michielbdejong
commented
4 years ago Great questions! Sorry I hadn't seen your issue earlier.
What happens if someone cannot be found to close the loop (e.g. no one in the vicinity has an apple for Abraham)? Does it mean the transaction is essentially impossible?
Yes, well, there's the aspect of time, so if Abraham trusts Bethany enough, he could give her the banana already, in the hope an apple comes his way a few days, weeks, or years later. Then, Bethany acts as Abraham's store of value. The other way around, if Abraham received an apple in the past, he can now hand over the banana to settle the debt from earlier. So in both cases, LedgerLoops just works as a peer-to-peer credit network. It's like saving or borrowing at a bank, except that it's peer-to-peer.
If no apple was ever available for Abraham, and none will ever be, in other words, the apple is unattainable for Abraham, then there is no trade.
Is there a way for this to work with just two people? If the transaction is verbal then it would be revealed that person A knows the secret to the challenge, but if it was digital and carried out via software invisibly and person B "found the secret somewhere on the network" without being made aware it was coming from person A, would that compromise anything?
I see what you mean, but I think the minimum loop length is three participants. With just two people, you don't need to use secrets, you can just keep a tab of what you owe each other.
I know nothing about this stuff so forgive me if these are silly questions - I just stumbled on this and read it because I found it interesting.
Fascinating idea, and I love that it can function in places that don't have technology 🙂.