Blockchain, Cryptocurrencies and Smart Contracts VS Complementary currency systems

Abstract

The aim of the following work is to analyze and understand new kinds of technologies such as blockchain, cryptocurrencies and smart contracts in order to study their applicability and employment, their advantages and disadvantages, their points of strength and weakness. The final goal is to compare these technologies to an existing model named complementary currency system. After a deep analysis of blockchain, cryptocurrencies, smart contracts and complementary currency system, about how they work, interact, what kind of structure compose them, and after a comparison with actual structures and models normally used nowadays in the economic world, the final goal of the thesis is to compare the above-mentioned technologies with the complementary currency system and seek if the first are suitable to the latter. This analysis will be conducted studying the pros and cons of each feature of the two subjects (the three technologies and complementary currency system), trying to exhibit how, where and when one element can influence and change the other. The journey to reach the goal prearranged will start from a technical analysis of the three technologies and their features and applications, beginning with the blockchain, followed by cryptocurrencies and then smart contracts. Then there will be an excursus about the actual financial system combined with a historical summary about the first forms of economic necessities in the history of mankind, with a focus on evolutions and innovations that money passed through over time. Then there will be an explanation and an analysis of complementary currency systems, from WIR to SardexPay and Venetex. What they are, how they work, what is the aim of these systems and other issues. Finally, there will be a comparison between the three technologies (blockchain, cryptocurrencies and smart contracts) and the complementary currency system in order to seek out a suitable and sustainable model for economics.