Motivation: although Promises were intended to be used to act as
currencies as well as contracts, they serve the role of currency
rather awkwardly, and they are rarely used as contracts. This proposal
attempts to create a new type of asset, options, that serves the
purpose of currency in a more streamlined manner, as well as providing
a reasonably elegant way of doing trade offers.
Proto-proposal, "Options":
{Enact a rule, titled "Options", with the following text:
Options are a class of assets. Horton is an Office and the
recordkeepor for options. Ownership of options is limited to persons.
A person (the option's Writer) CAN create any number of options in eir
possession by announcement, specifying all, some, or none of the
following properties:
a) a description of set of assets e wishes to trade (the Wares;
defaults to "the empty set")
b) a description of a set of assets e wishes to receive in exchange
(the Tender; defaults to "the empty set")
c) a date upon which the option is destroyed
d) a non-negative integer (the Denominator; defaults to 1)
e) whether or not the option is Open (defaults to no)
f) a name
Options that share the above properties and have the same owner are fungible.
A person (the Cashier) CAN exercise an option if all of the following are true:
a) the Writer CAN transfer the Wares to the Cashier
b) the Cashier CAN transfer the Tender to the Writer
c) the Cashier has paid the cost of n copies of the option, where n is
the option's Denominator
d) if the option's Denominator is 0 and it is not Open, then the
Cashier possesses the option
When an option is exercised, the Writer transfers the Wares to the
Cashier, and the Cashier transfers the Tender to the Writer. If the
description of the Wares or Tender is unspecific (e.g. "any trading
card"), then the Cashier must specify exactly which assets are used.
If an option is Open, then any person CAN, by announcement, destroy it
in order to pay the cost of exercising an option.
To "offer to trade X for Y" is to create an open option with a
Denominator of 0 where the Wares are X and the Tender is Y. To "offer
to trade X for Y, n times" is to create n open options where the Wares
are X and the Tender is Y.}
I create 11,000 options where the Wares are "any trading card", the
date of destruction is 1 November 2013, the Denominator is 1,000, and
the name is "mach".
I offer to trade 700 machs for any trading card. I offer to trade 20
machs for 1 mineral. I offer to trade 1 ruble for 500 machs.
Comments?
—Machiavelli
