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International Conference on Financial Cryptography and Data Security

FC 2015: Financial Cryptography and Data Security pp 78–91Cite as

Issues in Designing a Bitcoin-like Community Currency

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Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNSC,volume 8976))

Abstract

The invention of the Bitcoin protocol has opened the door to new forms of financial interaction. One such form may be to adapt Bitcoin technology for use as a community currency. A community currency is a form of money issued by a non-government entity to serve the economic or social interests of a group of people, often in a small geographic area. We propose a model of a community cryptocurrency that includes a community fund from which community members may take out loans if the community votes to approve them. We consider possible vulnerabilities and mitigations to issues that would affect this community fund, including issues of identity, voting protocols and funds management. We conclude that these vulnerabilities are, in most cases, amenable to technological mitigations that must be adaptable to both community values and changing conditions, emphasizing the need for careful currency design.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    One of the authors of this paper (Vandervort) has mined Marscoin. His wallet currently holds 321.824521 Marscoin. He has no plan to go to Mars.

  2. 2.

    At the time of this writing (September 2014), a patent application titled “Peer-to-peer (p2p) currency platform implementing demurrage,” (USPTO patent application number 20130346164) may affect implementations of demurrage. The application can be viewed at http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Section1=PTO1&Sect.2=HITOFF&d=PG01&p=1&u=/netahtml/PTO/srchnum.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1=20130346164.PGNR.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. PARC, Webster, NY, USA

    David Vandervort, Dale Gaucas & Robert St Jacques

Authors
  1. David Vandervort
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  2. Dale Gaucas
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  3. Robert St Jacques
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to David Vandervort .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Leibniz Universität, Hannover, Germany

    Michael Brenner

  2. Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

    Nicolas Christin

  3. Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

    Benjamin Johnson

  4. New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, New Jersey, USA

    Kurt Rohloff

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© 2015 International Financial Cryptography Association

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Cite this paper

Vandervort, D., Gaucas, D., Jacques, R.S. (2015). Issues in Designing a Bitcoin-like Community Currency. In: Brenner, M., Christin, N., Johnson, B., Rohloff, K. (eds) Financial Cryptography and Data Security. FC 2015. Lecture Notes in Computer Science(), vol 8976. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-48051-9_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-48051-9_6

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-662-48050-2

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-662-48051-9

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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