Sure, by why have another mechanism (backed by) what could just as easily be the real store of value? A house is a store a value, a highly productive food forest is a store of value, deep relationships are a store a value, knowledge, and experience are stores of value, tools and materials are stores of value. With so many available options for storing value, why have a liquid version as a store? A highly-liquid store of value will always trump (economically) less-liquid stores of value, thus creating an artificial demand for it... So, why go through the effort to create a currency backed by real stores of value, when it's merely a counterfeit?

I have known of ithica hours for some time! Unfamiliar with mountain hours. I like the concept, I would like to expand on a bit more it though because I don't want to delineate 'time' as a currency. I still like how the market dictates price and if time is involved that tends to get distorted as it's difficult to factor in other forms of capital, such as knowledge and experience. I.e. a highly skilled tradesman's 1 hour is more valuable than a non-skilled tradesman given the same task... So, currencies backed merely by hours are a bit difficult... I realize Ithica hours has implemented some strategies to circumvent this problem, but I would like to avoid if from the start.