Thoughts on Gridcoin Value

This is my first post. I am an electronic engineer of the old school (still young at heart, but other parts are starting to creak). So, while I appreciate technology and see in it the solution to most problems, I have learned to be skeptical and developed a sensitive bubble detector (does not always work though).

I have recently discovered Gridcoin and think it is an ingenious idea. Use the idle processing power to do good AND be rewarded for doing so. Win-win! Most people want to do good and have computers that are not in use 24/7. It appears most Gridcoin miners are motivated by the do-good motive and see recognition by their peers as reward enough (the value of Gridcoins barely covers the electricity charges).

We need more mining. Some people need "encouragement" to unleash their good side. Sadly, this normally take the shape of material reward, aka money. So the challenge for us is how to make Gridcoins worth more. A good start is to give it some intrinsic real-world value. Easier said than done.

Before paper money gained acceptance, government gave it an intrinsic value. Initially by allowing people to use paper money to pay their taxes and later by making it legal tender, effectively forcing people to accept it (fiat money). We, the Gridcoin community, do not have this luxury, so creative thinking is needed.

I believe a good way to start is to encourage the academic institutions that use BOINC to require a certain number of Gridcoins to be paid upfront when students are applying for a post-graduate (ie, research intensive) place at such institutions. After all, some top universities expect applicants to certain courses to have done some volunteer work prior to applying. BOINCing is volunteer work and Gridcoin is the proof of having done so. Maybe the need to be seen to encourage volunteering will make other institutions (those not BOINCing) to also demand Gridcoins.

A shortcoming of the above is that lazy rich students can buy their Gridcoins instead of mining. While a negative, on balance this can be tolerated as it allows real volunteers to sell some of their Gridcoins and thus increasing the real-world value of Gridcoins. A safety net mechanism for those students who do not own computers (yes they exist) and cannot afford to buy Gridcoins can be provided by applying to faucets for their Gridcoins.

I know Gridcoins can be sold at exchanges now. I am worried that their price can collapse if (when?) the Bitcoin bubble bursts. Call me old-fashioned if you want, but I do not believe that spending millions and millions of dollars on equipment and electricity to generate a lot of hot air that is vented to the atmosphere is a sustainable business model or acceptable from an ethical point of view. Sooner or later someone will say that the emperor has no clothes. Gridcoins by contrast generate research and thus advance human civilization. The Gridcoin emperor has some clothes. Our challenge is to make sure his clothes can be seen by the public as real.

The above is a first draft idea and is short on implementation steps. I simply want to start a conversation on how to create real value for this specific cryptocurrency. I hope you can respond with your thoughts on this and also with any alternative ideas.

Happy mining.