I have been promoting an idea about our community developing a parallel network to Autonomi with a native token, whatever that native token might mean.
The idea would be to create an in-network token, that can be used to pay for node runners in exchange for storage space. My hope is that with this kind of token the network would at least:
- Perform better: quicker, cheaper.
- Retain it’s own value. Not paying for any third parties, like blockchains for their fees. All value would circulate inside the network.
- Be easier to approach. No need for blockchain & other cryptocurrency hurdles. Just run nodes and earn. Or receive some tokens from other users.
- Be more private. The token would not need to be traceable.
On top of those, there might come other kind of benefits, for example ways to design whole new use cases around affordable micro payments etc.
In my opinion, the goal is not to compete with Autonomi network, but to design a different kind of network, that serves partly different, and partly overlapping functions and audiences. Should the network turn out fine, Autonomi could of course apply the parts of it that may suit their situation.
Also I think that it could be healthy for the community to engage in this kind of endeavor - to take a lead in a matter that we find important (if we find that important), instead of trying to make Autonomi to fulfill our wishes. At this point it seems that the native token is not a high priority for them (see the link and/or quote below.) And there are good reasons for them to think that way. Should the priority get higher, they would surely benefit from our experiments.
My vision for the way forward is to just start some sort of a community test network with a very low bar. It does not need to be a large one, and it does not need be very good from the beginning. It would be just so nice to get to try out how the native tokens would work, and to see if the gains in performance and usability really are that great that we imagine them to be. We really haven’t had working uploads with native tokens as the payment method. Now that the uploads are pretty stable, it would be great to see what difference the native token would make.
Also, I would not worry about if and how the network token would be exchanged to any sort of money or cryptocurrency. Let’s just test something on technical level first. If the network grows to be something useful, I think that money will find it’s way.
I personally cannot program, but I can help with testing and I can run some nodes. So the way forward is dependent on other members of our community, perhaps mainly @loziniak, @riddim, @Traktion, @happybeing, or maybe @rreive, @oetyng or @mav? Does any of you find this idea worthwhile of your effort? If not, no problem, I totally understand that you may have other priorities, and I totally don’t understand the magnitude of work that might be involved. 
On the other hand, if any of you would like to take steps to make this comnet a thing, please share you ideas! What would be best way forward? What kind of token would be good first candidate to try out?
For a context, my initiative for this action was brought up by David’s views that he expressed on Discord and that I quoted in the thread linked below.
Other links:
