FIMKrypto: Providing Basic Income With Blockchain Technology

Svante Lehtinen, Director of Operations at Krypto FIN ry, has worked in the digital currency space for 15 years. Bitcoin grabbed his attention in a big way during 2012. It was not long after that he formed FIMKrypto, the digital currency intended to provide a basic income and much more to the people of Finland.

“Observing the inception of the first batch of altcoins made me realize there’s something to be done. The thought of establishing a cryptocurrency started to circulate in my mind.” Lehtinen Explains , ”I was active in the community, and ran preliminary tests for basic income for a community.”

FIMKrypto aims to provide a Basic Income to all Finns, an income unconditionally granted on an individual basis, without means testing or work requirement. Basic Incomes are currently offered within the EU, but FIMKrypto outlines three key differences: it is being paid to individuals rather than households; it is paid irrespective of any income from other sources; it is paid without requiring the performance of any work or the willingness to accept a job if offered.

“Basic income is very real and can indeed become significant source of funds for those involved in receiving it, and especially those early adopters who do something with their FIMKrypto.”
— – Lehtinen

Providing a basic income without strings attached provides people with the opportunity to think creatively, and FIMKrypto aim to lead by example. The company recently joined forces with Kryptoradio, funding a two month trial demonstrating that cryptocurrency transactions can be sent via radio frequency.

“We got involved to ‘show’ the possibilities, by sending Bitcoin through national TV networks.” Lehtinen explains, “they included FIMKrypto transactions in the transmitted signal as well. That way we could show the world what’s possible with cryptocurrencies – processing transactions without internet, without mobile connection, wherever the TV signal reaches.”

Many in the Bitcoin community will recall Auroracoin, the crypto currency that spawned the term “country coin”. Auroracoin was sold as the “cryptocurrency for Iceland”, and attempted to distribute a basic income to every icelandic citizen. The airdrop was widely regarded as a failure and Lehtinen advises that FIMKrypto has learned from project failures in the past and wants to push forward with a new method in mind.

“From the marketing and operational standpoint we’ve certainly learned that hyping the coin and going for quick boom is not sustainable. From Auroracoin’s distribution it became obvious that a sudden ‘airdrop’ is a terrible way to distribute national basic income.”

“FIMKrypto dilutes the effect of extra currency supply by increasing the amount of basic income slowly [and] only for users who find out about FIMK themselves and opt in voluntarily. That way the expansion grows organically through word of mouth.”
— – Lehtinen

Early adopters of FIMKrypto are already utilizing the altcoin, “It’s very much concentrated around the currency itself. Some are selling small real items and that’s where the real juice will be coming from,” says Lehtinen. “Merchant adoption of course is the proper channel to make a cryptocurrency usable and interesting.”

Using NXT Lehtinen and his team were able to build a platform that fulfilled the projects requirements. Lehtinen explains,” First we wanted to do our own system from scratch. However, I had followed NXT since its inception, and had worked on some projects using NXT. The lead tech developer of FIMK was also very familiar with NXT. As NXT is the first and strongest of 2nd generation cryptocurrencies it’s codebase enabled us to do more of what we desired than that of Bitcoin or anything else.”

By modifying NXT the team at FIMK were able to move from Proof of Stake to block rewards. FIMK have also shortened the one minute block target of NXT to 30 seconds. This benefits their pay out of FIMK, which is currently 200 every 30 seconds. FIMK will be released in progressively smaller block rewards:

• Stage 1: 200 FIMK (DAY 0 to DAY 308)
• Stage 2: 100 FIMK (DAY 309 to DAY 618)
• Stage 3:   50 FIMK (DAY 619 to DAY 928)
• Stage 4:   25 FIMK (DAY 929 to DAY 1238)

It is not only these third party systems used by FIMKrypto that look favourably on cryptocurrency. The recent announcement of the VAT exemption on cryptocurrency has certainly turned heads. Although it does not affect FIMKrypto Association directly, Lehtinen says, “It strengthens the national aspirations that FIMKrypto drives: To become a leading example in cryptocurrency adoption.”