A short piece about BitCoins a digital currency and it's social impact. And some genuine alternatives to the currency we presently use.

I recently attended the wonderful, inspiring, and slightly intoxicating BarnCamp. For those unaware, Barncamp is a “an ad-hoc gathering … a healthy take on technology, both new media and alternative, with a mix of free software, alternative use of technology for activism” [http://is.gd/azm4kX]

One of the workshops I attended was on the subject of Bitcoin. The distributed digital currency. I won’t attempt to explain its mechanics as this has already been attempted here [http://www.weusecoins.com]
Bitcoin has made the news several times recently, once for its use on the digital black market site Silkroad. The authorities were alarmed and the media keen to sensationalise because Silkroad offered to traders Illegal drugs and dubious services. [http://is.gd/u7UMGU]
More recenlty the hacktivist group Lulzsec have been implicated in an attack to the Bitcoin econony through the digital currency exchange [name here]. By selling a massive holding of Bticoins at a hugley deflated price they managed to crash the market completely [http://is.gd/m1OLfP]

However none of this explains my frustrations with the enthusiasm that it was met with at Barncamp. Its was certainly appropriate to discuss it, distributed technolgies its fascinating and can benifit activism greatly. Here are the political arguements that were put forward;

• Bitcoin through a distributed system takes the power and control of our money away from the banks and places into our control

Its true passing money into the banks centralised control to do whatever they want with is harmful to society. Since the most recent banking crisis the banks have only become more powerful mainly because of ours and particulary the governments slavish belief in the banking system and the financial ‘industry’.

• Through this same system, BitCoin transactions are anonymised

Yes the transactions are. Ironcially those using massive server farms to generate BitCoins en-masse may attract the same attention as hydroponic cannabis farms in lofts spitting out a big red heat map. And whilst the transaction may be anonymised you still need to receive the services purchased.

• It gives us the power to generate currency and put it directly into our pockets (or digital wallets)

Now I should be clear on this point, BitCoin generation will only continue whilst a cap has not been reached. Up to this point though, those massive server farms churning through BitCoin transactions will far overtake your conscientious computer user running a low-power netbook. Bitcoin favours those with greater computing power (and therefore more ‘analogue’ currency to purchase, power, and maintain that hardware).

My main grievance with Bitcoin, for eveything that it achieves to decentralise and anonymalise, it is still another monetary system. And I passionately belive we don’t need another monetary system. idealogically to have one at all is deeply harmful to society.

As far as alternative money systems are concerned the Transition Town project has spawned some great local currency which enocurages shoppers to use local services. This in turn achieves the Transition aims of reducing carbon as the shopper doesn’t travel to an out of town supermarket.

What about skills-based exchange. One example; The Freeconomy Community, made famous by Mark Boyle (The moneyless man), promotes trading of services based on your current need without requiring a syncronous exchange. The concept of ‘paying it forward’  expects that you offer when your skills when you can but not at the point of exchange.