One interesting thing you can do with Stellar is issue your own custom "currency". Here's a simple example of doing so. This route involves making an offer on the distributed exchange, and then waiting for someone to make an overlapping counteroffer.
I've created an offer giving out minutes of my help on a project of your choice (represented by the currency GDB), at a rate of 1,000 stellar per minute. You can see this offer in the graphical account viewer: https://www.stellar.org/viewer/#/gdb.
(This credit is redeemable for things like architecture advice, conversations about cryptocurrencies, debugging help, or the like. Once you hold the credit, you can redeem it by contacting me, and we'll arrange a Hangout or in-person meeting, depending on what makes sense.)
Not quite. Stellar works a bit off the principle "Is the blue you see, the same blue I see?" If someone trusts a bunch of gateways for USD, if effectively means that they per
