not sure I understand the revenue stream. Stock generally is a bet on the future value of the company. That value is derived from the business itself (revenues, costs, new business markets, etc). If a company isn't actually taking in any revenue, what's it paying payroll with? The alt coin they created and trading amongst third parties? Are they taking a cut of this? Or just constantly selling more of their coin reserves once it appreciates?

Generally even loss-leading plays that try to create a huge community before monetization still have plans to monetize that community. I asked how this is different from a pyramid scheme/Ponzi scheme. I don't feel like you actually addressed this point. How will ShapeShift make money on connecting these users in a way that doesn't require following KYC rules?

[simon_kun]

I'm by far not an expert in this space, but governance coins can also be utility coins - eg provide you with certain rights to use a service, or use a service at a discount or priority in some way ( eg. see Celsius). In this way, the coins circulate and can be used as a form of payment in an alternative to fiat but that were originally bought with fiat (similar to tokens at a laundromat). Overall, I recommend you look into DeFi for a few examples of this (eg Uniswap, Celsius)