Highly recommend Artemis, a novel by @andyweirauthor (The Martian). It weaves together a vision of a lunar economy structured around a token ("slug") which is actually backed by real-world utility in the context of the book
cc @Melt_Dem @mdudas @wmougayar @KyleSamani @zaoyang
cc @Melt_Dem @mdudas @wmougayar @KyleSamani @zaoyang
SLG: Soft landed grams ("slugs"). One slug gives the ability to get 1 gram of cargo transported from Earth to the Artemis lunar colony on proprietary (KSC) spaceships. Cargo is valued, thus ability to transport cargo is valued, and this is what all of Artemis wants.
Andy Weir calculated that 1 slug = 6 USD "..it ends up costing around $7,000 per person to go into low Earth orbit, and $35 per kilogram for freight. Add another $160 per kilogram to soft-land on the surface of the moon.
".. Add it all together, and the cost per gram for getting something–a person or an object–landed on the moon can be calculated as an SLG. " fastcompany.com/40494297/70000…
Everybody on Artemis earns and spends in slugs. Whether you are a delivery driver or a welder, you earn in slugs. People spend in slugs as well: rent a bed (eg 8000 slugs/month), or a bathroom, or buy a beer.
Slug is a true utility token: In many respects, if Artemis is simply another country, then slug is its currency, tradable against other currencies like USD, EUR etc. Sure there will always be FX traders, but the primary purpose of the slug is to help the people on Artemis cohabit
This, is how markets need to be designed. Key question which needs to be answered is:what does 1 unit of this token actually represent in both USD and in the new system ?
A token for the heck of it is just code, which is worthless based on the act of creation/sale/distribution
A token for the heck of it is just code, which is worthless based on the act of creation/sale/distribution
