I always liked the concept behind BitShares, but I never hear much about it. Conceptually, it seems like it targets the third-party concern.
Anyway, the idea of BitShares is (was?) to ensure stability of their crypto currency through futures contracts. You buy/sell futures contracts that peg their coin to another asset. This guarantees a certain payout at expiration.
For example, you can buy a contract that guarantees you receive (or must pay) the bitshares-equivalent of X USD when the futures contract expires. (You can also have contracts that guarantee the bitshares-equivalent of X ounces of gold, etc.)
So the future (smart) contract itself acts like the fungible stablecoin, even though it's not backed by the actual asset. And it doesn't rely on a trusted third-party. Rather, its stability relies on the futures speculator market that trades these futures contracts.
Such a concept seems like it doesn't have to be limited to bitshares, but can be generalized into a smart contract traded on blockchains like Ethereum, etc.
Anyway, the idea of BitShares is (was?) to ensure stability of their crypto currency through futures contracts. You buy/sell futures contracts that peg their coin to another asset. This guarantees a certain payout at expiration.
For example, you can buy a contract that guarantees you receive (or must pay) the bitshares-equivalent of X USD when the futures contract expires. (You can also have contracts that guarantee the bitshares-equivalent of X ounces of gold, etc.)
So the future (smart) contract itself acts like the fungible stablecoin, even though it's not backed by the actual asset. And it doesn't rely on a trusted third-party. Rather, its stability relies on the futures speculator market that trades these futures contracts.
Such a concept seems like it doesn't have to be limited to bitshares, but can be generalized into a smart contract traded on blockchains like Ethereum, etc.