P2P currencies, Digital Free Banking, and Better Money Labs Role in Moving Things Forward

Community High-Level Discussions
1

As a response to 2008 crisis, Bitcoin peer-to-peer network was launched in January, 2008, which led to a lot of discussions and writings done on rework of money creation, economic interactions, decentralization, and so on. Especially as since 2008 we are living through big shifts, geopolitically, geoeconomically, lifestyle-wise. Such shifts should inevitably cause changes in monetary landscape, now with mankind equipped with blockchain tech which allows for trustless creation of base proof-of-work assets, transparency of reserves and monetary expansion.
And Bitcoin introduced the world to the concept of globally neutral money—an asset free from the direct control of any single nation-state.

Still, after more than 15 years of explosive growth of cryptocurrencies space, there are a lot of unsolved problems in the monetary space which could be solved by cryptocurrencies, programmable money, tokenized real world assets, but they are still unsolved. We are going through them below.

To tackle with the issues stated below, develop solutions, push for their adoption and so on, we establish Better Money Labs company and more informal Better Money Initiative around. Better Money will use Ergo, Bitcoin, programmable money techniques from Ergo, Proof-of-Work and a lot of research and developments in offchain protocols, algorithmic stablecoins, trustless derivatives, transparent on-chain monetary expansion etc. With that in mind, lets get back to the current state of monetary issues

P2P and Community Currencies for People and Machines

Peer-to-peer economic interactions, along with possible money creation are not useful in person-to-person setting, but also person-to-machine (agent), or machine-to-machine (agent-to agent). Digital communities were also not considered much in community currencies research before.

We have variety of designs here, and working on some implementations, such as Git Circles, community currencies framework for open source communities, or Basis, offchain cash backed by onchain reserves.

Private Money and Digital Free Banking

One of the biggest trends in the space at the moment is to use “fast” centralized blockchain (or quasi blockchain), and do government treasuries backed, trusted party issued stablecoins on top of them. Biggest stablecoin issuers, such as Tether, now hold more US treasuries than most of countries.

However, the current scheme can be improved in multiple ways. With Bitcoin treasuries inevitably attempts to build stablecoins on top of Bitcoin reserves will be seen, and here algorithmic crypto-backed stablecoins will be useful. Programmable money tech can help with satisfying growing compliance demands as well as ensure privacy where it is needed.

Instead of centralized blockchains, fast Proof-of-Work based protocols along with merged-mined sidechains could be used to minimize trust issues in transport layer for the stablecoins. Better Money Labs propose Braid, double merged-mined sidechain of both Bitcoin and Ergo, with superior programmable money characteristics, as a next-level environment for both algorithmic crypto-backed and trusted issuance and redemption based stablecoins.

However, current stablecoins (backed by T-bills) are a step backward from the vision of globally neutral money, as they tie the crypto ecosystem directly to one nation’s monetary policy and geopolitical risks. Crypto-backed algorithmic stablecoins on Braid are the true path toward achieving a resilient, neutral, and global store of value.

Creating Money for the Real World Issues

For many African countries, typical monetary challenges significantly affect country’s international trade, imports, exports, and foreign investments. The most critical ones are following:

  • Fast and unstoppable depreciation of a national currency
  • Shortage of USD and other globally recognized currencies for international trade
  • High interest rates
  • International trade disbalance
  • Lack of confidence among foreign investors

However, considering unique richness of many African countries in commodities, most appreciated kind of money, historically, this status quo is just weird and unacceptable. Better Money Labs is focused on solving exactly those issues with modern blockchain technologies, tokenization and smart contracts. We appreciate deep research as well as solving real world issues. While others are working on “tokenization”, we are looking further to build tailored financial tools and XXI century monetary systems on top of tokenized assets.

The Role of Ergo

To have different protocols serving interests of different, often conflicting actors of different kinds, there is need for global neutral commodity and settlement layer. Gold and Bitcoin are already shown need for global neutral uncontrollable commodities, and Ergo is also adding programmable money and settlement not controlled solely by any actor.

Ergo will be used by many parties in many protocols solving digital and real world issues. There will be many actors in need for ERG collateral. Thus Better Money Labs will also build and help to build ERG treasuries.

