Solidarity cryptocurrencies as digital community platforms
Eduardo Henrique Diniz, Adrian Kemmer Cernev, Denis Rodrigues, Fábio Lemes Daneluzzi
Abstract
We investigate the phenomenon of solidarity cryptocurrencies by combining the societal and communitarian aspects of the traditional community currencies with the the blockchain architecture chosen in a cryptocurrency project. We classify and analyze 20 selected solidarity cryptocurrencies from different countries according to three critical aspects of solidarity cryptocurrencies: scale, territorial scope and price stability. Analysis of these aspects is critical to understand the solidarity cryptocurrency concept that connects the originally separated universes of traditional community currencies and cryptocurrencies. This paper contributes to explain the emergent solidarity cryptocurrencies phenomenon by describing particular types captured by our classification. The main findings about solidarity cryptocurrencies in this study are, first, the alignment between type of governance and the respective architecture platform; second, those with closed governance are more likely to be pegged on fiat currencies or other stable measures; third, those focused on local issues tend to have a higher level of adoption.