CPI points, crypto currencies and more

Customer Services
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Mainly pertaining to pre ordering the DevTerm, but with regards to CPI points, is it possible to exchange other crypto currencies to obtain CPI points?
I remember reading that the approximate value is 1 CPI = 1 USD.
Edit: correction, 1CPI = 1.1USD

Currently, afaik CPI point Ethereum transactions are done on a PM basis with @yong. Would it ever be a streamlined means of performing a transaction via the store?

Since it’s using Ethereum, can we use actual Ethereum or even Bitcoin for purchases/pre orders? I’d be interested in buying things using a combination of the two.

Sure we could just sell off the Crypto currencies for real world dollars, and do it the normal way, but with the recent trend going up with crypto currencies, I’m almost afraid that cashing it out now will result in a net loss.

Having more CPI points in circulation could help encourage more activity re: development etc.
Even having a “bounty” system for problem solving could be an incentive for some. But of course oversaruration would lower its value. And then of course people could come go expect it, not offering help unless there’s a payout.
It’s no doubt a lot to consider, but something that seemingly is a system that has been put into use.

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Yes you can preorder with CPI 1:1 and yes currently the process is you send the CPIs back to the wallet from where they were given to you and you notify Yong via PM.

I don´t expect that to happen as CPI seem to have flat value, they are not linked to a market. Sure if Dollar goes up your 1 CPI net will be more vs another monetary currency, but I wouldn´t expect a bubble like Bitcoin

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More what I was thinking was whether we can purchase more CPI points to add to the circulation. But oh god, definitely wouldn’t “invest” in CPI points, since that’s about as good as the USD.

The cash payout was more referring to say, selling crypto currency now to use as a down payment for something coming out in April, and fearing that if a unit price spike happens in April, I’d feel less “bad” about having lost money. Sure, it has the same value being traded as its raw crypto form, but I’d feel happier knowing the CPI team are reaping the benefits of the increased value.

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Me neither. Even if they are purchasable, it wouldn’t be worth it. But if you have some that you got from a purchase of a device or from CPI you should then just use those.

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1:1? I thought it was 1 CPI == $1.1

Must have misread

The fact alone they are CPI Points and not coins are, I think pretty clear. Their value is whatever CPi want to give to them their value will not be market related. If tomorrow they decide that 1 CPI Point == $0.01 or 1 Kangaroo, that’s their own choice. All currently CPI owner may be a bit sad (though some people may want a Kangaroo?) but it is not like they bought them using their money, so they don’t really have nay “proper” value other than what CPI want to give to them.

Anyway. Streamlining their use would be useful, but it is not like there are lots of people with some in hands, that would need probably quite a lot of development from CPI for really few use cases. I really would prefer CPI to focus on releasing their (new) products than working on that.

If they want to make it as a general purpose reward system, ok, but it is not currently the case, and I think their product catalog is not big enough for it to make sense. People are not going to buy 10 gameshell to get the 11 one for free! (or something like that)

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You’re making me think of gacha games. That said, like a gacha game, if the catalogue ever got big enough to warrant repeat customers, a redemption system of say 1CPI token per $10 spent could be cute.

Ah that’s right. My mistake! I was just going by memory. Thanks for that correction!

Yup! Exactly why I was thinking, having them as something circulatable in the community will keep its value and be less volatile; unlike my Ethereum/bitcoins.
I don’t normally cash out my crypto currency for this reason, preferring to just use it in its raw form. It would be nice if we could use it here.

That’s what I was thinking, but also being able to have users send them amongst themselves. Kind of the equivalent of the “buy me a beer coffee” thank you system implemented in some places with PayPal etc.

Ha! We just have them jumping around on the road, as we try and dodge them in Australia. Please; just take one for free!

I’m not implying purchasing outright, but rather using the existing Ethereum platform to transfer the equivalent value of crypto currency to add up to the required amount. Eg, previously, people were given say 200CPI tokens. The dev term costs more than this, so making up the difference will need to happen. This can either be something negotiable via PM, or something streamlined. You don’t get the points from the purchase of a device. I would love to use my CPI points, and probably will. This is a question of making the CPI points a streamlined system.

I think there was someone called @Veronica from the dev team who was doing a lot of customer relations and PR like work on the forums. Would this be something that she would be able to have implemented? Or when it comes to CPI transactions, should we still defer to PM ing @yong? I’m not sure how the hierarchy of command/operations is laid out, but being the head honcho, I’m guessing Yong would be pretty busy! Perhaps just the customer service help email would be good, and someone else can pick up from there.

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We are happy to see this discussion about CPI points. I want to stoke some thoughts to kindle more discourse on this topic.
Actually, we have been thinking about the future of CPI points for quite some time, we hope its usage could be well beyond a simple crypto currency to buy our products in the future, but exactly what roles and functions CPI should play, and how to get there, are something well worth contemplating, and your input from the community is greatly appreciated.

Please allow me to elaborate, consider this a prompt for an open discussion. At this point, it’s probably relatively trivial to get CPI on an ICO, once traded on an exchange, CPI points will expect to get a price, anchored initially to ethereum. That value will bring about several advantages, though pure speculation trading is not one of them. From day one, we have always wanted our community to be a truly open and decentralized self-organization, owned by the community members who have contributed the most. But as a hardware project, introducing a customized chip (eg. 4-6 cores, different GPUs, or ARM+RISC cores, additional interfaces) could easily require at least one million dollar to get started, designing a new screen module, eg. custom sizes TFT display, or e-ink screen for DevTerm could require minimal order value well exceeding $200K dollar. One of the reason we are slow to bring in new modules for GameShell or DevTerm is exactly the amount of capital requirement in the first place. We hope the application of CPI and blockchain technology to crowd-fund the process could potentially speed up our development of new hardware modules, overcoming the prohibiting high cost, and make community member contribution possible. However, details need to be worked out, so that CPI points holders, community contributors, could all benefit from the time and efforts they put into the projects. Ideally, CPI holders should also be able to initiate and vote for new projects, introducing new modules to the community by themselves, using CPI points to pay for the developers and other related costs.

Of course, these are only our initial thoughts, we welcome your suggestions and encourage discussions to finalize the plan for this experiment of digital currency application in our open source hardware community, and as a token for appreciation, we would be happy to put aside 2% CPI points for members of our community to devise and help us execute the plan itself. In the long run, we are happy if our founding team could remain as little as 20% of the CPI, with rest of them all go to the community.

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Thanks @yong for chiming in. Great to know you are also thinking about the future of CPI points.
This sounds similar to share holders, which realistically would be better than Kickstarter in the long run, when if comes to having core members who contribute. Kickstarter benefits come and go as projects get released.
How the shares, or points get distributed however, and if people on mass decide to sell/cash out could make things difficult. Having them act as form of influence is interesting, if that’s what I’m reading it as.
People come and go. Hopefully having a self sustained community, with a user centric currency will have people come and stay.
I will be watching this closely! Thanks!

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also, now, following