justbull4u wrote: Your comments about ICO's are relevant. Agree that most ICO's (Initial Coin Offerings) will fail over time. Most lack the critical success factors.
Aimia/Aeroplan, on the other hand, has the key ingredients to be successful…if it is done properly.
Also, disagree with most of your other points.
The reason lots of money is being thrown at ICO's is because there is a strong demand for these "financial" products/services, and as you point out, there is a lack of Blue Chip offerings. Aimia/Aeroplan would be a Blue Chip offering.
Also, blockchain is needed for any cryptocurrency to succeed in order for the "currency" to be trusted for widespread consumer acceptance, and to protect the consumers "stored value".
Expensive move? Not really…it is an investment for the future. Aimia/Aerplan has an early opportunity here. Otherwise it will join Blockbuster, Kodak, and Sears in the business scrap heap.
One of the key ingredients for a cryptocurrency to succeed is to have some underlying value.
In the case of the Bitcoin cryptocurrency, it is the algorithym that limits the total number of BitCoins that can be "minted" or "mined".
In the case of the GoldMoney (XAU.TO) cryptocurrency, the undrelying value is the gold.
https://www.goldmoney.com/
This Toronto-based cryptocurrency company is fully regulated. In the "old days", most legitimate country currencies were backed by gold. Globally, countries have now sold off their gold and rely on fiat currency. The GoldMoney cryptocurrency is a "back to the future" approach and is very very interesting!
So, what will the underlying value be for the Aeroplan CryptoCurrency?
Most of the comments that I have heard on this Bullboard so far echo yours…dismissive of the need for Aimia/Aeroplan. That's exactly what Blockbuster said when Netflix came on the scene. Now, most millenials don't even know who/what Blockbuster was...do you?
Your turn…
CorporateRebel wrote: ICOs are simply mechanisms to raise capital for blockchain related technologies...or they're generally just money making schemes as all IPOs serve two purposes, raise capital, or to make money on a higher than realistic valuation.
ICOs now are seemingly on the latter, given the rapid valuations they receive from money being thrown at it.
Blockchain and points may have interesting opportunities, but as members here suggest, the cost is highly prohibitive and it is an expensive move. There are no blockchain companies that are actually doing business, they are all proof of concepts that have not been deployed to blue chip companies.
Now, I think what some of the techies here understand that some on this board dont, is that you don't need blockchain, to have blockchain inspired technology architectures.
You can still do many of the same things, solving the same business requirements (decentralized logging and recordkeeping, etc.), using rules and API engines...
Blockchain certainly has momentum, and nobody disputes the future potential, but it is simply technologyly and culturaly far.