PolyCash currencies can be pegged to the dollar and issued by bookmakers who charge a small fee on each bet placed.

Currencies can also be launched which are not pegged to any other asset but instead have a free floating value determined by supply and demand. Pegged coins are more centralized because they rely on pegged assets being held in escrow (often in traditional bank accounts). Non-pegged coins are more decentralized because they do not require any assets to be held in escrow, but avoiding forks is more challenging.

In P2P betting currencies, the odds for betting events are determined by player bets rather than being set by the house. Bets are placed and paid out at the protocol level and therefore players hold the private keys to their bets in contrast to traditional betting systems where bets are held by third parties until being paid out.

Each PolyCash currency uses a blockchain such as Bitcoin or Litecoin, and PolyCash is compatible with many different blockchains. PolyCash is an implementation of the "colored coins" concept. PolyCash crypto assets use a small amount of litecoins or bitcoins to represent ownership, but these coins which are used for the private keys should not be confused with the pegged assets from which PolyCash pegged coins derive their value.

PolyCash relies on the UTXO model and is closely tied to Bitcoin's design. But PolyCash builds on Bitcoin with an innovation that we call the "conditional value UTXO". This innovation enables P2P prediction markets, and is applicable to things like sports betting where bets pay out at a fixed amount (aka binary options). PolyCash's conditional value UTXO paradigm is also applicable beyond binary options. The Virtual Stock Market game below shows how conditional value UTXOs can be used to create crypto assets on the blockchain which track the value of stocks like AMZN and AAPL.

PolyCash also includes functionality for creating crypto gift cards. You can use PolyCash to create your own line of business cards with a small amount of bitcoin or altcoins on each card. Or create prepaid crypto cards tied to larger amounts of coins which can be sold for cash in person or at retail locations.

For App Developers & Token Issuers

1. Design your currency by selecting appropriate parameters.
2. Specify the sources of value backing your currency such as intellectual property or financial assets.
3. Peg your coin to its value sources by creating legal & technical procedures for exchanging coins for the backing assets.
4. If your coin includes betting functionality, find a source of data & incorporate it.
5. Create the genesis transaction & launch your currency.
6. Distribute coins to initial investors or other stakeholders.
7. Decentralize your currency & build a network by getting people to set up nodes running your currency.
8. If your coin incorporates betting, continue to resolve events and add new events for people to bet on.

For Players

1. Find a game or currency that you’d like to participate in.
2. Run your own node or create a wallet on a node that you trust.
3. Buy coins with BTC, LTC or ETH via an exchange or by purchasing coins from a public node.
4. Win or lose money by betting on in-game events.
5. Sell out at any time via BTC/LTC.

Running Your Own Node

PolyCash is an open source protocol. Anyone can set up a node and then host any number of crypto assets. To set up a node, follow these steps:

1. Install PolyCash.
2. Install any relevant blockchains like Bitcoin or Litecoin.
3. Find the game definitions (text files) for any crypto assets that you want to run.
4. Paste the game definitions into your node and wait for the currencies to sync.

Try It Out

You can try out the platform by joining one of the games below. Some of these currencies are not backed by anything and you can get coins for free just for signing up. Others are backed by real money and you'll need to buy in with Bitcoin or Litecoin to get coins.