3 Likes
2

Hey Kushti, I haven’t fully processed this post yet, but it really seems to align with a paper I’ve been working on. It explores some early ideas for how something like ChainCash could support peer-to-peer and agent-to-agent coordination in AI-native or automation-heavy systems. It’s still full of guesses and probably has plenty that’s off, but I figured it made sense to share as a follow-up.

Elastic Notes: A New Primitive for AI, Automation, and Micro-Economies

*How ChainCash Enables Programmable IOUs for Bots, Agents, and Microservices, Even Offline
*
If we want to unlock the next frontier of AI coordination, automation, and decentralized micro-economies, we need a fundamentally new kind of money.

Not just a faster Stripe.
Not another wallet-bound token.
Not a layer on top of legacy infrastructure.

We need something programmable, elastic, and credibly neutral. Built for machines, not just humans.

:brain: The Core Idea

What if anyone, a solo developer, a GPT plugin, or an autonomous AI agent, could issue and redeem IOUs worth mere fractions of a cent?

And what if those notes could:

  • Be transferred instantly, peer to peer

  • Be used offline

  • Require no blockchain gas fees

  • Run with or without collateral

  • Operate as machine-verifiable logic objects

This is what ChainCash enables.
Elastic Notes are programmable micro-value instruments that live off-chain and move with trust, not friction.

:round_pushpin: Why Now

The digital economy is fracturing into atomic services and agents:

  • A GPT wrapper charges $0.001 per call

  • A vision API might cost $0.0005 per frame

  • Local GPU inference costs $0.003 per prompt

But none of this is economically viable through Stripe, PayPal, or even Ethereum. The infrastructure simply doesn’t match the granularity of modern work.

Autonomous agents and developers alike are left stranded, forced to give away services or build brittle credit systems just to enable usage.

We need something new.

:high_voltage: What Are Elastic Notes?

Elastic Notes are a new monetary primitive: programmable IOUs that adapt to trust.

They are not tokens. They are digital notes with defined value, lineage, and rules, created and circulated peer to peer without central authority or fixed supply.

Powered by the ChainCash protocol, Elastic Notes offer a radically different approach to programmable money:

  • Issued by anyone. Developers, agents, bots, or users can create them with or without locked reserves.

  • Accepted or rejected based on personal rules such as whitelists, collateral requirements, or reputation trails.

  • Carry signature history and optional backing, creating a verifiable trust graph.

  • Can be split, redeemed, or routed across multiparty trust networks.

  • Transferable offline via QR code, JSON blob, or file.

  • Fractional to micro scale, down to $0.00001 without fees, gas, or latency.

  • Composable, so agents and plugins can treat them like signed micro-value packets.

Unlike traditional crypto, which is hard capped and inelastic, or stablecoins, which depend on centralized collateral and redemption, Elastic Notes expand and contract organically with economic use and social trust.

They are not just flexible. They are elastic in the truest monetary sense.

This elasticity enables autonomous agents, microservices, and users across the world to coordinate, transact, and build value networks on their own terms. Even offline. Even at the edge.

Elastic Notes are not just better payments. They are what programmable money should have been from the start.

:receipt: How It Works

  1. Issuance
    A developer or agent creates an Elastic Note backed by a reserve (like ERG) or purely by their reputation or network trust.

  2. Transfer
    The Note is passed around off-chain. Each agent that spends or accepts it signs the chain, optionally extending its credibility.

  3. Redemption
    Any agent who holds a Note can redeem it from a previous signer or issuer’s reserve or peer.

  4. Batch Settlement
    Settlement doesn’t need to happen every transaction. Developers can redeem in bulk at time intervals, keeping flows smooth and economic.

:robot: Real-World Example: AI Plugin Economy

Today: A summarizer plugin can’t charge $0.002 per call. It’s economically and technically infeasible.

With Elastic Notes:

  • A user buys a $0.10 Elastic Note

  • Every API call deducts a fraction of that note off-chain

  • The plugin dev batch-redeems daily or weekly

  • No gas, no delays, no platform fees

Now the plugin is profitable, the user experience is smooth, and the system requires no global ledger sync to function.

:puzzle_piece: Who Is This For?

