At the beating heart of the ephemeral, organic spirit we call value, lies agreement. Without at least two people agreeing on the value of an object or service, there is no value.
The largest most expensive diamond in the world had absolutely zero value until their were human beings around to agree that it was worth anything at all.
It seems the Steem Backed Dollar is a shining example of this contract of agreement we call value. Strictly speaking the SBD isn't actually a cryptocurrency in its own right.
It is in fact a smart contract led container, that is to say there is a promise from the Steem blockchain, to always have at least $1 USD worth of Steem inside ever SBD.
For more explanation on this, check out this parody video which explains it perfectly.
For now though, let us ponder that thing we call, value.
The Smartest Of Contracts
It appears that a number of people have agreed that Steem Dollars are worth roughly $8 USD. This agreement is significant in that it truly announces Steem Dollars as a cryptocurrency in its own right.
This is because like most other cryptos, Steem Dollars suffered a dip recently. I, and many others felt that this dip could signify SBD falling back down to its true value of one American dollar's worth of Bitcoin.
However, like most other cryptocoins, SBD has bounced back to near its previous pre-slump levels. What this indicates, is that there is enough agreement in the market to raise its value.
What Is Intrinsic?
It could be argued that SBD has an intrinsic value of 1 USD simply because the currency can almost never be worth less than approximately that amount.
However that is a value in itself, if you know an asset will always be worth at least something no matter what, then that gives you a certain amount of knowledge of risk.
So now the intrinsic value doesn't lie in the numbers, it is held in the concept. Perhaps this is the most sophisticated part of human economics, the fact that we can somehow quantify conceptual terms, and then value them.
Value Actions
It would seem to me like the blockchain has allowed us to further this concept and take it to places it has never been before.
If we can attribute value to conceptual ideas, then so too can we do so with actions in the real world that traditionally hold little immediate value.
For instance, there is the coin, I believe it is called Denta, which will reward people for dentist visits and generally keeping their teeth clean.
Of course good oral hygiene has subjective benefits, however it benefits society as a whole, in that services are not strained and knock on health effects will be apparent as well.
So perhaps in the next few years we will see more community coins that take real world actions, and give their value a figure in the shape of tradeable tokens.
Addressing The Four Term Problem
I have long since dreamed of a community coin, one whose value is connected to work done in the community at large.
That work could be anything from painting a neighbour's fence, to building a hospital. Especially those things that need doing, that end up getting overlooked because their possible completion does not fall within a four year election cycle.
Perhaps the community coin, is actually more of a society coin, one that reacts to what society holds dear, essentially reflecting what we value as a community.
Hats Off To The Future
I don't know when or how this will happen, however when I see things like the Steem Park, and other Steem-based initiatives happening all over the world, I can see that we will get there.
One thing is for sure, is that we are creating a new economy, coming from us it will naturally reflect competition and self-interest. However I feel this new economy, will better reflect value, and that is good news for us all.
WHAT DO YOU THINK; HOW DO YOU MEASURE VALUE AND AT WHAT POINT DOES VALUE SPREAD BEYOND A SMALL NICHE INTO THE WORLD AT LARGE? IN FACT; WHAT IS VALUE TO YOU? AS EVER, LET ME KNOW BELOW!