Bitcoin and Babies - Digital piggy banks using kidcoins?

Don't worry, this blog post is not about putting babies on the blockchain.

I have had the fortune to become a dad a few weeks ago. "Yuge"! It's the reason I haven't blogged for a while. But I'm back! Well, in between when the baby sleeps that is…

It has got me thinking about the future. Among many many things I was wondering what the future of money would look like for my son, say 20 years from now? I know, I know that is a weird thing to start thinking about but you see - I invest in digital money so it was a quick link to make.

I grew up with a piggy bank as I'm sure most of you have. It taught me the value of money and saving up for my very own first big purchase felt empowering. It was a stereo (of course) with a CD player AND a double tape recorder! In 1989, I was the king of my street for at least a few months.

So, initially I was drawn to taking a similar approach for my kid when he grows up. But the digital money completely changes the equation. I was never taught how markets worked or how I could participate in them in school. I think this skill is invaluable to kids growing up in this day and age. It got me thinking:

Will a digital piggy bank provide the same experience?
Do I actually have to teach the value of "old" money?
By the time the kid gets to buy its first stereo - would it still exist?

And I actually think that, whilst I'm thinking about this from a kid's perspective, it applies to all of us. Digital money will take over. But let's not digress.

So, the reason for this blog post is to test my thinking. I was hoping to use the power of social media to test my idea and build on it. Disclaimer: very rough idea. Please shoot!

Here we go:

As you might know, one of the applications of the blockchain technology is that you can "tokenize" applications. Meaning, you can use digital tokens (crypto currencies) to incentivise use of a certain application and all actions are lodged in the blockchain public ledger. I know this sounds like a lot of gibberish if you're not familiar with the blockchain world. So, let's paint a picture of the future.

Imagine this: your kid is old enough to do some chores - doing dishes, washing the car, cleaning its room, cutting the grass. Whatever it may be. You want to teach them the value of helping out in the household. What if we would reward the completion of the chores with a few tokens that they can keep in their digital wallet - your digital piggy bank if you will. The tokens themselves can be used for products or services important to the kid. This could be things (like the stereo I bought), or services.

What if we had kids from the same family / community / sports club earn the same type of tokens so they can use or trade amongst themselves? So say kid A can use their "kidcoin" to procure a service from kid B. E.g. kid A really wants to wash two cars but doesn't like cutting grass. Kid B likes cutting grass but doesn't like water. Do you see where I'm going with this?

Or, they can use their tokens to influence family decisions. This can be as small as what movie to go see or as a big as where to go on holiday. Giving your children effectively a voice in the household (their version of upgrading to first class with their frequent flyer points…).

Another interesting aspect of this I can see is that you could actually start up a decentralised exchange where kids can also trade the tokens amongst themselves. In theory if the pool is big enough you could get some swings in value of the coin, teaching them how markets work from yet another angle.

Because everything is lodged on a blockchain, you could also think of using analytics and "gamifying" the earning of tokens - most kids want to know how they stack up against their friends.

So, friends. What do you think? I know some of the ideas are a bit out there. Have you see an application of the technology for this purpose yet? If not, do you think it would work? Would you use it for your family? What are the restraints we as parents have to put in place to protect the children? Do you see any other applications?

The potential benefits I see are:

Benefits for the kid:

• Understand the value of working to earn rewards.
• Learn the value to either store the value or trade this reward.
• Learn how markets work - both trading goods and services as well as coins.
• Interact more with friends / family / communities.
• Have fun whilst learning.

Benefit for the parents:

• Teach your kid how to store and use value.
• Teach your kid the importance of working to earn rewards.
• Set him/her off on the right "money" path and prepare your kid for the future.
• Interact more with your kid.

Keen to hear your thoughts!

Jeroen