We stopped trying to solve real-world problems. I think I am fed up and will do something about it.
I think there's a deeper problem. Altcoin projects in particular between 2017 and 2021ish tried to convince people that blockchain was a kind of magical tool that could solve a lot of real life problems. Not only of financial nature, but also for communication (e.g. Steem[it], but also these logistics blockchains for example nobody speaks about anymore ...).
But blockchain's use cases are actually quite limited. Outside of finance, traditional centralized models perform much better, or alternatively a P2P network without blockchain is enough in applications where the double spend problem is irrelevant (e.g. social networks).
Even in finance, most problems can't be solved by blockchains. In 2017/18 several projects tried to "solve the loan problem". Yes, we have now DeFi "lending", but you have to overcollateralize everything, so this kind of loans simply aren't adequate for most cases where people or businesses need a loan. Normally if you need a loan you don't have money - but for a DeFi loan you need to possess that money already. ICOs still seem to be the closest thing to a real loan you can get.
So I would be curious where you would innovate in today's crypto space? Which real life problems do you have in mind? I don't rule out there are some use cases that have been underexplored, but in general I'm a bit pessimistic.
My block reward algorithm is different because it doesn’t rely on a rigid block reward schedule that was decided years in advance. Instead, it looks at what is actually happening in the mining environment over both shorter and longer periods and adjusts the reward gradually. It does this by using endogenous metrics but I will leave you to surmise which one is the most important, critical, or usable. I still want to play things close to the vest for now. I am finishing up production code over the following days and then I will enter testing. At any rate, there are still strict limits on how much it can change, so it isn’t unpredictable, but it also isn’t blind to changes in technology or mining conditions.
The main problem I’m trying to solve is long-term network security. Mining hardware, energy efficiency, competition, and the overall cost of securing a network can change dramatically over decades. A fixed reward schedule assumes those conditions will somehow line up with a predetermined curve forever. My algorithm tries to avoid that problem by keeping miner incentives connected to real mining conditions, while using smoothing, adjustment limits, and a permanent reward floor to prevent extreme changes. The idea is to give the network a more sustainable security budget over the long term rather than eventually relying almost entirely on transaction fees.
I also think of it as being somewhat similar to gold production. Gold supply doesn’t suddenly get cut in half every four years because a schedule says so. Production changes as mining technology improves, deposits become harder to extract, costs change, and miners respond to those conditions. My algorithm takes some inspiration from that idea: the supply is still scarce and governed by rules, but the rate of new production can respond to the real-world economics of mining instead of following an arbitrary timetable forever.
The algorithm may also make the coin more price-stable to a degree, but the simulations show it can only absorb a modest rise in price during bull runs but comparatively more during severe bear markets. I am hesitant to definitively say it works in this way because simulations do not always play out perfectly in the real world. Every simulation is only as good as its initial parameters and there are near-infinite parameters once it's out in the wild.
