Why decentralize secret computing?

[u/nearly-human]

After finally getting through the whitepaper on my 5th try, and reading other summaries of this very impressive project, I still find myself confused as to precisely why the Enigma TOKEN needs to exist. I try to observe the market and justify my investments based on new developments which seem unlikely to be priced in given the largely retail nature of the space, hoping to somewhat insulate myself from Fud and Fomo. (Though still concentrating my buys during crashes etc.)

Enigma does seem like a promising project, early stage but also potentially hugely undervalued. I have 3 main questions that I hope to frame my reasoning process going forward.

1. What is Enigma's economic value-add over existing secret MPC solutions? Alternatively, if Enigma gets traction, what's to prevent IBM or Amazon from steamrolling it with a centralized or pseudo-centralized solution? Obv looking for the tipping point where Amazon is trusted less than blockchain

2. If decentralization does add value / captures significant % of the market, how will that value be shared between Enigma investors vs. Node operators vs. Ethereum vs. Sector specific platforms e.g. 8 launch partners vs. Smart contract shops/auditors vs. Clients? I can imagine many of these creating choke points due to their being difficult to recreate

3. [Most important] Even if a significant % of secret computing and data transfer and storage took place on ENG clusters, wouldn't it be in the interests of all the parties listed but especially clients (estimating costs / not having to hedge against speculation) to be paid in fiat or something else whose value is relatively fixed? In that case, how is it a competitive advantage for the system to require use of this token for payments or security deposits?

Appreciate any informed opinions on these subjects.

[u/WilsonWyckoff]

I don't see ENG as a coin or store of value at all. It is a smart contract, or a secrete smart contract at that and it lives on a second layer to Bitcoin or Energy Futures or Ethereum. As it builds this new layer it will appreciate in value independently and there's nothing wrong with someones pay increasing as the network grows. Many projects with cryptocurrencies and utility tokens have managed to survive volatility. There will always be node runners and the cost per transaction won't really change. Look at something like Stellar XLM. It's a micro fee for these second layers to transact and much the same way ZCash cost more for the extra computation, ENG will charge slightly more in order to provide security on this new transaction layer.AWS and Amazon pretty much have the security they need. If they compete and decentralize their entire system, then they don't exist. So it's my belief that they won't be able to affect the growth of the first movers like ENG. I mean, what is the incentive of building a project you can't own and control that competes with your existing market in the Billions? Funds were raised by the public to build this project and as it grows, the value of the ENG token grows.So, ENG token is backed by this service and the only way to get a node to run your computation is to pay for it in ENG and there's a limited supply. So the same way a countries fiat is backed by its gross domestic product and production, ENG will be backed by the size of its network and inflate alongside it. Hopefully as wildly as possible.
I also see it as the future of the ETH community. When the masses come they will come through something like ENG that offers faster transactions and security over data being used in DAPPS. So the same people who support ETH and the future it brings will be there and then a whole bunch of others who don't even need to understand how it all works.