Gridcoin, where it goes from here
At the time, gridcoin and Boinc WU's is the only technology that almost have all the infrastructural needs to launch first ever decentralized cloud computing platform being able to compete with Google Cloud / Azure / IBM Bluemix, and more important be competitive.
Think of it not only as a research platform, but also as a platform where someone can deploy Instances, databases, even virtual routers among many other technologies.
The problem is, if Gridcoin Team don't do that promptly, someone else will. SPARC is on it's way to this scenario by announcing possible separation from Boinc. Reading between the lines, this scenario perfectly fits.
What we are talking here is a business ecosystem, where each individual can buy cloud resources for real money, get's whitelisted for the proportional amount, and as a result, those who run these WU's or Instances or Vapps get not rewarded, but paid in GRC.
Once it happens for the first time that somebody buy processing power distributed through teamgrc to mine any other crypto with minimal ROI, GRC will skyrocket strong above every other crypto.
The problem is, this is a very lucrative business, and it's likely i'm not the only one who see what's coming (one of the reason for this post is to check these assumptions against other opinions). I have nothing against SPARC or any other projects that aims towards this goal, but what would be very bad is have a centralized business entity to deploy this model.
In my opinion, it's a race against time.
I would be happy to hear opinions about this topic, or if it's already discussed somewhere before.
I think from the beginning BOINC was a testing, temporary field for SPARC . This is a small detail, though.
If I put myself into investors shoes, I'm not very enthusiastic. Gridcoin relies on BOINC, but there is no partnership or close cooperation. Coins are created, but there is not enough discussion about the source of the value for these coins. Economically project is incomplete. In the average address we have only 3 types of transactions:
A clear vision and plans both for coin usability and blockchain technology are needed. Area is very competitive and projects are funded either via ICO's (golem) or own blockchain mechanism / funds (bitshares) and / or private sponsors (stellar). They are managed by companies / foundations with a physical address. Key people do not disappear for weeks or months, there is always someone competent to speak with potential partners or answer questions form media.
Capability to create partnerships, to represent project in the world is another must be. Establishing a proper foundation and employing full time developers seems to be a necessity. Otherwise we risk marginalization.
hmm, you are right @hotbit but I don't see it that way,
we have first every cryptonote that has a stable price, not due to ICO's nor private funds, but due to open-source work and the premise what it could become. It's actually the clear vision what makes GRC worth something. That vision was obviously good enough to compensate all the troubles with developer discrepancies etc.
Boinc is a key here. While connections are not so tight, it's good enough that we have Boinc as an Open Source platform.
To get into a mainstream and close the eco system, all we have to do is make a place where someone can deploy his WU and be charged for it.
That money can be used to pay developers, promotion and all the other aspects of running one OpenSource based entity smoothly.
This will radically change things from your third point (transactions to and from) into many.
Personally, foundation yes - team gridcoin is already kind of foundation (with it's troubles), company not.
And I found this "foundation" is a nice one, even with all the troubles. At least, it ready to do something altruistic.
Try sending an email to each of Sparc key people asking for a dollar....not sure about the outcome :)
This can be as simple as setting up a umbrella boinc project, providing tech support and charging for the added value.
I am totally in that we try to setup this. For the start, a deployment of VM instances would be a huge step. What we earn from there, we can put straight into development. I'm on slack now, @tomasbrod or anyone interested in setting up such project can count on me, but although I can put both resources and man power, but can't do it alone without more experienced gridcoiners at least for the guidance. I'll think of it a bit more and present once I have something in hand, even in very early stage.