Is Ethereum actually being used for something meaningful?
(I guess in a way though Ethereum found its first killer app, pure currency speculation/appreciation. That gives it time and money to find something more useful.)
https://etherdelta.github.io - decentralized exchange is getting decent volume. Ironically the hacker dumped the veri tokens there.
https://ethlance.com - freelancer market. Looks like a place where once can earn Ether for coding in Solidity and related gigs.
http://ens.domains - .eth domain registry. Highly successful, will be integrated into the upcoming 'mist browser' release, plus a few other places (wallets & exchanges) support it already. Over 133k names registered.
Probably more I've missed.
Btw, full ENS stats here https://ens.codetract.io
Or simply curious people trying something new. I know I registered a name for fun, and there was quite a bit of curious interest in tech circles in my area (even outside of cryptoanarchists types).
But then, for the moment most people see ICANN regulation as okay. Maybe if that changes, a distributed alternative will get traction.
Yeah, the hackers seems to be doing alright out of it.
Prism is a live service using Ethereum smart contract(s).
It is from the Shapeshift people and is a kind of "digital asset portfolio". You can invest in many types of digital assets without having to hold them.
People are spending real money on this Ethereum smart contract.
https://blog.prism.exchange/blog/introducing-prism-the-world...
I think one thing that plays against using these cryptocurrencies for other things besides speculation is that they are so speculative, huge ups and downs with lots of opportunities to win just trading them. Because of that they are being treated a lot like stocks (which often appreciates if you hold it) rather than currency (which is usually slowly depreciating, which encourages spending.) I think the incentives for these cryptocurrencies is sort of wrong, they are cryptostocks.
I do think it is too early to judge the cryptocurrency world or blockhain in general for not having 'killer apps'. Analogies to the early internet are no good either since there is no reason as to why this would behave like that. Time will tell. Can't deny it is an interesting space!
> Can't deny it is an interesting space!
I'd actually disagree exactly because of the lack of "killer apps". There are plenty more interesting things happening in technology when you consider no one really seems to know what to do with this. Right now blockchains sound like get-rich-quick catnip for geeks.