NeuCoin will release 3 billion "pre-mined" coins in April.
Any project that can find a way to implement some time of internal cryptocurrency an "appcoin" used to pay for goods or services within that project's remit can use that, first to crowdfund millions of dollars' worth of initial development costs by selling "pre-mined" coins, then to share the rewards of success with those lucky / visionary initial users and investors.
The Bechtlers of Rutherfordton, N.C., coined locally mined gold long before the government built a mint in Charlotte.
A bitcoin analogue in its infancy, created within the fourth quarter of 2013, megacoin is limited to 42m total coins and is mined like every other crytocurrency.
The crowdfunding connection is inherent because a coin can be introduced, mined and traded in advance of the product being ready.
A meme bouncing around the cryptocurrency world for some time said that Litecoin was silver to Bitcoin's gold, given that more total Litecoin are in circulation now, and more will eventually be mined compared to Bitcoin's hard 21 million coin cap.
Silver, on the other hand, though widely mined, could not be presented for conversion into coin, but had to be sold as a commodity.
Since a project's coin is really just a claim on future value from that specific project, anyone holding your coins is a stakeholder vested by their actions whether mined or purchased on a market.
All the while, however, there is the lustre of gold-dust, coins, nuggets and bars bound for New York having been panned, mined and stolen in California.
"Content" is not quite a loss leader -- TV still makes a lot of money in a lot of different ways -- but on some level, it's a widget meant to be spread around and distributed and mined and, increasingly, slid into your life in whatever way makes you most comfortable (while relieving your wallet of a few coins).
