Junkcoin is a crypto trading system where users mint new coins by sending a unique physical item (at their own expense) to a Junkcoin moderation warehouse. At the warehouse, the item goes through a multi-step process to ensure its originality.
Once deemed unique by a moderator, the item then goes into storage and one (1) new Junkcoin is minted and sent to the user. At this point, the coin is backed by the combined value of all the items stored in Junkcoin warehouses.
Done in collaboration with Connor Fredericks.
In order to mint a Junkcoin, a user must find a physical item that they are willing to send to a Junkcoin warehouse to be verified by a moderator. This item must be completely unique, meaning that there can be no two of the same item stored across all Junkcoin warehouses.
A single item always mints one Junkcoin, no matter the value (Ex. a brick = 1 Junkcoin, a car = 1 Junkcoin). Once a coin has been minted in exchange for an item, the ownership of the item is forfeited and cannot be reversed. This prevents a coin from being introduced without adding an item to storage.
When an item arrives at a Junkcoin warehouse, a coin is not minted automatically. First, the item must be verified to be unique. This is done through Junkcoin moderators. These moderators are not allowed to own any Junkcoin in order for them to remain unbiased and honest. Their guidelines are seen in the chart below
Being that items in the real world can be created and destroyed, items that are stored in Junkcoin warehouses could in theory be destroyed by natural disasters, vandalism, arson, etc. In the case of an item being destroyed it will be identified if possible and taken off of the Junkcoin database.
Additionally, the value of the destroyed item will be deducted from the overall value of Junkcoin causing the coins to drop in value. Junkcoins will not be taken out of circulation when an item is destroyed. However, since the items would have been removed from the database, another individual could re-send the “same” object to be verified and have it’s value restored to Junkcoin. All verifications occur on a first-come first-served basis.
To determine the value of Junkcoin, we take the combined value of all the items stored in warehouses and divide by all Junkcoins in circulation. To determine the value of items, an algorithm collects seller and buyer data from popular market places and averages prices.
As the value of items on these marketplaces rise and fall, the prices associated with the items in warehouses also changes. Items that have no seller or buyer data are factored into the item valuation pool as $0. This means that one of a kind items or collector items may have no value when added to the Junkcoin warehouses, but a coin may still be minted in return for the item.
Finally, we add or subtract from the value by the general demand of Junkcoin. An example of this calculation could be as follows: $500 worth of items divided by 50 Junkcoins plus $18, being the general demand of Junkcoin which could be a negative or positive number. All of this would equal $28 per Junkcoin.