Steem Account Gift Certificates Idea
In cryptography, a nonce is a random code (similar to a private key) which can be used only once, and after that is not valid for the purpose is has been given. These are often employed in authentication processes.
What if there was a mechanism in the Steem blockchain whereby a 'nonce' could be purchased (using Steem)? Upon the presentation of this token to the Steemit website a new account would be created to the same value.
A Steem account for holding the unredeemed nonce balance would have to be created, and transfers to and from this would be administered only by the Steem blockchain logic with help from steemit.com (or others front-ends).
The Steem community could then easily buy these tokens for their friends, and send them, either on paper as a nicely presented gift-certificate, or just through an email link.
Of course, currently Steem holders can create new accounts for their friends (if they know how), and send them the password/keys, but this assumes an unecessary degree of knowledge and trust between them which this token based approach elegantly removes.
It would increase demand for Steem, and no secondary market would be likely to appear, as these tokens couldn't be easily traded.
The blockchain logic could execute a simple smart contract to automate the return of any unused token balances after say 28 days, at which time the nonce is invalidated. This would avoid the build up of funds in the account, which could potentially destabilise Steem.
Less then a year ago, I didn't understand anything about practical cryptographic systems, so I could be missing something that makes it impractical, or maybe it's been presented before somewhere, but it might be a good idea, so I thought I'd share it.
I'd appreciate any thoughts though either way.
You're thinking of paper wallets. Instead of a nonce, the gift certificate would have a private key for a new Steemit account with a balance corresponding to the stated value on the cert.
Given how Steemit works, it would be more complicated than for a regular cryptocurrency but it could be done.
Ok. Perhaps I'm not familiar with the terminology, but I was thinking that after it was used it would expire. In this way the recipient would know that the accounts keys weren't already compromised, when they received them. I do have a lot to learn about this stuff though, so thanks for the link.
In Win administration, and I think most Linux Distros, you can prompt the user to change their password at next login. Applying that same policy here, would secure the account.
That's true, but I guess to setup the account in advance, the account name would need to be specified rather than allowing the recipient to choose their own preferred name. The implementation would be much easier though.
Glad to! It took me a long time before I learned, too. We can't all be cryptography experts. :)
@nxtblog I am certainly no IT expert and proudly remind people daily LOL
Dropped by to say thanks for the vote today it is appreciated.
Commented here on the idea in the post too. Very neat idea.
Have a good one and thanks again.
Good idea.
Even if ideas are not perfect when they come out, things like this are a nice jumping off point.
Good on ya.
This is actually a really clever idea. I like where you're going with it...although, some will not ever cash in. So I guess Steemit could just take the floating cash. It wouldn't have to go back to the buyer. Although that would be more consumer-friendly. Maybe it could go into the buyer's account as SP or something, after a certain period of time.
So the nonce would be purchased at point of sale for $20, but the interest would increase as though the account already existed. And that would go to the new owner in SBD for the current value of SBD at point of redemption, or it would go to the person who purchased it, for current value of SP at point of redemption.
Does that make sense???
So it would say something like:
"This voucher will allow you to claim a Steem account purchased for $20. Go to this link and find out if your value has grown, and cash in before it's too late!"
Like you say (in the other comment) maybe 28 days is too little, but I think it's fairer for them to be refunded after that period rather than added to a treasury of some kind.
I like the temptation component of the 'go and find out how much it's worth' thing!
Hey @andybets i just want to thank you for the tools you have put together which i have bookmarked on my laptop. i joined as a saxophonist /marketer very new still so im still getting my head around everything but inviting a lot of people . I am going sound dumb asking this but here goes im here to learn but is it only knew people that can take advantage of this gift certificate and would I be able to use this for the new people I introduce. Making my list of the big whales I need to learn from so anything I can learn from you so i can share it on would be really good of you thanks again :)
What is the concept behind it. Looking to speak about it soon.
Its an idea at the moment bro but a good one :)
Hi man, this is just an idea at this stage, not something that we can actually do on Steemit currently. If somebody did implement it, then yes, it would be used to get other people on to the platform. Just for info, whales are users with lots of Steem Power, so I'm certainly not a whale! ;)
You are asking for a smart contract to be created.
And we don't have the structure built for it. Not that we couldn't.
So, how would you do the logic?
If the person receives the paper, and starts their account, everything is fine.
(except for the when. When does the money leave the donating account?)
If the person doesn't start an account (for whatever reason, like the paper being lost, eatten by a dog, forgotten...) then what do you do with the money? When do you decide that the number is no longer valid? If you took the money out of the account, the money then has to be returned, once and only once. (which is a programming pain in the ass)
If someone steals the nonce, what do you do?
The same as, if someone tries to use the nonce twice?
There are just a lot of places where they hand over fails. And every potential break in the logic has to be taken care of in code. Remember, there is nobody at 1-800-steemit that can help you get your nonce / steem back.
I guess it kind of depends on the definition of smart contracts. I'd say the Steem platform could possibly be viewed as a collection of smart contracts already, so this would be an addition to them.
When the existing Steem account holder buys the token, their Steem is transferred to the holding account, and when the token is redeemed the logic looks up token a hash of the token in the blockchain, debits the holding account, and credits the new account with the same amount. If I knew C++, I'd have a go at implementation, but having looked at the steemd code, it'd take me too long to figure out.
As I say, if after 28 days the token isn't redeemed, the funds are returned to the account that purchased the token. Yes, if it's stolen, it's no better than cash.
I say 3 months. Some people are slow. Think of it as a regular gift card. Sometimes we just don't get around to using it.
Wasn't there an American company that created Steem gift certificates but lost them on the way to Steemfest 2?
Oh, was there? Sounds interesting.
A service could certainly sell such giftcards, even if we didn't implement them as intended here. It would be very neat being able to hand out cards to friends and relatives.
Oh man even better you are song writer-singer awesome cant wait to link up :)