From universal trustless authentication to decentralized autonomous organizations, Redditors discussed which use cases can increase the value of Ether.
While the drop in the price of Ether (ETH) over the weekend may have left investors worried about the digital asset, members of the community on Reddit held a discussion about Ethereum use cases that could drive the price of the asset up.
On the Ethereum subreddit, a Reddit user asked members of the community about ETH use cases that they believe are capable of boosting the asset’s market capitalization to $500 billion. Criticizing smart contract use cases for real estate, the Redditor noted that they have not seen a convincing case that it can solidify the value of ETH in a similar way to how Bitcoin (BTC) is seen as a replacement for gold.
A Debate Opens
Responding to the thread, Redditor WarhorseLand offered a rebuttal to the thread’s author’s perspective on smart contracts and real estate. According to WarhorseLand, although there have been no applications yet, the real estate sector can avoid “closing day transfer fraud” thanks to the security offered by smart contracts.
Additionally, WarhorseLand argued that trustless universal authentication is “the best use case” for smart contracts. The Redditor believes that if a use case emerges that allows people to prove who they are without a shadow of a doubt, it can spur positive price action for the digital asset.
Participating in the discussion, Reddit user SgtHappyPants mentioned several use cases, such as decentralized certifications and financial contracts. Additionally, the Reddit user highlighted the importance of decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs). According to the Reddit user, Ethereum is a global interaction platform that enables a new class of organizations.
In response to the thread, another participant compared Ethereum to popular platforms like Craigslist and Ticketmaster. The Reddit user mentioned that Ethereum can enhance those platforms by replacing third parties with the blockchain, allowing for secure transactions with lower fees.
Vitalik Buterin Takes Debate Further
Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin recently shared his thoughts on Blockchain use cases. In a blog post, Buterin mentioned non-financial applications such as data storage and retrieval and trust and censorship resistance. Apart from this, the founder of Ethereum also shared his opinion on the voting mechanisms that are ideal.
He claimed that distributed ledger technology can help with “really important goals like trust and censorship resistance, but sometimes purely for convenience.” In the document, he stated that “Blockchains as data stores” could be quite important in the grand scheme of things and that he hopes they will be used for “cheap and reliable data retrieval.”
Another potential use case that was discussed was open source metrics, a still-nascent concept that would allow diversity and decentralization to be measured.
Vitalik, however, cautioned that he had, “a great deal of uncertainty as to what level of non-financial Blockchain use in each of these categories makes sense, but it seems clear that Blockchain as an enabling tool should not be dismissed.”
By Audy Castaneda
