Author Topic: COLU - New Alternative Currency being piloted in Liverpool...  (Read 2535 times)

Offline The Gulleysucker

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COLU - New Alternative Currency being piloted in Liverpool...
« on: September 14, 2017, 11:27:40 am »
An Israeli company called Colu has launched a local digital currency in Liverpool, which aims to revitalise the local economy by cutting out the banks. Will it achieve more than paper local currencies have? To find out, Dougal Shaw followed the money trail.

Large chains like Starbucks, Costa or McDonald's, need not apply. This new digital currency, known both as Colu and Local Pound Liverpool, is only open to locally owned and run businesses. The idea is to encourage people to support the local economy.

........

Rest of the article here ... http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-40728550

Perhaps those who try it out could post up their experiences in here.



PS I see a #sausages lover is featured in it...

...Foodie Ian Rasmussen is one of 17,000 Liverpudlians who have signed up to use Colu. I meet him at a deli called Delifonseca, where he is buying some sausages. ..

Might he be someone we know on here?.. ;D

(And a further PS...obviously, I assume those who have expressed a desire for a boycott on all things Israeli will never be using it.)



I don't do polite so fuck yoursalf with your stupid accusations...

Right you fuckwit I will show you why you are talking out of your fat arse...

Mutton Geoff (Obviously a real nice guy)

Online CraigDS

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Re: COLU - New Alternative Currency being piloted in Liverpool...
« Reply #1 on: September 14, 2017, 11:29:04 am »
I was just going to post up about this having read the same article this morning.

Can't say I'd heard about it before today but go to a few of the places that accept it so will give it a go.

Offline Not that Gareth

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Re: COLU - New Alternative Currency being piloted in Liverpool...
« Reply #2 on: September 14, 2017, 01:55:36 pm »
"Korean Billy" of the official Colu YouTube channel answers some questions....

<a href="https://www.youtube.com/v/s-6sTmZJq94" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="bbc_link bbc_flash_disabled new_win">https://www.youtube.com/v/s-6sTmZJq94</a>

Offline redbyrdz

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Re: COLU - New Alternative Currency being piloted in Liverpool...
« Reply #3 on: September 14, 2017, 03:38:57 pm »
First thing I heard about it too. To be honest, I'm not a big fan of a local currency being supplied (and in parts, funded) by a company, a foreign one too. So the company is, in fact, a bank, just wihout the regulations we have for banks. That they give us very generous terms for our banking with them doesn't change that.
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Re: COLU - New Alternative Currency being piloted in Liverpool...
« Reply #4 on: September 14, 2017, 04:12:36 pm »
Yeah I'd be much more inclined to support this if it was run as a not for profit.

There is very little, from what I can see, in this company building up big support from local companies, the council, etc. and then upping the percentages to maximise profits. Will just see people dropping the support and likely be very wary about using another in the future.

Offline redbyrdz

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Re: COLU - New Alternative Currency being piloted in Liverpool...
« Reply #5 on: September 14, 2017, 04:26:24 pm »
Or it could just fold, stop trading, or decide not to support the app anymore. If you've got money with them, you lose it with no guarantee or compensation in place. And try suing a foreign company.... If all you lose is £30 for some food shopping, not the biggest problem, but if you get part of your wages in it or he council loses out on council tax from a few hundred houses, its a different story.
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Offline The Gulleysucker

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Re: COLU - New Alternative Currency being piloted in Liverpool...
« Reply #6 on: September 14, 2017, 05:23:32 pm »
Like many, I think there could well be reservations about it all, but it would be good to hear from anyone who's actually using it, what their impression of it is.

I like to think that such local schemes, a sort of coop type bank issuing its own local currency for local trading, can offer an alternative if well run by the people involved and obviously well regulated to ensure the organisers or those trusted to organise it don't run off with peoples money, and that measures are in place to minimise other unscrupulous people from simply using it as an opportunity to have a sort of variation of a free cash machine and with little personal consequence if they don't settle up their incurred debts for purchases at some stage.

Any traders/shopkeepers on here who can give their side to it, what it offers them over the normal banking system?


« Last Edit: September 14, 2017, 06:10:01 pm by The Gulleysucker »
I don't do polite so fuck yoursalf with your stupid accusations...

Right you fuckwit I will show you why you are talking out of your fat arse...

Mutton Geoff (Obviously a real nice guy)

Offline Cesar

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Re: COLU - New Alternative Currency being piloted in Liverpool...
« Reply #7 on: September 14, 2017, 06:09:59 pm »
Like many, I think there could be well be reservations about it all, but it would be good to hear from anyone who's actually using it, what their impression of it is.

