The Catallax project has been on ice for a while as we wait for the technology to catch up to the vision. ETH 2.0 and DFINITY currently are pushing forward with scalability advancements and ZK tech will have some interesting things to say about how to deal with the ‘privacy problem.’ As frustrating as it is to wait on these technologies to mature, it is even harder watching the current spread of Covid-19 and the associated recession knowing that a world with Catallax would have significantly more economic tools to help weather the storm. I’ll rip through a few of them, but if you want to know more you can check out http://catallax.info or read my book on the subject here https://amzn.to/39894up.
Cash Decays
In a Catallax based economy cash decays overtime backward through the blockchain. This means that if you hold cash, it eventually is returned to the people that paid it to you. Now this happens slowly and it is very likely that you will have spent the cash before that happens. In scenarios like this economic trumpdown the governing system can print a lot of cash and ramp up the decay rate so that it is available to get the economy ginning again, but also decays back out of the economy quickly so that inflation is avoided.
Cash Decays to you
The backflow of cash in a Catallax economy flows to the people who have spent money in proportion to how that money is used to build more value in the economy. As you spend more money over time you build up an earned basic income. The amount of your basic income payment depends on how you’ve spent your money. If you’ve spent it with sustainable and profitable businesses your income will be higher than if you spend it with companies that fail to build sustainability. Math dictates that this basic income will likely not come close to compensating for your entire income, but it is enough to help people make it through times like these with reduced employment.
Grassroots agencies
A portion of decay goes to support government agencies that are selected by the participants in a Catallax economy. In times like this groups can coordinate to fund new agencies with their tax dollars and cash starts flowing to those agences immediately.
Holding Government Accountable
In a Catallax economy, the people have the ability to shut off the account access of government agencies in order to pressure those agencies to act. Government inaction can lead to swift organization by those that participate in the system and pay taxes to those government agencies.
Conclusion
It is never fun to have to think about how to react to these things while in the midst of the emergency. Previously I dreamed up Harveycoin (http://catallax.info/news/2017/9/8/devlog-10-harveycoin-decentralized-disaster-relief) when it was the only thing I could do when I was evacuated from my home after the hurricane that hit Houston. Hopefully these ideas will inspire others that are currently social distancing and who have the time and ability to code these things in the new and scalable tech that is emerging. Please reach out if you’d like to talk more about these things or if you’d like to try to come up with some solutions.