What category, terminology do we use for the Safe Network and its in network token

So maybe it’s a crypto token? Cryptoken?

1 Like

I was thinking of something more different to crypto-xyz because in my mind its not creative enough to describe what Safe Network is about and SNT.

Although cryptotoken or cryptodata might be much more catchy than some other creative term. Personally I’d go CryptoData since that describes the Safe Network and is a twist on the token. It removes the idea of it being currency/cash/money that is regulated by a ton of rules and back to what it actually is, a token to be exchanged for resources on the network. That has been described by the USA system as not a security.

You see a token is network specific and to buy resources on the network, it is accepted that it can also be bought and sold just like furniture etc which are not securities.

2 Likes

11 Likes

Crypto token, crypto currency, po-tay-to po-tah-toh.
This is a forced redefinition with the hopes to avoid the cross-hairs of regulators.
Fine, I get that. But it is a futile exercise.

The fact is that this token is going to be used as a means of exchange for services in the network, it will be eventually used as a unit of account and it will be used as a store of value, by definition it is a currency.
Call a dog a cat all you want, but it won’t make it meow.

You can hold a cigarette in your pocket and it won’t be a currency in your home.
But serve some time in prison and that cigarette will become currency.

Having that said, tax agencies won’t care how you name it. For now either cryptocurrencies or other any other token are going to be treated as property, not as money (even if it has the properties of one). So regardless of how you name it, you’ll probably get taxed every time you exchange it for another token/cryptocurrency (or for fiat, of course).

6 Likes

Not really forced. Safe Network Token was created as a in Network resource purchasing/reward token and as the USA Securities have said, such a token is not seen as a security. And they know these tokens are bought and sold.

Anyone buying/selling the tokens will have to consider the tax implications as any other trader (of anything) would have to. But that is not the securities but the tax man issues.

The fact that its a token for in network use means that it is unlike currencies etc and so different rules would apply.

Many things become holders of value. Art, various metals (not gold or silver), rare collections, old vintage items are some of the things that hold value but not considered currencies. Baseball cards, old coins and other items commonly traded between people are also things that hold value that the ordinary person could buy and sell and use as a store of value.

Of course these hold value while others put value on them. Safe Network Token is like the items that hold value and being a in Network utility makes the difference and when you read the securities reports you see this as a major factor in differentiating between securities and not securities. The fact that it can be used for trade does not make it a currency just like baseball cards and old coins are not currency. People may say it is but they really are not.

And at no point did I say (and if I did then I was wrong) that the tax man will not want an accounting of any buy/selling/trading of SNT. Of course they will and how they see it will depend on the tax laws of the particular country. Like some only tax when converted to/from fiat and others will look at every conversion be it to fiat or not.

But the tax man here does not need the item to be a currency to tax it. For instance shares buying/selling/trading is taxed according to the fiat value at the time of execution.

3 Likes

From a marketing perspective (that I really know nothing about), I think it would be good to avoid being associated with either blockchain or cryptocurrency in general. The Safe Network is a different beast, even if it happens to use encryption. It also happens to run on computers, but why make a big deal out of that.

6 Likes

So do websites. :wink:

And the keypairs are only a small part, although vital, in the whole machine that makes the Safe Network.

The project existed before BTC was out there and Safe Network’s roots are not in the cryptocurrency arena. The Token exists to service the network. Crypto coins are the other way around and used as currency

4 Likes

I have similar feelings about the word ‘dApp’, I find it vomit-worthy. I don’t have any particular counter-proposal, but it feels very much like following the crowd, which MaidSafe doesn’t otherwise do.

If we were a run of the mill ‘crypto’ project then maybe yes, but it’s not the case. The project is more cypherpunk than cryptocurrency

8 Likes

My stomach is not quite that easily upset :smile:, but I agree it is a bit… silly.

This is a cool idea to spin further on.

5 Likes

An app that is based on the Safe Network could be called a SafeApp, sApp?

A SafeApp is different from a regular app in that it uses the Safe Network. But to call for instance an app that allows you to view your family photos on the network a dApp doesn’t seem right when it only uses the network for storage, it’s a SafeApp.

