Forming our own currency
Shire Silver: An interesting idea.
This thread is intended to be where we continue the discussions from the meeting.
My Notes
The Big Plan
First we discussed what our main options are. The suggested options are:
- Stick with LD and wait things out
Pretty much a dead end, no support from the group - Closed Porc Bartering (Covert)
- Spread your assets around
- We are already doing it to some extent - no change
- Remain flexible enough to outrun the govt.
- Create our own thing (Overt)
- Do we want a $ value or just go by weight?
Big debate, but most support by weight only.
Profit model is problematic with "by weight only" but perhaps become a marketing organization and make money by connecting customers with merchants.
We need incentives for:
- us (Charge merchants for listings? More money for larger listings?)
- merchants (Cheap listing is good advertising?)
- customers (not much incentive needed?)
- Do we want a $ value or just go by weight?
Other stuff
"Silver for Peace and Prosperity"
We need a better word than coin.
XAG is an existing currency listed by the ISO.
Problems with LDs
- What do you do with plain rounds?
- "counterfeiting" appearance.
- Difference between spot and face.
Marketing ideas
- Mailing lists of customers (available to merchants) and merchant lists (available to customers)?
- Grad students as cheap labor for the business?
- Sector by sector growth model? Start with, say, painters?
- "Silver Acceptance Day"? Coordinate a group event.
- Social events for training people in alternative currency usage.
Grams instead of Ounces for face value idea
With silver at $14.43/troy oz, and there being 1 troy ounce/31.1... grams, that comes out to $4.64/10 grams. If we used a face value of $10/10 grams, and assuming a cost of about $3/coin, that comes out to a total cost of around $7.64 for each 10 gram 'shire'. (I know these numbers are very preliminary and need refining)
While this idea has been rejected by the majority of those in attendance, it still might be pursued. However, at this point it is a low priority.
From a mailing list:
I've been thinking about the best way to:
One of my ideas is to print old-style bank notes--backed by Silver
Eagles.
Just a thought...
Lance Haverkamp
Count us in, if you are still interested, we have made progress:
Sample in B&W http://www.moneyart.biz/cc-news.html
could use your input.
Mark
Community Currency Magazine http://ccmag.net
Digital Gold Currency Magazine http://dgcmagazine.com
editor@dgcmagazine
Skype IM 'digitalcurrency'
http://www.twitter.com/dgcmagazine
I think your artwork is fantastic, and it looks like you are doing a good job of putting in security features as far as I can tell.
I would hope that you could denominate the paper in grams of silver or gold. (Troy) ounces are the standard here in the U.S. just because they are traditionally the standard. However, grams are easier to work with for calculations, and any pieces (bullion) would potentially be useful as at least rough weight equivalents.
On the point of denominating in grams (or ounces) - one of the biggest mistakes the American founding fathers made was to create this abstraction called the "dollar". By calling it a dollar, and not a weight/mass of silver or gold, they allowed people to think of dollars as something special and different. That allows the politicians to revalue (devalue) the dollar, manipulating the content. That's the first step you have to take when moving from a commodity currency to a fiat one - make the people think of the money as something different from the commodity.
Volition Incorporated - Providing Liberty Dollar services since 1999.
Very cool. Wish we could have made it.
I think the coining costs could be dealt with as an exchange rate during purchase. Obviously, coined metal is worth more than the raw stock, so it will cost more than spot. What's needed is to describe the coines based solely upon weight and purity, and then to have (weekly?) exchange rates listed on the website that convert the coins into various currencies. The exchange rate needs to incorporate the expenses involved in coining the metal, as well as overhead and distribution costs (etc.).
I think the tiered marketing scheme used by the LD isn't going to work. A simple quantity discount system would let distributors make a profit to cover their costs, without having to keep lists of "official" distributors. Anyone who has the funds to make a purchase of X quantity can get the discount and re-sell. Perhaps an online "training course" to make sure they know the principles involved so they don't mis-represent it when re-selling (avoiding liability issues), and then issue them an code that allows the quantity purchase to go through, like the coupon codes used by many online shopping cart systems. The code would be for a specific shipping/billing address, so that it would provide a reasonable level of security against being shared.
Those are my thoughts at the moment, anyway.
Joe