In the past few days I have been thinking about the value and the potential of Gridcoin as a cryptocurrency a lot. It is still hard for me to understand how something like a cryptocurrency can represent value. However, when I start thinking about what gives traditional currencies their value, the result is the same. Those sheets of paper, coins or (insert here whatever represents a GRC) could theoretically have no value, their value is created by the sheer belief in their value by the people who use them. Of course, I am no economist and if one reads the previous sentence, he might pop an artery in his head. Sorry for that.
So what makes the difference between a Gridcoin and a unit of a traditional currency? Its the number of people who belief in it. If I take one Swiss Franc (yes, I am Swiss (and yes, we have a lot of those Francs)) and give it to someone on the street, this person knows what to do with it. He/She can spend it on a bottle of water, about 5kWh of electricity or a silver coin in a lucky internet auction, as I did. If, however, I go to the same person and hand them over one of my Gridcoins, they would first of all probably not even be able to receive them, and even if they did, they would not know what to do with it other than changing it into a traditional currency and buy something with that. So the problem we face is, that people do not know what cryptocurrencies are and frankly don't even want to know.
It would be great if we had a magic wand to change that, but we do not. If I look at my parents and think about explaining them about this Gridcoin stuff, they would be overwhelmed by the time I told them that they had to install a client on their laptop and they would probably never see any value in it since it is "just some nerdy internet thingy". They like to have their Swiss Francs in their bank account or in their wallet and I think that is fine and that will remain the norm for a long time to come.
Some of you may be shocked by what I just said or at least strongly disagree, but as much as I want to belief in a future of cryptocurrency as a real alternative to the traditional currencies, I don't see it coming. Just as my parents are now, there is always going to be a major part of the population that does not engage in crypto currencies for the reason that they just don't have to. There are so many different things going on in their lives that changing their monetary system is nothing they even think about.
So where am I going with this? If cryptocurrencies are not going to gain value and stability by everyone believing in them, they have to find their own way to generate value and I think Gridcoin has a huge advantage in this regard. I have read a post by 
That is the way value can be created and a real demand for Gridcoins can be generated. If they become a mean of payment for scientific computation, they will be out there on the marked following the rules of supply and demand and they will find their value. Both sides will be able to profit. Researchers get their work done and Gridcoin miners and Boinc users will get their money for the work they do. This should increase the value of GRC in the future and thereby increase the number of users dramatically, which, in return, would increase the value again.
What would have to be done to get in this direction is changing the target of the marketing. Gridcoin has already a steadily growing community and as soon as all the Boinc users can start earning Gridcoins, the supply of computational power will be solid for a start. The people that would have to be targeted are research groups, small companies and public institutions that need computation but may not be able to afford it at the time being. Those individuals are easier to target than my parents. Compared to my parents, this target group already works a lot with computers and would probably be at least a little familiar with what we would throw at them. This would avoid a lot of obstacles and give Gridcoin an opportunity to grow and maybe in the distant future even win over my parents.
I don't know if that is something the Gridcoin community as a whole has already thought about or is already pursuing this goal. I just wanted to throw my thoughts in at this point and maybe someone in the comment section has an even better idea!