#74: CyberCoin: Groats

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The kids accidentally start a Crypto-currency.
It catches on .

Joshua had called and asked Cody if he wanted to do coffee. Cody was a youngster but he had already discovered the magic of coffee. When he got to their table in Ernie’s he noticed that Joshua was agitated. Apparently he wasn’t the only one who noticed.

“What’s the matter?” Yvette asked.

“I’m not sure. It’s like I have an itch that I can’t scratch.” he said.

“Care to talk about it?” Yvette said “Perhaps I can help you.?”

“Itch about what?” Cody asked

“It came to me in a dream” Joshua grinned. “I kept hearing a MEME, or perhaps it was a political slogan.”

“What was it?” Yvette, was alarmed. Anything to do with politics should be treated with extreme caution. It might be toxic.

“ Something kept saying ‘It’s the Economy Stupid” Joshua said “ I keep hearing that in my dreams, over and over. What does it all mean?”

“Well the economy was certainly stupid.” Cody said, knowledgeable far beyond his age “the poor thing had been lobotomized by regulations, special interests and corrupt politicians to the point that it has to be. Market signals were garbage. They no longer meant anything. If the economy was a person it would be a babbling incoherent derelict picking it’s nose, drooling down it’s chin and peeing in an alley.”

“Us being cut off isn’t helping any is it?” Cody asked. Joshua shook his head.

“Maybe that’s the point.” Yvette, said “Do either of you think life will ever return to normal?”

“TEOTWAWKI began with the long rain, and the fog.” Cody said. “It’ll never be the same. Momma is having a hard time coming to grips with that. Lucky thing that Chad is willing to console her.”

Joshua and Yvette, were both silent for a few minutes. Was Cody being sarcastic?

“Perhaps we should build our own economy? “Joshua wondered.

“From what I’ve read, and I’ve read a lot, economies don’t need to be built. They just happen whenever there are people. In fact that’s generally the problem. Someone has delusions of God-hood and thinks that they can control an economy. It hasn’t worked yet. Economies can take care of themselves.” Cody said.” Currencies are nice though, otherwise it’s Barter. Barter is clumsy.”

“Then maybe we should make our own currency?” Yvette, said “We no longer have any kind of financial system. No checks. No banks. We only have so much paper money. Paper money wears out. We need some kind of currency of our own or things will get awkward. Like you said, Barter.”

“Maybe that’s what’s interrupting my sleep.” Joshua said “hmmmmm”

“Uh oh” Cody said. He faked alarm. “Duck and Cover. He’s having an idea. Stand back, this calls for a trained professional. Don’t try this at home. I recognize the symptoms. I know how to handle this situation. Look OUT! It’s gonna BLOW!”

“CryptoCurrency” Joshua said shaking his head and grinning at Cody’s antics.

“Whew” Cody said. “We were lucky that time. It could have been much worse. That’s a good plan actually. Easy to do since we have zillions of computers in the SSmoke and the QE communication is unhackable. Talk about a broadly distributed network! Its just perfect for a crypto currency.”

“It is isn’t it?” Yvette, said in dawning understanding. “It definitely is. We could use the same concept as Bit Coin . Satoshi Nakamoto did all the heavy lifting back in 2008. All we have to do is pick an Algorithm that provides the coin that meets our specific requirements.”

“We’ll have to name it something. We need a sexy name. I just checked. Do you have any IDEA how many different currencies there are? Almost two hundred government currencies is how many and that’s not counting almost as many that are historical and no longer in use PLUS there are private currencies. PLUS there were a growing number of cryptocurrencies.” Joshua muttered.

“I guess we’re not the first one to come up with the idea?” Cody asked innocently.

Uh no.” Joshua said.”but seriously. This WILL work. For us anyway. We’re in unique circumstances. Everyone has the equivalent of a supercomputer hanging around their neck. Hell, in the air around us.”

Yvette, said “Oh MUCH more powerful than than a mere supercomputer. When you consider the massively parallel........”

“AHEM” Cody said “ The idea will work. Right? That’s what’s important.”

“Well yeah. It’ll work all right. ” Joshua replied. “Un-Hackable, Counterfeit-Proof Currencies without banks. Imagine that.”

“Ok” Cody said “ it’s up to us to get it started.”

“Shouldn’t we ask permission or something?” Joshua asked.

“I am asking permission” Cody said in his little boy voice. “From a Gr’ u’m’p.”

Joshua winced. Yvette, grinned with a very impressive mouth full of needle teeth.

“I know I’m going to regret asking this” Joshua said “What’s a )r’ u’m’p?”

“I’m surprised that you don’t know” Cody said “ That would be a Grown Up Mature Person.”

