Bitwalking Dollars - Digital Currency Pays People to Walk

Digital Crypto-Currency Generated by Human Movement

Digital crypto-currency generated by human movement has been launched and the bitwalking dollars would be earned by walking which would be different from other digital currencies like Bitcoins that are mined by computers. A phone application tends to count and verify the user’s steps with walkers earning around 1 BW$ for about 10,000 steps. Originally user would be given the opportunity of spending what they earn in an online store or trade them for cash.

Nissan Bahar and Franky Imbesi, the founders of the project have drawn over $10m of initial funding from mostly Japanese investors in helping to launch the currency as well as in creating the bank that tend to verify steps and the transfers.

Murata, the Japanese electronics giant is working on a wearable wristband which would be providing a substitute of carrying a smartphone and show how many BW$, the wearer seems to earn. Shoe manufacturers are also ready to accept the currency where a UK high street bank is in talks in partnering with the project at one of the biggest music festivals in UK, next year. The founders tend to have a track record of disruptive technology which could support developing nations as much richer ones.

Bitwalking Scheme Help in Transforming Lives

Last year, Keepod, a $7 USB stick which tends to act like a computer had been launched in Nairobi, Kenya. The purpose of Bitwalking is to take the benefit of the trend for fitness trackers by providing an extra incentive in keeping fit.

The global scheme intends to partner with sportswear brands, health services, environmental groups, health insurance firms as well as possibly advertisers who may be offered exclusive visions in the targeting audiences. In the near future, employers could be invited in taking part in a scheme which would be offered to their employees in encouraging them to stay fitter with the currency they tend to earn converted and then paid along with their salaries.

The average person in developed nations would be earning about 15 BW$ per month, though it is anticipated that in poorer countries, where the people would have to walk further for work or school or just to collect water, the Bitwalking scheme could help in transforming lives.

Education on How to Use Money in Additional Opportunities

The power Bitwalking could make in the developing countries is not lost on the founders and is one of the main reasons for creating the currency. In Malawi, one of the African nations, tojoin at the time of the launch, the average rural wage was just US$1.5 per day.

Karen Chinkwita, business advisor runs Jubilee Enterprises providing business guidance to young people in Lilongwe and has commented that there could be a temptation for some to walk rather than work. Most of them would prefer to earn more money and would do both. With some education one can teach them how to use that money in creating additional opportunities.

 Carl Meyer, Bitwalking manager for Malawi, has established the first two Bitwalking hubs in Ligonwe and Mthuntama wherein local people would be trained on how to trade the BW$ online for US$ or the local currency, Malawi Kwacha. Bitwalking has not formally released the procedure utilised in verifying steps but states that it uses the handsets’ GPS position and the Wi-Fi connection for the purpose of calculating distance travelled. The phone reports the type of movement and speed as measured by the accelerometer.

The Currency

The dollar Thaler born in the mountains of Bohemia in 1520, is very young face, for example, the dinar Arabic, the denarius of the New Testament. Longevity also a bit mysterious, like everything related to money. After all, why accept a piece of gold, silver or shell as payment? Because this object is easily transformed into jewelry, thus satisfying a need for adornment supposedly inherent in all humanity. But then an austere and puritanical society should not prohibit it and the currency is limited to barter? In fact, the seller has accepted this sign because he knows that he will pay him tomorrow or something, which means something more durable, the day after tomorrow. And he knows because it is the custom, or rather the law, which de facto limits the jurisdiction in which money circulates. Moreover, more power is distant and changing the law, more monetary support of the sign must be rare and valuable: Darius fought for gold, silver and Pericles Leonidas iron.

Therefore, only legitimate democracies of the twentieth century were able to permanently accept the greenback as currency transactions, and reserve account. Only, indeed, such a system allows the public to believe sincerely that the State work for the common good and not primarily for private benefit, especially legally. Contract law is respected by the courts, the promised values do not fluctuate overnight at the discretion of the parties, as is often the case with an arbitrary power, so a simple piece of paper is a reserve credible value. Even today, this is not apparent everywhere and one can rightly assume that the strong demand for gold, saving the Indians and, increasingly, the Chinese in fact reflect a deep distrust of these people face their leaders and their judges. It is thus not surprising that any lasting weakening of the statutory authority is accompanied by currency turmoil.

