Can someone please answer a Counterparty (XCP) question for me?

[cubicdissection]

I'm very interested in the new Counterparty technology given the successful burn period of XCP.  I've been reading everything I can find on it, and I understand how it's an information layer built on top the BTC protocol, and can be used for betting and issuing "shares", etc.  However I'm still foggy on a lot of details and I can't seem to find a clear, dummies style explanation of the tech.  Could someone help an idiot like me with some basic questions?

One thing I don't understand is how the value of an individual unit of XCP is determined.  I know right now it's trading at a certain amount relative to BTC based on scarcity since the burn period is over.  Down the road will it trade on utility (i.e. I need one intact unit of XCP to issue shares in my company) or will the value be determined by the assets that it backs?

[kdrop22]

You can use both XCP and BTC within the platform. However, for technical reasons only XCP can be used for carrying out certain type of transactions -
a) dividends
b) bets
c) betting fees.
Also, XCP based orders for buy/sell are more efficient as the protocol can automatically escrow the funds. The demand for these transactions will ensure the value of XCP.

[counter]

I myself have many questions about xcp but I'm learning alot about.  Hopefully others will come here and add to the thread some knowledge.  Just got the rundown on this coin and my interest is officially peeked.

[farro92]

Someone said you could use a normal bitcoin wallet address for counterparty, but you must own the wallet, so you cannot use a bitcoin address from an exchange.

Do we still have to download a counterparty client to use it?

[kdrop22]

Someone said you could use a normal bitcoin wallet address for counterparty, but you must own the wallet, so you cannot use a bitcoin address from an exchange.

Do we still have to download a counterparty client to use it?

Yes, right now you need to download Bitcoin-QT and the Counterparty client to use it.
There is a Counterparty webwallet, which is currently on the Testnet right now. By April 5th, we should have the WebWallet on the mainnet.