I can think of a few other reasons:
- Not everyone uses dollars.
- The price of credits in some currency could change after you bought them.
- The price of credits could be different for different customers (commercial, educational, partners, etc)
- They can ban trading of credits or let them expire
> Not everyone uses dollars.
> The price of credits in some currency could change after you bought them.
> The price of credits could be different for different customers (commercial, educational, partners, etc)
Maybe I'm missing something, but doesn't every other compute provider manage that without introducing their own token currency? Convert to the user's currency at the end of the month, when the invoice comes in. On the pricing page, have a table that lists different prices for different customers. I fail to see how tokens make it clearer. Compare:
"This action costs 1 token, and 1 token = $0.03 for educational in the US, or 0.05€ for commercial in the EU"
"This action costs $0.03 for educational in the US, or 0.05€ for commercial in the EU"
> They can ban trading of credits or let them expire
That sounds extremely user-hostile to me