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Frequently Asked Questions - Technical

Hasn’t this already been done?

No. Not to our knowledge.

There are some fundamental technology issues which has made this possible only in recent years. We're pretty certain that nobody has solved the same set of problems we're addressing.

There are certainly related solutions, and we're trying to learn from those and/or incorporate them into what what we're building.

The normal approach to technology is actually to build closed systems (even for open source projects). For example, Cyclos is an open source currency platform. But every installation of Cyclos is itself a closed system with a small group of people who control access, make rules, charge fees, etc. You can build your own independent installation, but you can't participate in their system as an open currency. There's no protocol for interacting across different currencies or installation. They can change rules without your knowledge. And you don't own your data, they do.

The core capacities for software to not need to be managed as a closed system is pretty new, but is necessary if we want to make an even playing field for all participants in an economy.

What do you mean by "open?"

We mean an even playing field for all participants.

Our current economy is closed. Bankers and brokers manipulate trades, transactions and terms for their own benefit fairly invisibly. The average person has no access to the source code (rules, policies, processes) behind the scenes.

This power combined with a lack of transparency about what they do with it, is largely responsible for the current financial crisis. Securities, sub-prime mortgages, over-valued assets and portfolios are collapsing as the lies unravel.

The problem cannot be blamed on some greedy individuals or lazy regulators, it is structural. Until we change the underlying structure where the imbalance emerges, it will happen again and again.

Open Source Software does this by making a progam's source code available. Anybody can verify what's really happening behind the scenes or make modifications to it. This creates an even playing field where the original programmers can't hide functions which would give them undue control over your computer.

We are doing this by reclaiming the power to make currencies with visible rules, decentralized control and tamper-proof data to anyone who wants to use them.