Hello members of the Coalition for Capital Homesteading,

I am honored to have been named to the advisory board of the Grantcoin Foundation. Grantcoin is a crypto-currency similar to Bitcoin, but different in several ways including the way new units are put into circulation. And that is important, although apparently not many people seem to think so because they have allowed traditional money creation to operate for decades in a way that primarily benefits ​relatively few people​.

I believe the ideal way to create money is for the purpose of new productive growth of the economy. This would of course be an improvement over what the Fed now creates money for: Consumer debt (often never paid back), speculation,  government waste, and also some real growth... almost as an afterthought. Crypto-currency until now suffers a similar flaw. Bitcoin creates new units by rewarding "mining" computers for solving equations using a type of processing power called hashing. Not exactly the needed solution focusing on economic growth.

But Bitcoin has proven that a digital currency built with cryptography and a shared record (block chain) can be secure, impossible to counterfeit, and needs no government involvement to work. So it should be possible to develop an altcoin that builds on these strengths and is also geared more towards growth.

I heard an interview with the Grantcoin founders, on a show called "Bitcoins and Gravy" where they articulated the problems with our existing money system in the same way I would. They said it now empowers the financial sector and adds to our growing wealth gap. They also agree that Bitcoin is better in some ways, but causes wealth to concentrate in the community of techies around it. Grantcoin takes a new approach,​ creating new units through grants, primarily to businesses that focus on both profit and sustainability.

The principles of Capital Homesteading are somewhat different of course. If the Coalition and/or CESJ created a digital currency system, it would probably not look the same. But Grantcoin is creative and better than any other system in existence. And when I made contact with the Grantcoin people they were very interested in learning about Binary Economics and Capital Homesteading, even expressing willingness to consider ways to incorporate our principles. We discussed how to build a model to​ emulate the concept of Capital Homestead accounts for all people who participate, receiving Grantcoin designated for purchasing shares of dividend-paying entities. But the mechanics of doing so would be a huge undertaking, probably not feasible at first.​ Grancoin is already taking on a big challenge, but so far making steady progress. And there is great interest in the US and around the world. So it is exciting, especially considering the fact that this project gives us a way to actually implement a better system without waiting for government to do so.

I have not changed my view that the passage of Capital Homesteading legislation would be the quickest way to​ empower everyone to participate in our economy, which would grow steadily with little or no inflation. Widespread ownership of new productive credit flowing through retirement accounts of all citizens into shares of growing, dividend-paying businesses would be ideal. And because all of the key elements already exist, the transition would be as painless to everyone in society as any kind of improvement that I can imagine. We should continue our efforts to enact the legislation, but until a Capital Homestead Act is passed we should ​also ​encourage other ways to have money created for the right reasons. Grantcoin ​is​ one of those ways.

​And having a relationship with the Grancoin leaders/social entrepreneurs can help us move into the future of money, which looks more like crypto-currencies every day.

I invite you to spread the word about Grantcoin, use it and encourage businesses to accept it.​ Start at grantcoin.org. 

In Justice,

Dave Hamill​