Programmable money represents a historic shift on how we perceive and use money.

Programmable money is money with constraints.

Technically, programmable money is digital currency attached to blockchain-enabled smart contracts. #CBDC

An analogy is food stamps where recipients are given coupons, the equivalent of money, which can be spent only on food — not on alcohol, betting on horses, lottery tickets or anything else.

I could create digital currency that can only be held by credentialed refugees and transferred to credentialed businesses.

“A charity or refugee agency can issue the credential to the refugee. The businesses can be similarly accredited. Then the programmed tokens representing funds can be issued to the refugee and held on his/her phone. The refugee can use them to pay for goods and services from accredited businesses, only. The refugee could also transfer them to other refugees.”

A programmable token could strengthen controls around aid payments, tracking and tracing flows on a national level, using link analysis to uncover fraud and corruption. #CCT

Where are payments going? Why is so much flowing to one place? “That’s the real promise,” said Rosenoer — rooting out the institutional corruption that keeps poor people poor. The developing world needs a tool like this — much more so than the U.S. or Europe “where lots of things are [already] good enough.”

Use case (social):

Programmable tokens can be used to help achieve environmental goals like ridding the world’s oceans of plastic waste. During a coastal cleanup last year of the Manila Bay, for example, local fishermen collected 3 tons of trash — most of it plastic — and were paid for their labor with an Ethereum-based ERC-20 token. Coins.ph (a partner on the ground) helped to convert the crypto into fiat currency. Efforts like these appear to offer an ingenious solution to two seemingly intractable problems: poverty in the developing world and ocean plastic waste.

The future of programmable money – you and I will be able to write code attached directly to our money, dictating its behavior and movements.

Use case (finance): Automated payable/receivable statement

Programmable money could enable global financial transactions that preserve compliance with local laws and regulations, suggested Rosenoer: “Assume that you have a tokenized asset that you want to sell. Let’s call it a long-term debt. The law says that I can only sell it to an accredited investor — one that has a certain amount of net assets and annual income — or I can sell it to a foreign investor.” These are classes of people defined by law. If Rosenoer sells his asset to them, they may have to hold the asset for a period of time if they are subject to U.S. jurisdiction, and then they can only sell to an accredited investor or a foreign investor.

“I can program my token to ensure that whoever holds it meets these requirements,” continued Rosenoer.

This means that I do not have to, for example, create whitelists and blacklists. The token carries the restriction and someone else can issue the credential that meets the requirement(s).

The post Programmable Money appeared first on Blockchain Insider.

1) Could California become its own crypto-country?

2) Bermuda hopes to jumpstart their economy with new ‘stimulus token’

3) Shanghai’s Jing’an District issues blockchain-based discount coupons

4) Swiss crypto bank Sygnum scores approval for digital asset trading

Reading Notes

Could California become its own crypto-country?

The idea of a future crypto-based economy, which could finance a level of free healthcare, free education, and a form of basic income (UBI) at a scale that has never before been seen.

People investing in land and property through crypto transactions could help boost the proposed implementation of Universal Basic Income.

California’s Senate Banking and Financial Institutions Committee recently passed a bill seeking to define digital assets and measure their impact on state and consumer protections.

A Brexit-inspired plan wants to make California its own nation, separate from the USA. The people behind the plan are now looking to establish cryptocurrencies as the financial backbone of the proposed nation.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/could-california-become-its-own-crypto-country

Bermuda hopes to jumpstart their economy with new ‘stimulus token’

“What we are proposing is bypassing all the middle-men, bypassing the banks, and airdrop what is basically an IOU from the government to the people. You will go to a website and register your ID, and the Government will airdrop to you a certain amount of money. It will be immediate and you will have it on your phone wallet.”

As part of the program, the government plans to enable the purchase of food and other products from retailers to strengthen its now-necessary array of contactless payment solutions.

The Bermuda government will also distribute payments to those who qualify for coronavirus-related financial aid using the tokens.

All the transactions will be handled through a digital wallet managed from a mobile app. Assets in this app will be spendable at vendors through QR codes and point-of-sale devices.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/bermuda-hopes-to-jumpstart-their-economy-with-new-stimulus-token

Shanghai’s Jing’an District issues blockchain-based discount coupons

The Jing’an District of Shanghai has started offering blockchain-based discount coupons.

The tourism bureau has integrated blockchain to their WeChat mini-program to adjust the number of coupons in circulation and the validity period of each of these by analyzing how people are using them. The mini-program will send out new coupons daily.

The value of each blockchain-based coupon will vary between 5 yuan ($0.73) to 60 yuan ($8.80).

Employees, students and other residents of the district will be able to obtain the coupons using the WeChat mini-program. They can then redeem them at the movies, theater performances and for online courses.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/shanghais-jingan-district-issues-blockchain-based-discount-coupons

Swiss crypto bank Sygnum scores approval for digital asset trading

Sygnum, a major cryptocurrency bank in Switzerland, is preparing to finally introduce digital asset trading after receiving regulatory approval.

The new approval enables Sygnum to “cover the complete life-cycle of a security,” starting from services such as primary issuance, settlement and custody to secondary trading.

USP: Users now have access to instant settlement via the Sygnum-issued stablecoin Digital Swiss franc (DCHF).

Licensing: The bank has been aggressively expanding its services; after obtaining a Swiss banking license in August 2019, Sygnum was also licensed by the Monetary Authority of Singapore the following month.

https://cointelegraph.com/news/swiss-crypto-bank-sygnum-scores-approval-for-digital-asset-trading

The post ROTD : Nation-state Cryptonization appeared first on Blockchain Insider.