Brainstorming time, Bitcoin's future killer app

Editor's note: This article is translated from the official blog of Coinbase. Recently, Coinbase held a brainstorming meeting to explore the killer applications of Bitcoin. What applications of Bitcoin are worth exploring and possible? Let's take a look at the conclusions drawn by Coinbase.

Recently, we have started to think more about what the future applications of Bitcoin will be like.

So far, Coinbase has been focused on making it easier for people around the world to buy or sell Bitcoin, which is a necessary component of the ecosystem and we will continue to move forward in this regard. However, the applications that build on this foundation will be our next focus.

Recently, a small group of people at Coinbase held a brainstorming session to discuss what the killer applications of Bitcoin would be. Here are a few ideas that surfaced:

Bitcoin Browser : This is a web browser with a built-in Bitcoin wallet, which can unlock new applications. Micro-transactions have made great progress on mobile phones because payments are built-in by default, so what if web browsers also have similar functions? This idea has been conceived a long time ago, but it has never been used. Today, there are considerable obstacles to accessing our credit cards on every website we visit. This has led to a large number of advertising businesses on the Internet.

Mobile micropayment service : A mobile app that allows people around the world to make money with their phone number would be powerful. In the future, many people may get their first bits as income, rather than by purchasing. In today's world, almost everyone has a mobile phone (even in developing countries). Perhaps, if we can connect those who have a lot of time but are not rich, we can make a more efficient global economy.

BTML (a new markup language) or IDE (integrated developer environment) for developers : TCP/IP (the backbone of the internet) is a low-level binary protocol (and Bitcoin is similar). But the web didn’t flourish until HTML (the basic language of the web) was invented. Perhaps Bitcoin needs a similar, higher-level abstraction on top of the protocol to provide something for people to sell or complete transactions. Similarly, a big reason why there are so many apps on the iOS operating system is that Apple created the XCode integrated development environment, which is an excellent IDE for developers to build iPhone apps. But currently, Bitcoin doesn’t seem to have an equivalent editor that allows people to write Bitcoin scripts (or share them like GitHub Gists). Perhaps by building better Bitcoin development tools, we will usher in a new wave of applications.

Decentralized e-commerce platforms : An e-commerce service that lets anyone in the world sell to a global consumer base from their desktop or mobile phone is a big idea. Some services are already making strides (OpenBazaar, for example), but simple and intuitive interfaces will be crucial (to make it easy for mainstream non-technical users to use).

Remittance apps : These are apps that make sending money cheaper, faster, and more accessible through the Bitcoin payment network, without the user realizing they are using Bitcoin (e.g. Abra).

B2B cross-border payment service : A service that uses the Bitcoin payment network to make B2B cross-border payment services faster, cheaper, and more secure (such as Align Commerce).

P2P data sharing : Use Bitcoin to incentivize people to run nodes and share data on P2P networks (such as Joystream). Currently, most nodes are run altruistically (without financial incentives). When you add financial incentives, the Bitcoin network has the potential to grow into a more powerful decentralized network.

Reddit uses Bitcoin : Reddit uses the concept of "honor points", but what would happen if these points were replaced with bits? People could earn Bitcoins by posting high-quality posts or comments. Many different global communities could emerge, and communities would be global (such as Zapchain).

Interest-bearing applications : Allowing people to earn Bitcoin interest by providing network resources (such as the Lightning Network).

Machine-to-Machine (M2M) Payment Protocol : A payment protocol to establish an Internet of Things protocol.

The most surprising result of the brainstorming was that when we gathered in the room, everyone had a different idea of ​​what Bitcoin's first killer application would be. This highlights the power of an open value transfer protocol. Bitcoin does not improve existing payment and settlement systems, making them faster, cheaper, and more global, but it enables many applications, consumer behaviors, and business models that did not exist before.

While this was a great brainstorming session, we also realize that we are just a small group. We would love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to share your thoughts on our Twitter or on the community site.

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Original article: https://blog.coinbase.com/2015/10/25/bitcoin-killer-apps/
Author: Coinbase
Compiled by: Satuoxi
Editor: Satuoxi
Source (translation): Babbitt Information