EU promotes „revolutionary“ cryptocurrency
Counter-design to Bitcoin? – EU promotes „revolutionary“ cryptocurrency
The ambitious project wants to fundamentally change the way digital goods are valued and sees itself as a counter-design to Bitcoin.
A small, unknown crypto project has more than doubled in value in recent days after a collaborative partner was awarded funding from the European Union (EU).
The price of the cryptocurrency Streamr (DATA), which is based on Bitcoin Cycle the Ethereum network, accordingly gained almost 116 % on 12 February. This was triggered by a report that the blockchain project will be integrated as part of a new pilot project.
The pilot project in question was in turn launched by the ATARCA Consortium, which has set itself the goal of nothing less than a revolutionary concept for the valuation of digital goods. The artificial scarcity of these in many cases creates „economic inefficiencies“ that need to be resolved. To further this purpose, the European Commission has awarded 2.75 million euros to ATARCA.
This makes the pilot project, and the cryptocurrency it proposes, a stark counter-design to Bitcoin (BTC), because the crypto market leader derives its value from precisely this artificial scarcity, through which supply is becoming ever smaller in relation to demand. In contrast, ATARCA wants to create a cryptocurrency whose value is created through sharing and multiplication.
However, the comparison with Bitcoin only applies to a limited extent, because the project refers to a special type of good, the so-called „anti-rival goods“, which become more valuable the more they are used. ATARCA, led by Finnish professor Pekka Nikander, is thus introducing a completely new economic concept. In this context, he states:
„Our current economic system does not fit the 21st century, where we humans have to trade goods that are abundant with scarce means of exchange. The term ‚anti-rival goods‘ describes a new category of goods that are abundant and, unlike rival and non-rival goods, become more valuable the more they are shared.“
To map the value of these „anti-rival goods“, „anti-rival crypto tokens“ will be used, which are now being tested as part of the two-part pilot project. The blockchain project Streamr will be involved in one part of the project. The associated DATA cryptocurrency is to function as a means of payment. To this end, the announcement states:
„Unlike cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, the value of anti-rival crypto tokens is not based on artificial scarcity, but on human interaction. Their value is meant to reflect the relationships that develop over time through repeated interactions, which by definition benefits all sides.“
The so-called „network effect“ is supposed to play a leading role in this form of value creation
Similar to social networks or online games, whose added value increases proportionally to the number of participating users, the „anti-rival“ cryptocurrencies should also increase in value in this way. Example: Instead of education only being made accessible to a handful of people (i.e. artificially scarce), the exchange of the corresponding information is rewarded by its value growing with its further dissemination.
The second part of the pilot project is being carried out in cooperation with the city of Barcelona and its „social currency“ Real Economy Currency.
The market value of the blockchain project Streamr (DATA) has climbed to a three-year high after it was announced that it would participate in the pilot. For example, the associated DATA token made it from 0.08 US dollars to 0.18 US dollars in less than 24 hours, as data from CoinMarketCap shows.