The Money Protocols - Bitcoin, blockchain and others

I was recently sent a link to an article discussing the development of "the money protocol". The idea has been around for awhile - we have standardized protocols for communicating between computers in form of TCP/IP and others, so it would similarly make sense to develop protocols for moving money around on the Internet just like now we move information around it. However, we will likely have more one new protocol created from Bitcoin and related technologies...

Accounting for all payments

In an ideal world, we would have everyone using the same currency on the same network. However, there are many reasons why this probably won't happen. Instead of hoping everyone will start using Bitcoin in the near future, we should assume that we will be dealing with many different currencies, both cryptographic, fiat and otherwise. We will need a protocol that can handle:

• Native cryptographic currencies like Bitcoin
• IOUs, assets and debt, like what we see on Ripple
• Financial derivatives, like BitUSD on BitShares
• Private currencies on permissioned blockchains
• Legacy banking systems
• Credit, debit and gift cards
• Other currencies created / tracked by private companies (perhaps shares, digital commodities, etc.)

Moreover, the protocol would also need to cover:

• Sending payments across networks (bank->Bitcoin, altcoin to sidechain, etc.)
• Finding an optimal payment path between the start and end of the payment
• Atomically trading between multiple currencies at the same time
• Locking in / confirming trades and money transfers
• Providing digital receipts for the payment

All of those would need to be included in the same "money protocol". Once we figure out how to convey the information of who is sending the money, who is the receiver, which type of money is being spent and received (more on how this could look), we can finally start to connect different networks together. Whether it would be through W3C's Web Payments Community Group, something like Interledger or some other forms of bridges, we could finally be able to easily send money around (hopefully).

What's left?

When dealing with crypto as they say, money is the least interesting application. We also have smart contracts, proof of existence, etc. A lot of those applications of crypto will probably also warrant their own protocol - they don't exactly fall under "money protocol". I do believe the following will eventually become their own protocol on par with TCP/IP:

Proof of existence. As we all know, the Bitcoin blockchain is the most secure, inalterable record of history currently available due to the amount of computing effort put into it. Anything embedded in the blockchain can be forever referenced as the latest date some file could've been created. This functionality, perhaps expanded with protocols like Factom, can be a useful protocol for creating timestamped receipts and other applications.

Smart contracts / smart oracles / proof of execution. With Ethereum being released, we can expect to see more use of smart contracts for business applications. Smart oracles, such as the ones proposed by Codius. would compliment them to interface between the crypto and the real world. All in all, we could bundle those up into "proof of execution" - a protocol dictating what code needs to be run, at what time and by how many independent parties (some of them in form of computers, some in form of autonomous contracts), as well as what was the result of the execution. This could enable, for example, to build autonomous financial derivatives or contracts ("code is law").

Conclusions

It is very likely in the future we will see a "money protocol" similar to TCP/IP for money. It will have to encompass more than a single currency and network however. We are also likely to see more blockchain-based protocols emerge from the non-monetary applications of crypto.