A SafeApp could also be a dApp if it does dAppy stuff like social network stuff for instance. To me dApp is just a word with a meaning.

2 Likes

Think is probably best not to invent to many clever or proprietary words or phrases for the network or untility - they become quickly dated and further distance people from the products. In the example above, ‘apps on the network’ would work just fine for me.

4 Likes

Precisely.

I am generally favor of blockchain association, given the generally positive momentum, but would happily change my mind if research showed the public were still very scared of such a concept - even more so holding their data.

I see a lot of negative comment about Blockchain from outsiders because of energy consumption in particular, and Safe Network has an almost unique opportunity to capitalise on this with outsiders. Insiders may be low hanging fruit, but they are a tiny market compared with outsiders.

So I think we should continue to point out this difference, and the uniqueness of Safe Network technology.

8 Likes

The negative I get is that crypto/blockchain is basically all a big ponzi and the bigger fool loses. And some of that is from very experienced programmers and engineers. Not too many but enough that I suspect that there are more in the community with similar views. Others just say it cannot last and will fail like all other money making schemes on the internet.

Safe is really not in the same class as crypto-whatever as its primarily data storage, security, privacy and can run APPs & websites. In essence a new iteration of the internet.

That is why I am wondering if there is a good “category” that Safe fits better.

6 Likes

I hate the term ‘app’. However we hashed this out before and no alternative was found.

Is 'App' the right lingo for SAFE?

I like the play on words between “safer” and “cypher”.

2 Likes

A currency isn’t a security.
The Safe Token doesn’t act like a security anyways, even if you named it a cryptosecurity it wouldn’t be treated as a security, because it doesn’t behave like one.
The SEC doesn’t care how you name it, it cares how it behaves and how it is used. And of course it is not a security, it doesn’t represent shares of a company. That discussion was never on the table.

It will behave as a currency, though, among other things(*)

Also, nobody redefines the name of a currency just because it is using ACH, SWIFT, VisaNET or the Interbank Networks, it is the money that it represents what matters, the platform or the technology that enables it to use it is, in itself, irrelevant.

There is technically nothing incorrect with calling it Safe Token or a Safe Currency, both are the right category, and there is nothing fundamentally different from any other cryptocurrency.
The Safe Network is another animal, but the token is in itself nothing out of the ordinary.

The only major difference between the blockchain-based cryptocurrencies and the Safe Token is that we don’t have a ledger, so in that aspect the Safe Network truly could be considered to have the properties of a digital cash (when used as money). There are no ledgers to register the transaction, and the token itself is exchanged between two peers only, so there would be no friction, no fees, and no bottlenecks.

But either it is cash in your pocket, or a fictional number in the database of a bank, both are money. That is the category it belongs, there is no other category… unless it represents and behaves as something else.

Regarding to the point you made about baseball cards not being currency, I guess you didn’t understand @Kirov’s point about cigarettes in prison.
Cigarettes are a commodity in the normal world and they are definitely neither money nor currency, but in prison it is used as a default means of exchange for goods among prisoners it starts to behave like currency and it becomes a de facto currency.

(*) In the case of Safe Tokens, the default Safe Token used to pay for puts, get rewarded for farming, or pay for apps, will be without any ambiguity, a currency.
But tokens that are modified to be used as NFTs, if it isn’t used as a means of exchange and only as a collectible, it won’t be a currency.
But if for some weird reason a particular NFT starts being used in lieu of Safe Tokens to buy stuff, as a means of exchange, it will be like those cigarettes in prison, it will technically become a currency.

2 Likes

Never said it was did I?

That is understood. But it is not a prison we are in, its society under government rules.

I think that “internet” might be right category. Until now it was not a “category”, but a single thing. We didn’t think there could be more than one of them. But the birth of Safenetwork changes the situation.

“Darknet” is not an option, because it think it refers to a subcategory of current WWW. Safenetwork is not one of those. Safenetwork makes the division of “hidden” and “public” network moot.

When I tell people about Safenetwork and Maidsafe, I usually say something like: “They are building new Internet.”

3 Likes

Yeap, i think that the term “XOR” (as used for network resources) is also not that good. XOR is just an implementation detail and that’s irrelevant to the end user. Why not call it network name or maybe id?

2 Likes