Lightning based token system backed by real goods

[d5000]

Since several weeks an idea has been circulating in my mind: Basically it would be a new kind of "stablecoin", but not really a coin but a set of (smart) contracts. It would have a strong link to the "real" economy, but without any peg to a fiat currency, but to real goods and services.

Basically, the system would have two "layers".

Layer 1 would be smart-property tokens based on real goods. The idea is: Any entity that produces or sells something, can issue tokens to "pre-sell" them, and these can be traded on a DEX. All tokens would have a deadline when they have to be redeemed for real products.

For example, a business selling apples can issue a token for 1 kg apples, which will be delivered 1 year after the token issuance. Before this deadline, these tokens can be sold and traded.

It would be kind of a "poor man's futures market". The token issuers should be legally responsible for their pre-sales, so if they don't deliver the goods, customers should be able to sue them. So it's in their interest, if they want to sell their tokens, to provide measures to increase trust (e.g. a website with their address, informations about their business and other data). If well-known businesses would participate, the trust behind that could be even increased.

Layer 2 would be meta-tokens or basket tokens based on Layer 1 tokens. The idea is that the market participants could aggregate different Layer 1 tokens to a single one, which represents a basket of goods. For example, a token could include 100 kg apples from different providers, 500 kg of flour, 1 gallon of gasoline and 5 iPhones 12.

The reason behind that: As the system is basically trust-based - you must trust each token issuer - if you diversify, then your risk will be typically lower. So you can build "your own stablecoin" using a basket of goods, buying the different tokens and aggregate it. This task would typically be done by specialized people or businesses which know about the risks of the different token issuers.

Advantages

- For the token buyers: They can buy stable tokens deeply rooted in the local "real" economy. This could be, above all, an issue in countries with high inflation, like Venezuela or Argentina.
- For the token issuers: They would get access to capital in a cheap way, being able to sell their goods well in advance, with low interest rates. Even businesses which have normally no access to bank loans, or a very limited one, could rise funds this way, with a system which could lead to greater trust than regular ICOs.

Technical aspects

If it could be realized, I would prefer Lightning-based technology instead of Ethereum-style on-chain tokens, because it could be a very massive size which would overwhelm any blockchain, so I'm looking at the Bitcoin-based OmniBOLT technology for it.

Obviously one could ask: do we need a blockchain/Lightning for that? This could obviously also be realized in the form of a centralized platform. But a LN-based approach would reduce costs of the system, because otherwise there would have to be an operator responsible for the market/database's security, which would mean normally that fees would have been charged for the service.

I'm really interested in thoughts. Does this economically make sense? Is it total bullshit or could this be a good idea?

[1714049044]

1714049044

[Ucy]

It's actually one of the things that interest me most in Cryptocurrency. That is, buying tokens/coins backed by physical assets.
I prefer decentralized approach to this... so that people can actually own the physical goods immediately they buy their tokens on exchanges/platforms. For example, if you buy 10apple or a bad of rice, you are automatically given the address/location (with private keys) to redeem your goods. There could be some insured stores/warehouses closed to buyers locations where they can go pick up their locked goods whenever they want to.
 In times of serious crisis, goods could optionally be buried in the ground for buyers dig up.

[d5000]

I prefer decentralized approach to this... so that people can actually own the physical goods immediately they buy their tokens on exchanges/platforms. For example, if you buy 10apple or a bad of rice, you are automatically given the address/location (with private keys) to redeem your goods.

I don't understand exactly what you mean. I think you refer to the traditional smart property approach - for example, if you want to rent a car, you could buy an electronic item (message) which automatically would give you access to a code which opens the car. This is imo not really needed, as when you buy such an "access code" from the seller, the seller's administration system could also simply require a signed message with your private key for you to access the car.

But technical details aside, the approach I was thinking about is more about creating a futures market for merchants and producers that normally do not have access to them.

Imagine a small apple producer or bicycle manufacture being able to pre-sell his goods weeks or months in advance - this could make him more independent from bank loans.

The problem for that is obviously demand from consumers -  why should you buy a good now if you receive it in a couple of months? But for this kind of service exactly could be demand in countries like Argentina or Venezuela. People there are desperately searching for items to preserve value to escape inflation, and with this kind of token, as long as the token issuer doesn't go bankrupt, this would be the case. And to minimize exposure to single token issuers, the meta-tokens would be introduced which bundle risk.