A coherent overview by Danny Bradbury at coindesk.com of the place of cryptocurrencies in the ‘sharing economy’, including the vital clarification that what calls itself ‘sharing’ is often a centralised system seeking to profit from otherwise peer-to-peer transactions; what Michel Bauwens calls ‘netarchical’ organisation. The author suggests that cryptocurrencies could be the missing piece in making these transactions truly P2P. There is a note of warning though as the interesting question is posited:

“The purists think that they should be co-ops and owned by the people. But in reality they will be squashed by venture-backed startups.” One of the biggest problems facing a sharing economy application today may indeed be a lack of visibility. The venture-backed companies […] have pots of cash to throw at marketing and technology development.”

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