Why I Think Devcoins Are A Good Investment

Devcoin is an 'ethically inspired' digital currency which was first created in 2011.

Digital currencies such as Devcoin are sometimes also known as 'alt coins', because they are seen as an alternative to Bitcoin, which was the first digital currency to gain widespread popularity (and of course they are also an alternative to regular national currencies). There are quite a few different alt coins out there now, but Devcoins were one of the first and are now amongst the most well-established.

The mission statement of Devcoin is to support open source developers and creative commons writers and media producers around the world. This is done through newly minted coins. Other digital currencies such as Bitcoin give all newly created coins to so-called 'miners' who help to maintain the network and perform 'proof of work' calculations. Devcoin still has miners as well, who are required to provide the computing power that supports the distributed system which does not have any central servers, but 90% of all newly created coins are given out to open source developers and writers.

This is done through two methods - bounties and contributions to Devtome. Bounties are rewards given to open source developers who create software and make it freely available for others to use. Devtome is a creative commons wiki, where writers can earn Devcoins for contributing content.

You can use Devcoins for making purchases at a small but growing range of internet shopping websites, for sending money globally to other people, or you can simply exchange them for other currencies such as US dollars.

The innovative method used for the initial distribution of newly created Devcoins serves to support people who are making a valuable contribution to society. Open source software and hardware means that people can access products which they wouldn't be able to afford to buy, and also increases innovation because other developers can build upon open source projects in a way that they cannot do when commercial software hides and protects its source code. Creative commons media is also given away for free, and increases creativity in the same way - because people can copy something, put their own twist on it, and then share it with others without worrying about copyright infringement.

Of course I must also admit to a vested interest - part of the reason why I love it is because I am one of those writers who contributes to Devtome and earns Devcoins for my work - I'm expecting my first payment within the next couple of weeks and I'm really excited about it!

When I get that first payment from Devtome I plan on keeping most of my coins, rather than spending them or cashing them out for another currency. The reason for this is because I really believe that the value will increase substantially over the long term.

There are two reasons why I have this opinion. The first is the standard reason why people buy and hold digital currencies - because I think that the popularity of Devcoins will grow over time and that this increased demand will outstrip the limited supply and lead to an increase in value.

My second reason is more specific to Devcoins. Most digital currencies do not have anything to back up their value. The price of these coins is determined entirely by public perception of their value, with nothing else to back them up. Devcoins are different, because the advertising revenue generated by Devtome is used to buy Devcoins on the open market, which are then put back into the pool to be distributed to the open source developers and writers who the project seeks to support. This extra demand exerts an upward pressure on prices, and one which I think will increase over time.

I think that it will increase over time because, as the amount of content published on Devtome increases, and as the current content ages (gets more organic links) the advertising income generated by the site is likely to rise even if the amount of new content were to remain the same (at least for some time). This should mean that each month a larger number of coins need to be purchased each month, whilst the number of newly created coins will remain constant. The normal rules of supply and demand dictate that this should lead to an increase in the value of each coin.

If I've whetted your appetite enough for you to want to get your hands on some of these babies, here is how to go about getting some:

You can earn Devcoins by writing.

You can mine Devcoins (can be merge mined with Bitcoin).

You can claim a bounty.

And finally, you can buy Devcoins