The Currecny and The Inflation

If the tickets are not hoarded, but used as soon as possible, the rampant inflation is not preprogrammed. This requires, besides the loss of confidence in the state, a simultaneous collapse of production, caused for example by the French occupation of the Ruhr in Weimar Germany, the nationalizations of the early Soviet unbridled or hunting white farmers in Zimbabwe of Mugabe, to name only the most famous examples of hyperinflation.

Such phases have been rather rare, especially given the tremendous growth that the world has known these past hundred years. Is that the introduction of a purely fiduciary currency regime has liberated our economies of these brakes ancestral: the lack of credit and therefore money. Ever it was no more acute than in the standard purest gold, between 1870 and 1910, during which nine successive recessions in the United States, the Bank of England has often had to temporarily lift its cover- Gold, protectionism grew at the same time as the social discontent. Between the rush California and the opening of South African mines, the world sorely missed because of the yellow metal to properly feed its growth potential. So - as some said - that humanity is not crucified on a cross of gold, while central banks have gained powers when they have not simply been created as the U.S. Federal Reserve and the National Bank Switzerland. But the link to gold remained still too strong since it is probably he who explains the magnitude of the Great Depression of the 30s.

Faced with these shortages and crises, and despite all its faults, the monetary regime fiduciary past fifty years seems rather beneficial. Certainly, central banks create money by their own judgments, frightening those who do not understand the value of a currency does not lie in its coverage, but in its ability to purchase. Now this creation is not reckless because the tickets are always accepted with gusto by those who are lucky enough to receive it. For accounting purposes, rather, they seem-backed IOUs, but it might not be the case if they were not put into circulation through banks.

The Operations "carry trade" Part-3

This trend leads to a significant increase in financial markets, coupled with a loss of the concept of risk in the minds of market players due to a depletion of non cash flow. However, a decline in performance in the financial markets, a sudden reversal of the markets, would cause substantial losses for investors, given the high level of leverage and risk now supported in the carry trade. Such a situation would cause a repositioning of investors and a concomitant rapid unwinding of positions in many currencies.

The decrease in the level of liquidity resulting from this movement would affect all markets and could be the detonator of a currency crisis or a global economic crisis in the world.

The same situation was experienced in 1997-1998 in Asia, while the yen carry trade operations were already in place and that the Russian market, to be distributed, had fallen sharply. Today the extent of yen carry trade is more important and the crisis would reach Europe and the United States, countries in which investments are made.

In a context of continued increase in European markets and U.S. growth of risk borne by financial transactions recently implemented, Japanese monetary policy is closely watched by central banks. To prevent slippage of financial markets, a gradual closing of the "tap" cash is needed and must go through a rate hike. However, the continued movement deflation in Japan does not justify a significant rise in interest rates. Japan cannot afford to hire a real policy of monetary tightening; the Bank of Japan announced Feb. 21 an increase in the rate of 0.25% and should not go much further in the short term.

Several questions arise: what are today the real levers available to the Bank of Japan? Central banks have they yet have the means to weigh on global liquidity? Is it too late to avoid the worst?

The Operations "carry trade" Part-2

Currently, the carry trade the most developed is the yen carry trade, however, note that there are also such operations on the Swiss franc. For investors, the yen carry trade is interesting on two levels: first because of the difference in rates (the Bank of Japan lends at a rate of 0.25%, while investors can invest this money to rates above 5% in England and the United States); the other due to the depreciation of the yen during the duration of the operation.

The situation faced today was introduced by Japan's economic policy. Following the crisis of the 2000s, Japan and the United States and Europe have dropped their rates significantly in order to avoid an economic slump. However, if the United States and Europe have been sharply reversed the trend, growth in Japan that has developed since then have been accompanied by a sharp reduction in unemployment, low wage growth but to no inflationary pressures, the Bank of Japan was not forced to change its monetary policy and rates remained extremely low (0.25%).
The interest rate spread, which has gradually opened up between the rates of Western central banks and the Bank of Japan caused the yen carry trade phenomenon. The main actors are just to take this opportunity, especially as comfortable as it is artificially maintained by the Japanese central bank and no sign of change seems to appear.

