ZeroCash: How In The World Is That Possible?

5 min readJan 17, 2019

In a previous blog post on ZeroCash or crowdfunding 4.0, we discussed some radical challenges to the established principles of economics. Although proof of concept was presented, but for some, question still remains: how in the world is that possible? We try to further simplify the answer in this article.

**ZeroCash: How In The World Is That Possible?**

This is how ZeroCash was defined:

“Decentralized, incentivized and equitable sharing and monetization of influence amongst peers for raising funds for novel projects without anyone actually having to pay anything for it in monetary terms.”

Human Interactions — Are They Worth Anything?

Every human interaction carries a potential worth & influence that can be monetized to a value that a given economy can support. Whether it is social interaction with peers or interaction with or within one’s own ecosystem there is always a cost that someone has to bear. For example a simple need to physically move from point A to point B, or to exchange assets between peers costs. If a third party steps in to facilitate that interaction it bears that cost, but recovers the cost plus profit based on a price that the beneficiary is willing to pay depending on a value perceived by the beneficiary. This is how economics plays out at micro level. Most social interactions recognized by sociologists can be classified in one of the five common categories: exchange, competition, conflict, cooperation, and accommodation. Each of those human interactions whether termed as transactions, contracts, events, occurrences or shares, can become economic activity that can be facilitated by a third party for a price. In a typical legacy system that price determines the value of that interaction, which the third party service/product provider monetizes. However, the third party appropriates or consumes all of the monetized value without sharing it with those who actually created that value.

Yes, as much as we may not realize, as menial things as social media sharing, liking, or voting may carry value that can be monetized. In fact that’s where all the billions that Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Instagram, etc make, comes from, and that too without creating any content of their own.

**Creating Value Out Of Human Interactions:** Legacy Systems Appropriate It, But ZeroCash Shares It Equitably With Peers

If a new technology eliminates the third party, the price that the third party provider places on it comes down, but the value essentially remains the same as long as the legacy system remains in existence.

For example if blockchain’s decentralization, as in ZeroCash, eliminates the third party, it brings down the transaction cost, say from $10 to $1, leaving a residual value of $9 as surplus. That surplus value can be distributed as incentive amongst the participants who play key roles in running and fueling the system.

Thus, ZeroCash also monetizes the value, but unlike legacy systems, shares it equitably with peers.

Chain Reaction: Surplus Value Creates Assets & Vice Versa

Creating Surplus Value & Equitably Sharing It As Asset Has Domino Effect

The term value signifies the benefits that a customer gets from a product or a service. It is the difference between the benefits (sum of tangible and intangible benefits) and the cost. Once we understand that an efficient decentralized platform can generate surplus value, which can be redistributed amongst peers to incentivize their participation in the system, we can fathom how value generates tokenized assets (crypto), and assets in turn create more value to be shared amongst all creating a Win-Win situation for all participants that sets in the domino effect.

Influence Fuels It, While Blockchain & AI Enable It

Build up of tokenized asset creates or boosts influence of participating peers, and that influence further fuels the tokenomics by staking the intrinsic influence and adding extrinsic influence.

INFLUENCE within a decentralized ZeroCash ecosystem implies the authority of a participating peer quantified and tokenized by means of the quantum of stake the peer holds in his or her account on the ZeroCash platform.

Peers Can Tokenize Their Influence To Become Influencers

A peer’s tokenized influence can be measured in terms of one or more of the following intrinsic or extrinsic assets:

i) cryptocurrency tokens staked,

ii) hashing power deployed,

iii) reputation scores achieved,

iv) intellectual property owned, and,

iv) activities conducted within the ecosystem.

Enabling ZeroCash With Blockchain and AI

For full effective implementation of ZeroCash two technologies play key role: Blockchain ( DLT) for decentralization and currency creation, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) for:

a) perfecting the dynamics of blockchain consensus algorithm,

b) operating the influence monetization protocol, and,

c) managing the subtleties of currency creation and supply.