I like to think that such local schemes, a sort of coop type bank issuing its own local currency for local trading, can offer an alternative if well run by the people involved and obviously well regulated to ensure the organisers or those trusted to organise it don't run off with peoples money, and that measures are in place to minimise other unscrupulous people from simply using it as an opportunity to have a sort of variation of a free cash machine and with little personal consequence if they don't settle up their incurred debts for purchases at some stage.

Any traders/shopkeepers on here who can give their side to it, what it offers them over the normal banking system?




On the plus side it does encourage people in, since you get more Colu pounds than you do sterling, and the commission you pay on withdrawing to your business account is probably a little less than a PDQ deal, but it takes two weeks to pay out at the moment (though apparently it will be quicker in the future). The app does push businesses accepting the Colu£ too so it's helpful for spreading the word. Still relatively early days though so we'll see how it goes!

Offline The Gulleysucker

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Re: COLU - New Alternative Currency being piloted in Liverpool...
« Reply #8 on: September 14, 2017, 06:13:17 pm »


The two weeks withdrawal delay sounds a bit like the Paypal model, I assume that's how the provider scores their profit, on interest in that interval.

Out of curiosity, are you using it yet?
I don't do polite so fuck yoursalf with your stupid accusations...

Right you fuckwit I will show you why you are talking out of your fat arse...

Mutton Geoff (Obviously a real nice guy)

Offline Cesar

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Re: COLU - New Alternative Currency being piloted in Liverpool...
« Reply #9 on: September 14, 2017, 06:52:57 pm »
The two weeks withdrawal delay sounds a bit like the Paypal model, I assume that's how the provider scores their profit, on interest in that interval.

Out of curiosity, are you using it yet?

Yep we are accepting it, it started last December really but they didn't really start pushing it until summer

Offline Not that Gareth

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Re: COLU - New Alternative Currency being piloted in Liverpool...
« Reply #10 on: September 14, 2017, 07:49:08 pm »
This project is actually pretty interesting and has some innovative stuff going on, it's a shame it is so hard to get clear information on it. It is apparently built on the colored coins protocol, which sits on top of the bitcoin blockchain. They even have a block explorer but it crashes all the time.

The original point of colored coins was to make it easy to create digital assets on top of the bitcoin blockchain,something akin to Ethereum. It's been around since 2012. Colu even have a great and easy to use UI for creating and distributing your own coin. Why not just let local communities use that rather than creating this locked-in currency that has an artificial value and where Colu act as some kind of weird central bank?

I still need to look into Colu more but there is something about the model that I really don't like. They have taken decentralisation and centralised it, effectively nerfing the power of what a local currency can be because the actual community have no control over it.

They have made it super easy to exchange an alternative currency which is great but the governance model and transparency needs work from what I've seen so far.

It's also great to see there is an appetite from local communities for this. The future is bright!

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Re: COLU - New Alternative Currency being piloted in Liverpool...
« Reply #11 on: September 14, 2017, 08:44:43 pm »
Woudn't be the first time Liverpool had its own currency.  Think it had one in 1800s at some point.
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Offline redbyrdz

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Re: COLU - New Alternative Currency being piloted in Liverpool...
« Reply #12 on: September 14, 2017, 11:07:29 pm »
This project is actually pretty interesting and has some innovative stuff going on, it's a shame it is so hard to get clear information on it. It is apparently built on the colored coins protocol, which sits on top of the bitcoin blockchain. They even have a block explorer but it crashes all the time.

The original point of colored coins was to make it easy to create digital assets on top of the bitcoin blockchain,something akin to Ethereum. It's been around since 2012. Colu even have a great and easy to use UI for creating and distributing your own coin. Why not just let local communities use that rather than creating this locked-in currency that has an artificial value and where Colu act as some kind of weird central bank?

I still need to look into Colu more but there is something about the model that I really don't like. They have taken decentralisation and centralised it, effectively nerfing the power of what a local currency can be because the actual community have no control over it.

They have made it super easy to exchange an alternative currency which is great but the governance model and transparency needs work from what I've seen so far.

It's also great to see there is an appetite from local communities for this. The future is bright!

Agree with lots of this, I would absolutely love to see a local currency, but it needs to be under local, democratic control and not run for profit. 
"I want to build a team that's invincible, so that they have to send a team from bloody Mars to beat us." - Bill Shankly