The current danger is that the carry trade is no longer limited to play on differences in rates, but it greatly increases the global liquidity by moving the pockets present in economies with weak currencies to countries with high rates. The yen is borrowed in dollars, pounds sterling, Euros ... then invested in operations with high leverage.

The Operations "carry trade" Part-1

The port - or carry trade - is a relatively simple operation which is to take advantage of a gap in performance between asset classes: asset borrowed at low rates are placed in high-yield assets. Today, the phenomenon has grown strongly on the yen, becoming problematic. that evidenced by recent calls from the President of the Eurogroup, Jean-Claude Juncker, and many analysts, asking the President of the Bank of Japan to reconsider its policy. They do not seem to find echoes in Japan, but show an awareness of the danger generated. However, failure to report the problem exists at the conference of the G8 does not seem to be in line for a quick response.

The carry trade exchange, a concept theoretically unworkable in the long term. A currency carry trade involves borrowing in a currency in a country where rates are low, to change the money into a currency "strong" and place it high (treasuries ...). Theoretically, the operation of the arbitration process is ephemeral because the markets are efficient (at each moment is a financial security to its price) and rebalance through exchange rates and interest rates.

In addition, because of the rule of parity uncovered interest rate, the interest of such an operation is theoretically zero. Indeed, a difference in rates between two countries reflects inflation differentials. But these differences are offset by a realignment of exchange rates. Thus, when an investor speculates on the difference in rates observed between the two countries, he loses the same value on the exchange. That said, sometimes the law does not hold in practice and that the currencies of countries with low rates and suffer the opposite effect depreciate. This is the case of the yen, which reached historic lows against the U.S. dollar and the euro.

Carry Trade Part.III

This trend leads to a significant increase in financial markets, coupled with the disappearance of the concept of risk in the minds of market players due to a depletion of non cash flow. However, a decline of return on financial markets, a sudden reversal of the market, would result in substantial losses for investors, given the high level of leverage and risk now borne in the carry trade. Such a situation would cause a repositioning of investors followed by a rapid and concomitant unwinding of positions in many currencies.

The lower level of liquidity resulting from this movement would affect all markets and could be the detonator of a global currency crisis or a global economic crisis. The same situation was experienced in 1997-1998 in Asia while the yen carry trade operations had already been implemented and that the Russian market, object placement, had fallen sharply. Today the extent of yen carry trade is more important and the crisis would reach Europe and the United States, countries in which investments are made.

Against a backdrop of continued increase in U.S. and European markets, increasing the risk borne by financial transactions recently introduced, the Japanese monetary policy is closely watched by central banks. To prevent slippage of the financial markets, a gradual closing of the "tap" cash is needed and must go through a rate hike. However, the continued movement deflation in Japan does not motivate a significant rise in interest rates. Japan cannot afford to hire a genuine policy of monetary tightening; the Bank of Japan announced Feb. 21 an increase of 0.25% and should not go much further in the short term.

Several questions arise: what are today the real levers available to the Bank of Japan? Central banks have they any means to influence the global liquidity? Is it too late to avoid the worst?

Carry Trade Part.II

Since last few years, the carry trade is the most developed of the yen carry trade, however, note that they are also processed the Swiss franc.

For investors, the yen carry trade is interesting on two levels: firstly because of the difference in rates (the Bank of Japan lends at a rate of 0.25%, while investors can invest this money to rates above 5% in England and the United States), secondly because the yen's depreciation during the duration of the operation.

