Bitcoin’s Killer Apps – A Look Into the FutureWhat might they look like? Here are a few examples:
1. Digital resources – like energy, bandwidth, storage, and computation – will be allocated to the connected devices and services that need them through efficient bitcoin-based marketplaces. Load your smart phone with bitcoin, and it will automatically purchase access to the least expensive WiFi hotspots as you roam Paris. And one day, your phone could pay for itself by selling connectivity back into a mesh network, similar to how solar panels can sell energy back to the power grid today.
2. Immersive virtual worlds accessed through devices like the Oculus Rift will have bitcoin-based economies, meaning there will be no bright dividing lines between where these virtual economies end and the real world economy begins. People will walk virtual pets to earn money for a flesh-and-blood Chihuahua. Teens will become millionaires for projects they launch in virtual worlds (sneak preview: today’s YouTube stars and League of Legends players you’ve never heard of). As the size of these virtual world economies grow, currencies that don’t cross over easily, like Euros, will feel antiquated.
3. Synthetic versions of financial assets will be traded on the block chain, reducing default risk, increasing transparency, and providing universal access to financial instruments. Farmers will buy crop futures they couldn’t previously access. Better still, smart farms will automatically buy and sell hedging contracts throughout the season using data about soil, weather, yields, and prices.
4. Artistic works will flourish as digital content gets pre-funded through tips from patrons and then purchased in tiny increments when consumed through metered players. Original digital works will be bought and sold by tracking ownership and provenance on the block chain.
5. Bitcoin will allow people to own more income-producing assets and less unproductive stuff. The block chain will reduce the friction of share issuance and ownership, allowing us to be stakeholders in entities, large and small, that we care about and contribute to. And the trend toward shared usage of “things” – cars, computers, living space – will accelerate when the objects themselves become self-sustaining economic units.
http://www.coindesk.com/bitcoins-killer-apps-look-future/i like the second one
....actually its amazing when you think of this. a virtual economy. "second life 2.0" with oculus rift and bitcoin-based money.
