The cryptocurrency craze spun into a new realm of ridiculous with Kanyecoin, Dogecoin, Ron Paul Coin and the bounty of other clone-coins that sprung up to ride the Bitcoin wave. But the latest altcoin to enter the market, Auroracoin, wants to take the futurist trend back to its cryptoanarchist roots. The altcoin was designed specifically for Iceland, and the creator plans to give every citizen of the Nordic country a digital handful of Auroracoins to kickstart their use.
Iceland has its own Satoshi. A programmer called Baldur Friggjar Odinsson has created an alternative to bitcoin that he is calling AuroraCoin and in twenty-three days he will “airdrop” 31.8 coins to every citizen of Iceland – all 330,000 of them. It is, in short, a pretty ballsy move. Aurouracoin (AUR) will work just like bitcoin and it’s already surprisingly popular. It’s worth $15 per coin and at launch 21 million AUR will be made available to all of Iceland’s citizens. They will use their private ID numbers to check in and receive their coins. Mining is performed through proof-of-work operations, just like bitcoin. To be clear there is no telling how popular Odinsson’s idea will be and who or when the citizens of Iceland will start using their currency. In his manifesto, he blames the Icelandic government for “bleeding” the country.