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RE: How might a basic income cryptocurrency affect governments, states, and citizenship?

in #basicincome7 years ago

As I understand it, coins are continuously minted for each user. And the value of each user’s coins is related to how much people trust them, and how many people trust them. So it seems, effectively, it is a way to translate trust in the real world into a basic income currency that’s being continuously minted for each user, and whose utility is determined by people’s trustworthiness. You don’t have to do anything to earn and use it except be trustworthy. I’m sure this is a bad summary, but that’s my initial take.

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You become trustworthy by consistently returning the favor. This is not basic income as basic income is, by definition, given in exchange for nothing.

Ah, true. I believe you receive the currency for nothing, but you can’t spend it unless other people trust you. So, yes, that’s a subtle nuance because if you have me a US dollar it’s already widely accepted and I could spend it in many places. This said, without a way to ensure people aren’t creating multiple identities, the system won’t work. So I don’t see how you get around the need for trust signals to make the currency viable.

Oh, I think the currency system is interesting. But it is no basis for universal basic income as it laid out in the white paper.