How could blockchain be a key resource in the value creation process of a local currency? A case study centered on Eusko

Fabienne Pinos*

* IUT de Bayonne et du Pays Basque, Université de Pau et des Pays de l’Adour, Bayonne, France. fabienne.pinos@univ-pau.fr

Abstract

Blockchain is seen as a major financial innovation for the years to come; it interests financial industry as well as some local currencies. Thus, it seems appropriate to analyze how Blockchain could be a key resource in the value creation process of a local currency. Our article aims first to analyze the potential contributions of Blockchain for local currencies. Then, we compare these contributions to the key resources and activities identified in the study of the value creation process of Eusko, the first European currency in circulation since the end of 2018. Launched in June 2011, managed by the association Euskal Moneta (EM), this initiative aims at creating value that can be considered as public value (Moore, 1995). We use the canvas of Osterwalder & al. (2011) to identify the key resources and activities of EM’s business model and explore how blockchain technology might or might not support them. We show that several factors can slow or even preclude the adoption of such a technology in an innovative context that solicits, in various forms, the adaptive capacities of project stakeholders. Through this case study, we wish to contribute to develop knowledge about economic models of local currencies.

Keywords

Local currency, blockchain, value creation, trust, transition.

Article Pinos

To cite this article: Pinos, F. (2020) ‘How could blockchain be a key resource in the value creation process of a local currency? A case study centered on eusko’ International Journal of Community Currency Research Volume 24 (Summer 2020) 1-13; http://www.ijccr.net; ISSN 1325-9547; DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.15133/j.ijccr.2020.008