In physics, there is the concept of potential energy. Think of it as energy that is waiting to be used, as opposed to kinetic energy, which is the energy of motion.

For example, a rock sitting on the edge of a high cliff is a form of stored potential energy due to the fact it’s just sitting there waiting for gravity to bring it down. If someone were to push that rock over the cliff’s edge, it would then start falling towards the ground and be converted into kinetic energy, until it eventually hits the ground and is transformed once again into other forms of energy such as thermal and sound energy.

I bring all this up is because I believe that eCash can be seen as a form of stored potential energy. Behind the paywall, I explain why I think this, what can convert the potential into kinetic energy, and what other forms of energy this could ultimately lead to.

(If you’d like to read the rest of the article, use your Cashtab.com wallet to pay 10 XEC and unlock the paywall. If you are a first time user, create a new Cashtab wallet and solve the captcha to receive enough free XEC to continue.)

What makes eCash stored potential energy?

Imagine a giant rubber band that can’t be broken, so the more it is stretched, the more elastic energy it contains, just waiting to be unleashed. 

That’s how I see eCash. Over the past five years, the team has been busy pushing the protocol further and further in terms of its technology. Whether you’re talking about security, scalability, or user experience, the eCash developers have done extraordinary work that is just waiting for the right builders to come along and take advantage of all of that stored energy.

I don’t want to bore you with technical details, but here are some examples of what I’m talking about. (And if you want to challenge any of my assumptions, or have any questions, feel free to leave a comment and I will respond to the best of my ability.)

Despite being a minority SHA-256 chain, eCash represents one of the most secure chains in all of crypto. By leveraging both Nakamoto and Avalanche consensus, the XEC network is virtually impossible to 51% attack and has already proven itself when malicious miners tried, unsuccessfully, to destroy the network shortly after its initial launch. Also, by not switching to another mining algorithm, users get the benefit of relying on the most battle-tested algorithm available, and the same hashing algorithm that has been used by Bitcoin since its inception.

One of the biggest problems facing blockchains is their scalability. We have seen chain after chain come up short whenever they encounter significant spikes in transaction volume. What happens is transactions fail to get processed in a timely manner, fees go through the roof, and sometimes the entire network goes down. Another issue is that none of these networks have a credible roadmap that will allow them to reach mankind scale. But eCash does. Not only does eCash have enormous room to grow right now with a current capacity of ~10M transactions per day, it has a roadmap that will allow the network to one day handle upwards of 50 transactions per day for 10 billion humans on the planet, or ~500 billion transactions per day.

Another major hurdle for blockchains is user experience. Those who have actually tried using any of the major cryptocurrencies can attest to the poor UX. Whether it’s having to wait for long block confirmation times, dealing with leftover dust in your wallet, or expensive transaction fees, eCash has solved for all of these issues to offer the best UX in crypto. But perhaps more importantly, it also offers the best UX for builders. Unlike most other cryptocurrency projects, the eCash developers have worked hard to provide dependable and open source libraries that anyone can use to quickly and easily build an application that leverages the eCash network, which brings us to the next topic of discussion:

What can convert the potential into kinetic energy?

It’s all about applications. Since the beginning, everyone in crypto has been looking for the killer app. Some of us believe crypto being used as electronic cash is the killer app, and while I don’t disagree, I’m talking about apps more along the lines of those you might find in the App Store or on Google Play. Up until now, most app developers in crypto have focused on building apps that are basically just casinos. As a result, they’ve focused on building these apps for networks that have the most liquidity. I’m thinking of pump.fun on Solana, or the previous cycle’s NFT marketplaces in the Ethereum ecosystem. This made sense since that’s where the money was. But as trading volumes for memecoins and NFTs crater, I’m optimistic that we will finally see crypto apps evolve from glorified casinos to actual businesses that provide value to their users. And if that’s the case, it would make sense that it becomes less about liquidity and more about usability.

For example, let’s say I wanted to turn this blog into a crypto version of Substack, why would I want to build it on a network that is insecure, can’t scale, and has poor UX, versus a network that offers the best of all three, as well as the best developer tools to make building as easy as possible?

I don’t know what the killer app will be, but my thesis is that by offering developers the best platform and the best tools, someone will eventually come along and take advantage of the eCash opportunity that is hiding in plain sight. Once that happens, the rock will come tumbling down, the slingshot will be released, and we will begin to see some of that potential energy be converted into kinetic energy. 

What other forms of energy could this ultimately lead to?

While answering this question requires the most speculation, to me it’s also the most exciting. Ever since I fell down the crypto rabbit hole, my dream has been to be able to one day witness crypto change civilization as we know it. If we can get more and more applications that people actually use, not just to gamble, but to add value to their lives, it can open the door for tremendous change. Imagine a world where our money is no longer controlled by a central authority, meaning it can’t be censored or debased, and actually fixes the incentive problem that seems to be running rampant everywhere. What would that mean for society overall? I am hopeful that it will mean less corruption, less wars, and less waste, while giving us more innovation, more efficiency, and more purpose.

By having sound money that doesn’t lose value through inflation and wasteful taxation, I believe we could have a world that is more about creating positive sum games and not just more zero sum games. We could worry less about spinning our wheels trying to keep up and survive, and instead focus more on the things that really matter to us.

I believe that if eCash succeeds by unleashing its potential energy to become kinetic energy, it can be the motive force that revolutionizes our global economy. It would solve the economic calculation problem to a degree that has never been achieved before. It would improve collaboration, resource allocation, and long-term planning. By making incentives more transparent, trade more fluid, and lowering informational friction, it could mean individuals and businesses could specialize more effectively and become more aligned through a shared monetary language. 

My greatest hope is that eCash will open the door to entirely new forms of economic activity. Maybe you think I’m crazy, but the fact is you just participated in one example of this by paying for this content without having to provide any identifying information, just eCash, aka cash for the internet.

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