Bananacoin Is a New Cryptocurrency Based on Banana Prices
Let’s be honest: You don’t really understand cryptocurrency. According to your friends, you should buy Bitcoin. Or maybe you shouldn’t because there’s a bubble. Or maybe the bubble doesn’t matter. And then you have that other friend who says you should invest in Ripple instead.
But hey, maybe you do understand cryptocurrency, in which case, you can explain this one to everyone else: A new altcoin called Bananacoin is the “world’s first blockchain option for investing in production of organic bananas.” Yup, it’s a banana-based cryptocurrency. Investing in Laotian banana production has never been so on-trend!
Bananacoin isn’t as bananas as it sounds. Buying a coin can be seen an investment in an organic banana plantation in the Vientiane province in Laos. To assure that these “coins” have value, each one is said to be backed by the market value of one kilogram of bananas, so “participants can be certain of the success of the project, as the demand for bananas is constant,” according to a proposal published by the Bananacoin team.
In fact, investors are promised they can even swap their tokens for a literal kilogram of bananas if they want. So, in theory, this is a cryptocurrency tied to an actual product, and worst case scenario, you might be able to have crates of bananas shipped to you from half way around the globe to put in your cereal in the morning.
Bananacoin has actually been open for presale since September of last year, but recently came to the attention of Twitter when Zack Bloom posted a photo of a Bananacoin promotional sign he saw at a cryptocurrency conference. “We live in a post-parody society where it's impossible to invent anything more ridiculous than reality,” he quipped. The tweet has gone on to be retweeted over 15,000 times.
That tweet has also started a pretty lively discussion, some of which actually looks serious. “Sounds ‘funny’ with the name,” responded a Twitter user going by Perry. “But, if you can cut out cash and robbery, which is probably prevalent, and protect all transactions it could be a good business model.” However, another user with the handle @lexnyc1 provided this take: “This is a commodities derivative investment contract rebranded as a token. Hope they enjoy hearing from both the CFTC and SEC.” So basically Twitter is just like hanging out with your drinking buddies where no one really knows what they’re talking about.
Needless to say, at the very least Bananacoin would appear to be a risky investment. Though it does come with the one major pro of being able to say you were an earlier investor in Bananacoin. Even if you lose all your money, that’ll still be worth a good laugh at parties.
