A city in California is considering launching its own cryptocurrency
Local government funding is a tough gig.
In Britain, dozens of local councils are running up huge budget deficits, while some cities are taking Silicon Valley handouts to try and reduce poverty.
Now the US city of Berkeley is considering launching its own cryptocurrency, as a way for residents to invest in their local community and raise funding for affordable housing.
It’s not dissimilar from what Estonia was mulling last year, replacing corporate bonds with something a little more 21st century, and giving anyone a way of investing in and benefitting from the success of the country.
Berkeley-coins
But Berkeley’s proposals are slightly different from Estonia’s.
The council says it sees cryptocurrencies as a way of reducing its dependence on local business taxes – which have been slashed by Trump – and also distancing itself from the funding of a President who has been openly hostile to the city.
“Berkeley is the center of the resistance, and for the resistance to work, it must have a coin,” Berkeley City Council Member Ben Bartlett told Business Insider.
Future funding
“A country launching its own ICO may sound absurd,” Wong Joon Ian, who covers technology, cryptocurrencies and blockchains at Quartz and previously at Coindesk, told The Memo when Estonia revealed its idea to create an ‘Estcoin’....MORE
