How to change my economy

I love words. I obsess about words. I am no Flaubert with his “mot juste” — however, I ponder words as a pastime. Free Rice, Words with Friends, Word Genius, WordGirl, Scrabble-Go, Maria Popova’s “brainpickings,” and the New York Public Library podcast “The Librarian is In” are a few of my favorite resources to discover new words and meanings.

Here is my new fun word to trip off my tongue — say it with me; FəN Gə BəL!

From Merriam Webster:

fun·​gi·​ble | \ ˈfən-jə-bəl \

A good one part or quantity of which substitutes for another of equal value in satisfying an obligation — usually used in the plural.

Why do I care if something is fungible? I care because I want to change my hyper-local economy — my economy. What if I could create a closed-loop system for buying and selling used and upcycled goods that *could* replace dollars? Instead of dollars to dollars or dollars to pesos — I could exchange a “coin” for anything I upcycle and buy and sell aftermarket. The inefficiency in aftermarket and upcycling goods is in the payment. How will I pay, did it record in the buyer’s account, was there a fee, how much conversation do I have to have to sell this item? My pain points are verifying the recipient and validating the payment. What if a closed system with a validated coin could earn compound interest with anyone holding the asset? And those folks could then lend and borrow from the system with more assurance and fewer fees (very low) than traditional banking?

Think of it as a club. A buyers and sellers club that you belong to and you are invested in, literally. The power of blockchain and cryptocurrencies is not speculation or a “bromance” with FinTech gurus. It is legitimate change-making for our economy. Your economy.