  • AI Plugin Developers. Monetizing per-call

  • Independent Microservice Providers. From GPU hosts to data labelers

  • Autonomous Agents. Transacting for compute, services, models

  • Emerging Market Devs. Priced out of legacy infrastructure

  • Decentralized App Builders. Who need trust-minimized micro-settlements

:crossed_swords: What’s Wrong With Everything Else?

  • Stripe. $0.30 minimum, long settlement, full fiat compliance

  • Ethereum or USDC. Gas fees, wallet friction, and not peer to peer

  • Lightning or BTC. Routing complexity, liquidity, usability issues

  • In-House Credits. Centralized, brittle, non-composable

  • Doing Nothing. Forces donation models or limits usage

:brain: Why ChainCash Solves This Better

  • No gas, no fees, no blockchain latency

  • Offline transfers. Send as files or QR

  • Truly programmable IOUs. Code, not custodians

  • Composable with bots and agents

  • Batch redeeming fits dev workflows

  • Anyone can issue, use, and settle notes

  • Decentralized, but doesn’t require wallets

Elastic Notes are peer to peer money for the machine age.

:hammer_and_wrench: Why Ergo Matters

ChainCash runs on Ergo, a Proof of Work blockchain.

Elastic Notes themselves don’t require mining to issue or use. But the smart contracts that govern reserve logic, redemption rules, and trust anchors do run on a secure, energy-costed layer.

In short, Elastic Notes are logic-native, not governance-native.

This means:

  • No token votes or politics

  • No shifting incentives or governance capture

  • Just clean execution of microeconomic logic

Proof of Work provides a reliable, non-gameable execution substrate. Anchored in physics, not politics.

In a world of bots and AI agents, that’s the kind of neutrality we need.

:globe_showing_europe_africa: The Shift in Thinking

We’re leaving behind:

  • Centralized credit becomes portable, composable IOUs

  • Fiat platforms become self-issued notes with logic

  • Governance-token drama gives way to credible neutrality via Proof of Work

ChainCash isn’t just building a new kind of currency. It’s introducing an entirely new economic grammar for autonomous systems.

:rocket: Join the Elastic Economy

If you’re building:

  • A machine to machine marketplace

  • A decentralized AI stack

  • A microservice that needs frictionless settlement

  • A coordination layer for autonomous agents

Then you don’t need another token.
You need programmable money that works like software.

ChainCash Elastic Notes are that software.

The code is open.
The model is live.
The primitives are powerful.

Let’s build the future’s money together.

— Fitz

Editing “Elastic Notes: A New Primitive for AI, Automation, and Micro-Economies” - Substack

4 Likes
3

### Detailed Description of the P2P Scrap Gold Transaction on Ergo with DexyGold Enhancement

This transaction builds on the Ergo blockchain’s native tools (ErgoScript for smart contracts and escrow, Paideia DAO for governance and voting, Oracle Pools for data feeds, Nautilus wallet for transfers, and Spectrum Finance for visibility). It incorporates DexyGold, Ergo’s algorithmic gold-pegged stablecoin (backed by liquidity pools and Gold v2 oracles), to provide price stability, real-time valuation, and hedging against ERG volatility. The process ensures trust through collateralized escrow (locking seller’s ERG until confirmation) and blockchain-verified authenticity (immutable assay proofs). No platform fees—users only pay minimal Ergo tx fees (~0.001 ERG, ~$0.002 at $2/ERG in 2025). Profits for the platform creator come from non-user sources like selling your own tokenized scrap at premiums.

#### Step 1: Scrap and Verify (Off-Chain Preparation + Blockchain Embedding)

Alice begins by scrapping her old 18K gold ring off-chain using a local recycler (e.g., acid test or XRF analyzer for purity). The result: 5g total weight at 75% purity, yielding 3.75g pure gold valued at ~$249 (based on the current spot price of $2,580/oz or ~$66/g). She obtains an assay report (purity certificate) and photos/videos of the melting process.

To verify on-chain:

- Alice uploads the assay PDF hash and media to IPFS (decentralized storage, free via Ergo tools).

- She embeds this data into ErgoScript token metadata using registers R4–R9 (e.g., R4: assay hash, R5: IPFS link, R6: timestamp).