The situation faced today was introduced by Japan's economic policy. Following the crisis of the 2000s, Japan and the United States and Europe have dropped their rates sharply to avoid an economic slump. However, if the United States and Europe have been sharply reversed the trend, growth in Japan that has developed since then have been accompanied by a significant reduction of unemployment, low wage growth but to no inflationary pressures, the Bank of Japan was not forced to change its monetary policy and rates remained extremely low (0.25%). The yield spread, which has gradually opened up between the rates of Western central banks and the central bank has caused the Japanese yen carry trade phenomenon. The main actors are not taking advantage of that opportunity, the more comfortable it is artificially maintained by the Japanese central bank and no sign of change seems to appear.

However, significant risks facing the global economy. The current danger is that the carry trade is no longer limited to playing on differences in rates, but it greatly increases the global liquidity moving into the pockets present in economies with weak currencies to countries with high rates. The yen is borrowed in dollars, pounds sterling, Euros ... then invested in operations with high leverage.

Carry Trade Part.I

The asset borrowed at low rates is placed in high-yield assets is otherwise called Carry trade. Today, the phenomenon has grown strongly over the yen and becomes problematic. Many analysts calling the Banks to reconsider their policy. They do not seem to find echoes in Japan, but show an awareness of the danger generated. However, non-termination of existing problem at the G8 conference does not seem to go in the direction of a rapid response. The carry trade exchange, a concept theoretically unworkable in the long term.

A carry trade involves borrowing in foreign exchange currency in a country where rates are low, to change this amount in a currency "strong" and place it at high rates (treasury bills ...). Theoretically, the operation of the arbitrage transaction is ephemeral because the markets are efficient (at each moment is a financial security to its price) and rebalance through exchange rates and interest rates.

Moreover, because of the rule of parity uncovered interest rate, the interest of such an operation is theoretically zero. Indeed, a difference in rates between two countries reflects inflation differentials. But these differences are offset by a realignment of exchange rates. Thus, when an investor speculates on the difference in rates between two countries, he loses the same value on the exchange. That said, sometimes the law does not hold true in fact and that the currencies of countries with low rates suffer the opposite effect and depreciates. This is the case on the yen, which reached historic lows against the U.S. dollar and the euro.

Evils of Inflation and deflation

Let me explain the concept of Inflation and deflation in a simple manner. Inflation and deflation are the terms used to describe the state of a Economy.

Inflation is the word used during price rise of essential commodities. Inflation is nothing but, too much of money chasing too little goods. To put it simply, if there is too much of paper money and less quantity of goods are produced, then too much of paper money would chase too little goods which would automatically increase the price of the commodity.

Inflation occurs when there is more paper money and less end products. There is imbalance between the money printed and the goods produced during inflation. Inflation can be controlled by controlling the printed paper money or producing more of the goods.

The term deflation is used opposite to Inflation. Deflation is a period when too little money chases too many goods. Because of this, the price of the commodities starts falling which will put the producers to get a price lower than their production cost. This is also evil to the economy.

So continous fall or rise of prices would be seen as evil for the economy. Inflation and deflation can be controlled by the Government by increasing or decreasing the Interest rates or by controlling the printing of Currencies.

Will be US Dollar replaced by Euro or Chinese currency?

For the past six months Dollar has been depreciating against all major currencies. Against Indian Rupee it depreciated from 52 to 46 Rupees. It depreciated against Euro and it depreciated against Major Asian currencies.

There is already a talk among certain coutries like Russia, China, France and etc, to replace US Dollar as World Reserve Currency. They want to trade oil in some other currencies except USD.

The US Economy is growing at a very slower pace for the past ten years when compared to the other Major developing Countries like China and India. The growth rate is likely to be slow for another 5 years in USA.

Even the once mighty Europeon Countries are no longer growing as Asian Countries. The continueous lesser growth or no growth in US and Europeon Economy would surely put China in the Drivers seat in world affairs and World Economy.

The Chinese growth in the past decade is phenomenal. It is vast a country and it is almost equal to the size of USA. Its population is more than 4 times the population of US and their only disadvantage is English, the language spoken and understood in most part of world. Even in that area, they are improving day by day.

Going by the vast potential of Chinese in Military and Economic Might, Chinese currency may replace US Dollar in another  Five or Ten years in the Future.