Icelandic people began to distribute Auroracoin cryptocurrency

At midnight on March 25, 2014, the most unusual experiment began to “financially stimulate” the economy of a particular country. As part of the operation Airdrop every citizen of Iceland has the right to receive 31.8 AUR coins - and do whatever he wants with them. At the current rate, this is about $ 218.

Auroracoin digital cryptocurrency is based on Litecoin, which, in turn, uses the Bitcoin protocol. A feature of the Icelandic experiment is the pre-mining of 50% of the coins that are immediately distributed to the entire population.

The first phase of the distribution of coins will continue for four months. Each applicant will receive 31.8 AUR. At the second stage (another four months), unclaimed coins will again be divided between 330 thousand inhabitants - and everyone can again claim their share. The third stage is another four months, the division of coins according to the same algorithm. At the final stage, unclaimed coins from the first half are destroyed. The remaining 50% will be distributed for charitable or other purposes, as the citizens themselves decide on a democratic vote.
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The plan is that over the course of a year, people will gradually master the Auroracoin cryptocurrency and begin to use it in everyday life. Theoretically, the liberalization of currency control should increase the economic activity of the population. Ultimately, this will help the country to recover from the crisis. But the most important thing is that international money transfers, which are now very difficult after the introduction of hard currency regulation after the 2008 crisis, will be facilitated.

A bit of history. Five years ago, a debt pyramid collapsed, which was created by private Icelandic banks. They attracted customers from all over the world. In a few years, bank assets grew to 700% of national GDP, and the country's economy flourished: in 2007, the UN recognized Iceland as the best country in the world to live on. However, at the very beginning of the global financial crisis, the pyramid collapsed: foreign customers began to withdraw funds. Icelandic banks amicably defaulted, and the government refused to assume the obligations of private banks to foreign investors and sharply limited international money transfers. The emergence of Auroracoin should help solve this problem, at least at the shallow everyday level, for small translations.

The author of the experiment is a kind of Icelandic Satoshi, someone under the pseudonym Baldur Frigyar Odsson (Baldur Friggjar Óðinsson). He explains that the Auroracoin task is “to create an alternative to the national currency to the kroon, which is forced to be used on pain of imprisonment” (quoted in the WSJ interview ).

During the day of the "spread of money" in Iceland, 2.59% of the total number of coins were issued, and the AUR rate fell by half . The beginning, frankly, is not very optimistic. But let's see what happens next. If Icelanders really start using cryptocurrency for mutual settlements in everyday life, they can become a model for similar experiments in other countries. What can I say, even if the experiment is unsuccessful, other countries will still try to repeat it (taking into account the shortcomings). For example, in April, Spaincoans will begin to issue coins to Spaincoin .

Auroracoin client source code
Client under Win
Client under OS X