ethnews.com
Blockchain firm City Chain Labs has announced that its token, City Coin (CITY), will become the official currency of Norway's first private smart city, Liberstad. As the only medium of exchange within Liberstad, individuals will be able to use CITY to "pay for anything ranging from haircuts, a dozen local eggs or an artisan loaf of bread."
After selling 15 hectares (about 37 acres) of land in April 2017, Liberstad was established in June 2017 on Tjelland farm, a piece of land measuring 150 hectares (about 370 acres). Liberstad is about 45 minutes from Kristiansand, Norway's fifth-largest city. According to the private city's website, the initial 100 individuals who purchased Liberstad land came from 25 different countries and 80 percent of the sales were made using bitcoin.
Though not a separate state – it must comply with Norway's laws and regulations – Liberstad will be built on a handful of philosophical principles, including "voluntaryisme," which holds that "all interactions between people should be voluntary." Along with CITY becoming Liberstad's official currency, the partnership with City Chain Labs will help develop the private city's voluntarysime roots by giving them access to the City Hub.
According to today's press release, City Hub is an app or browser plugin operating on City Chain Lab's blockchain, allowing citizens to manage their online identities within the app, register property and vehicles, and "create city-wide initiatives or vote on existing ones." City Hub's voting framework will be implemented in the Liberstad Incubator Program "to allow investors to vote on suggested applications to the incubator program."
The City Hub portal will also include users' wallets. By holding CITY in their City Hub wallet, Liberstad citizens will be able to stake new blocks and receive a passive income of 20 CITY for every block they stake. Those working in Liberstad will also earn CITY. Liberstad valued the cryptocurrency at 1 Norwegian krone (about 12 cents) per CITY, with workers earning "between 150 and 300 CITY pr [sic] hour depending on the work and qualifications."
Liberstad was granted a one-time amount of 10 million CITY and will receive a monthly payout of 200,000 CITY. According to today's press release, CITY is now available to purchase and trade on the Liberstad Block Exchange, and though no date is given, the private city plans on allowing land purchases to be made using City Chain's coin.