Suprablog HQ

What does the currency crisis have to do with technology, the overall theme of this blog?

My original inspiration for SupraSphere was based on the work of Bernard Lietaer, particularly his book The Future of Money, where he describes a new communication medium that will allow experimenting with different types of money, allowing the most capable models to bubble to the top. I thought it would be fun to try and build such a thing.

Fast forward seven years. I just yesterday ran into the CIO of the first hedge fund where SupraSphere was installed in December 2002, where it has been running ever since. It manages all of their trading workflow, functioning as an extension of their order management system, and further serves as a repository for all their news. He expressed gratitude for how great the product is and that his organization “grew up around it”.

Meanwhile, the markets are seemingly experiencing total global chaos, with Black Swans everywhere. I read that Iceland might be going bankrupt. I’m not exactly sure what means for a whole country technically to go bankrupt.

I read another report about Brazil and Argentina banding together to create a bilateral exchange that would bypass dollars altogether. Could the Amero Conspiracy be somewhat real after all. According to Vicente Fox, it’s real, but will be “long term, very long term”.

Another one of my contacts is one of the foremost experts on Islamic finance in the world. Interestingly, Islamic banking seems to be rather insulated from the crisis thus far. I will follow up with him and see what his latest thoughts are.

Then there’s the question/idea of a global currency currency standard. Here a representative from China suggests, “The world urgently needs to create a diversified currency and financial system and fair and just financial order that is not dependent on the United States.” I’m not sure if it would be gold/silver-backed, based on one of Lietaer’s suggestions, or something else entirely.

Personally, I’m in favor of a currency based on art and music, ideas and innovation. While SupraSphere is not quite to the point where it can model such a currency, it has many ingredients to help bring such an idea about.