No Like Bitcoin? How About Coinye West? In Yeezus We Trust!
Since we last discussed Bitcoin the alternative currency has had its up and downs but overall it's much more up than down. A variety of related currencies have launched but none have gotten the attention currently bestowed upon Coinye West, an alternative currency said to be launching January 11. If we take the story at face value, we're talking about digital currency creators leveraging Kanye West's name for some quick publicity which may result in legal action which is one reason the creators are hiding their identity. Holy Crypto, Kanye!
Vice's Ryan Bassil not only alerted the world to the existence of Coinye West but interviewed the creators who say Kanye isn't in on the project to date and explained who it's for:
"Coinye West is a cryptocurrency for the masses. Bitcoin is for hardcore money-hoarders, and Dogecoin was more for the internet-meme crowds."
Confused yet?
Executive Summary:
Bitcoin is an alternative currency in digital form that pushes the shared hallucination of currency's value into new territory. Wikipedia has more.
Dogecoin combined the concept of Bitcoin with the Doge meme likely because it was a connection just waiting to happen.
Coinye West combines the concept of Bitcoin with one of the greatest, if unintentional, meme creators of our time, Kanye West. But it could be for real in keeping with the rabbit hole lined with broken mirrors aspect of the web.
The creators explain their goal:
"Our goal with Coinye West is to make it easier for people to use cryptocurrency. Right now, it's kind of a dark art for people to mine coins. We plan on releasing a front end to the 'mining' programs called CoinyeMiner. It will make things a lot more simple and people will be able to make their own coins. We're working round-the-clock to get everything going as smoothly as possible. "
And how this "mining" thing works:
"Basically, people’s computers try and figure out math problems. Hundreds of them work together and when there’s a payout, about half a million coins get released from a block, and they get shared between everyone who helped open them. They then get paid out to a wallet, which is a software that people will keep on their computer. They can send or receive coins from there, sorta like Paypal."
The CoinyeMiner approach sounds rather innovative, though other alternative currencies may be pursuing similar approaches. But given that Bitcoin mining hardware is currently a booming mini-industry, it's interesting to see this element in hosted form. That could actually help open things up more widely.
Nevertheless Coinye West may or may not be the real thing though what is real in such an endeavor is up for discussion.
But it's certainly raising awareness of alternative currencies, especially Bitcoin, with a new round of coverage that may well go where no Bitcoin coverage has gone before thanks to attaching Coinye West to the greatest memeovator of our time, Kanye West.
More:
- Bitcoin x Music: First Bitcoin Jukebox App Debuts, Crowdfunding Site Pozible Accepts Bitcoin
- New Way To Sell Digital Music? Bitcoins Increase In Legitimacy And Rise In Value
- CoinDL: "iTunes Of The Bitcoin World". Can Digital Currency Create New Music Revenue Stream?
Hypebot Senior Contributor Clyde Smith (Twitter/Facebook) is building a writing hub at Flux Research. To suggest topics about music tech, DIY music biz or music marketing for Hypebot, contact: clyde(at)fluxresearch(dot)com.
