Orania Goes Digital

The town of Orania in the Northern Cape is taking their isolationism to whole new strata. The economist, Dawie Roodt has confirmed his involvement in a project to develop a new digital currency for the small Afrikaner-only community.
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According to Roodt, the digital currency will be traded using smartphones having worked with experts to create the online trading platform. The physical Ora notes will be completely phased out and replaced with the digital currency.

The digital Ora could become a fully-fledged currency, competing against the Rand.
In this scenario, it will not be backed by or linked to the rand.

“The possibility is that we can soon have a new digital currency, which rivals the rand in South Africa, and the best part is nobody can stop us. The only way to stop this is switching off the Internet.”

-Dawie Roodt

Roodt said there are several options for the digital Ora, including:

  • Backed by the Rand – the value is linked to the Rand value which is invested.
  • Backed by a basket of goods – guaranteed by the Orania Chamber of Commerce.
  • Backed by a basket of services – provided by the Orania local government.
    or
  • Not backed at all, as is the case with multiple currencies the world over.

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