This week I will be giving a talk about Wikileaks and Bitcoin at the Impakt Event: DIY currencies.
The instability of the world’s financial markets has led to the development of countless alternative currencies that often consciously develop away from state supervision. An exceptional example of this is the peer-to-peer currency Bitcoin, a form of virtual money of which the origins lie in the cryptography/cypherpunk scene. The currency was developed out of the ideal to create a stable currency whose exchange rate and transactions of which cannot be manipulated or monitored by government bodies or financial authorities. The downside being that this anonymous money transaction system is often portrayed as a money laundering method.
How do DIY currencies contribute to a sustainable economy and which dilemmas does this entail? Various presentations by artists, currency designers and economists will illustrate the bright and darker sides of DIY currencies.