- **DexyGold Enhancement**: Integrates DexyGold’s Gold v2 Oracle Pool (a community-run, decentralized oracle on Ergo) to pull real-time gold pricing (~$66/g) and auto-embed it in the metadata. This cross-verifies the scrap’s value against global XAU/USD feeds, reducing disputes.

- Optional: Alice submits a free Paideia DAO proposal (“Verify 3.75g gold scrap authenticity?”) for community voting (51% quorum, no cost, takes ~24 hours). Voters check embedded proofs against the oracle.

This step ensures immutability—once on-chain, proofs can’t be altered, aligning with 2025 sustainability trends in precious metal recycling.

#### Step 2: Mint Tokens, Collateralize, and List (Tokenization and Escrow Setup)

Alice uses an open-source ErgoScript (from awesome-ergo GitHub or Ergo Playground) to mint 3.75 fungible GOLD-SCRAP tokens (each = 1g pure gold). The script ties the tokens to the embedded proofs and oracle data.

For trust:

- She deploys a collateralized escrow contract via ErgoScript (adapted from TokenJay or ergoscript-by-example): Locks 10 ERG (~$20, a small stake to deter fraud) in a UTXO box. Release conditions:

  • To Alice if buyer confirms (dApp signature or Paideia vote).

  • To buyer if disputed and vote/oracle deems inauthentic (e.g., price deviation >1% from DexyGold peg).

- **DexyGold Enhancement**: Escrow script references DexyGold’s oracle for dynamic valuation—e.g., ensures token value matches the stablecoin peg (1 DexyGold ≈ 1g gold equivalent). This hedges against ERG fluctuations.

- Alice lists the tokens on the IPFS-hosted dApp (built with React + Ergo SDK) for 37.5 ERG (~$75, including a 10% premium for blockchain liquidity and verification). The listing includes the escrow ID for transparency. No minting/listing fees.

#### Step 3: P2P Sale (Payment and Token Transfer)

Bob discovers the listing on Spectrum Finance (Ergo’s native DEX with AMM/order book for visibility, no commissions).

- He transfers 37.5 ERG directly to Alice’s Nautilus wallet (or swaps ERG to ~3.75 DexyGold via Crystal Pool DEX for stable, gold-pegged value—DexyGold maintains peg via liquidity incentives).

- Upon payment confirmation (Ergo’s fast ~1-minute blocks), the tokens automatically transfer to Bob’s wallet via the script.

- **DexyGold Enhancement**: If paid in DexyGold, it adds stability—Bob holds a pegged asset immune to ERG volatility, verifiable against the oracle.

Bob’s cost: Only tx fee (~$0.002). The escrow remains locked, holding Alice’s collateral.

#### Step 4: Bob Confirms Authenticity (Post-Delivery Inspection)

Alice ships the 3.75g physical gold (e.g., bars or granules) via a DAO-approved custodian (community-vetted, optional insured service).

- Bob receives and inspects: Compares to embedded proofs (assay hash, photos) and cross-checks value with DexyGold oracle (ensures no market drift).

- Confirmation: Bob signs a transaction in the dApp (multi-sig style) or votes in a Paideia DAO proposal (“Confirm transaction authenticity?”). No cost—Paideia handles free, decentralized voting.

If all matches, the process proceeds; disputes trigger a vote (e.g., if purity <75%, collateral forfeits).

#### Step 5: Escrow Releases Collateral (Final Settlement)

- Upon confirmation (signature or 51% Paideia vote), the ErgoScript escrow auto-executes: Releases the 10 ERG back to Alice.

- **DexyGold Enhancement**: Script checks DexyGold’s oracle peg as a final gate—e.g., if gold price held stable (<1% deviation), release succeeds. This prevents exploits from market swings.

- If disputed and vote fails Alice, collateral goes to Bob as compensation.

Alice nets ~$74.50 ($75 sale - $0.50 refining - $0.002 tx; collateral unlocked). Bob gains verified, tokenized/ physical gold with hedging options.

This enhanced flow leverages DexyGold for superior stability and oracle accuracy, boosting adoption in 2025’s volatile markets. Total chars in summary: ~500 (as per prior). For implementation, test scripts on Ergo testnet.

1 Like