“That would NOT be me” the voice of a much older man spoke up. ”Would you guys mind if I join you? I hate eating alone. Well I hate to eat alone when there are people nearby that I know.“

The three of them looked up to see the drifter, Wilbur, standing nearby.

“Certainly” Cody said “We be honored. Pull up a seat.”

Wilbur did that.

“ Morning Ma’am” He tipped his non existent hat at Yvette,. She flapped her wings back at him.” So what are ya’ll in such deep discussion about if you don’t mind my asking?”

“Currency” Joshua said “We’re running out of money”.

“That’s nothing new” Wilbur said “I’ve had that problem my entire life. It always seemed that if I had any money then I didn’t have any time to enjoy it because I spent so much time working to earn it.”

“That’s not what we mean silly. The whole Tribe is running out.” Yvette, said “ We mean the currency is wearing out. The paper bills are ripped and taped together, etc.”

“You got that right” Ernie said. He glided silently, like a ghost in his own territory. He didn’t make a sound when he moved. “Would you like coffee also Wilbur? How bout you Cody? Want a refill? Oh by the way. I have Cookies.”

!!PERK!!

All conversation was suspended for a short while until everyone got Cookies.

Ah!” Wilbur said “Chocolate Chip, with Coconuts and other nutz and oatmeal. Gotta love it.”

For a few seconds there was only the sound of chewing and contentment.

“You’re right about the worn out currency “ Ernie said as he topped off all their cups. “Even some of the coins are showing serious signs of wear.”

“I have a new kind of coin.” Yvette, said to Ernie. “I call it a Groat. At the moment this is the only one like it. It’s unique. There are exactly ten million possible, that’s all, no more. There WILL be no more, ever. They are currently undiscovered, or ‘un-mined’, if you will. It’s impossible to counterfeit. What would you give me for it?”

“Hmmm.” Ernie said “ Let’s see that Groat as you call it.”

“It’s a mathematical construct” Yvette, replied “you can see it in Artificial Reality. Here you go.”

She handed him ‘something’, in Virtual Reality. Ernie took it under examination. Ernie was a MUCH more educated and knowledgeable person than he let on. He knew all about Crypto-Currency.

“Ah yes, a bitcoin derivative. Only ten million, you say?” Ernie Grinned at him. “I’d say this will pay for the cookies and coffee. How’s that?”

“I’d say you’re ripping me off horribly” Yvette, told him. “but considering that you’re going to act as the point of injection I’ll accept. But WAIT! There’s MORE! Since you ARE going to be the first point of injection, I’ll even throw in a bonus. Here’s the Algorithm from which it was derived. Now all you need to mine more Groats is a block of processors and some time. SSmoke is all about processors, have you got the time?”

“You know” Ernie was suddenly serious” I’m going to do that. If I’d thought of it first I would have done it anyway. Good move. I owe you guys. This meal’s on the house. For you too Wilbur.“

Ernie walked away. True to his word he kept them fed with cookies and coffee all day. He’d not told them that he was ALSO going to pay for their bill for a long, long , long time. As they say “you’re money’s not any good in here.” The shortage of currency had begun to adversely impact on his business. The Young Mage, the Dragon and the young boy had potentially fixed that. They had provided Ernie with a very valuable service, VERY valuable. He wasn’t one to welch on his debts. Even though he might be the only one to know he was indebted or to whom. Perhaps ESPECIALLY then.

“What just happened?” Wilbur asked, mildly curious. He reached for another cookie. “I have the feeling I missed something.”

“SEE! Cody.” Joshua laughed “That’s the way you do it!”

“I see now.” Cody laughed to “Just do it. Then let the chips fall where they may.”

“Yup.” Yvette, agreed “Cody just asked a Gr’ u’m’p. Two of them actually. Ernie and you.”

“ME?” Joshua said

“Yup. You. You agreed. Even better with Ernie’s as an injection point the Groats shouldn’t take very long to catch on. Especially since the Algorithm is open source and I noticed that Ernie just posted it for everyone to see. It shouldn’t be long before everyone has some. It’ll start off small just for coffee and meals because it’s so easy to use. It’ll gradually grow.” Yvette, replied “With ten million Groats and only three hundred or so Water Tribe and Islanders there won’t be a problem with deflation for some time.”

“Of course the first five hundred are the easiest. After that finding them get’s harder. It takes some serious mining.” Drones didn’t eat cookies, but she wanted to.

“Good cookies.” Wilbur said unconsciously rubbing it in. Perhaps one day he’d find out the details of what just happened. Right now he’d settle for free food.

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The Next Episode Is
#75: Joshua and Cody Have been busy.…
The Previous Episode was
#73: Last move…
The First Episode was
# 1 : Prologue…
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Book One: SoulStone
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