Nate Politi rose to power swiftly after the introduction of the “Hey Taco!” economy. This was early 2016 at NJI Media, on a day now remembered as the second most memorable taco-centric day in the history of the company. A king was born, institutions were formed, and regulations passed.

For the uninitiated, “Hey Taco!” is a Slack integration that allows you to award tacos to your peers. Each person starts the day with 5 tacos. He or she can reward their peers with these tacos, or do nothing and lose their daily tacos. This strange “use it or lose it” system led to an initial boom of tacos being given which later slowed down and stabilized. A leaderboard exists where we can each check the total amount of tacos that have been given to us. It is still unclear what we will do with our tacos, what these tacos can do for us, or if we have all bought into a system that means nothing at all. It’s a lot like dogecoin in that way.

Taco Rising

It all started when Natasha Flint, one of our Directors of Strategy, added the “Hey Taco!” integration to the Strategy channel on Slack. Within the first day it was clear that Nate was the Taco King with a whopping 5 tacos. The closest contender for the throne was at least 3 tacos behind in a highly competitive market. This seemed an insurmountable gap to cover as there was a large sector of the economy hoarding their tacos. It is unclear whether or not they thought these tacos would accumulate in their coffers or if they were aware they would lose them forever. Many blame these people for allowing the Taco King’s rise to power, others blame Chad Kroeger.

Attempts to game the system failed as Ian, a developer here, attempted 1 for 1 taco trades. This would have created a much needed influx and distribution of tacos but alas, his attempts failed and the King continued to rule over us. Before the first hour of the taco economy was up our King had risen in the world rankings to 10th place. This expanded his “World Top Ten Rankings” portfolio. His other notable “Top Ten” is Waverace 64.

Tacontroversy

The monarchy had been cemented. In an effort to control the runaway taco economy and prevent mass inflation our legislative branch enacted the first taco regulation. The tacontroversial regulation passed with a simple majority.

“Ok [Everyone]: Starting immediately, tacos need to be legitimately earned – as eluded to by [Andrew]. If you say something clever or meaningful, share something important, help someone out, or do something great. Perhaps the award of the week is based off tacos.”

An era of uncontrolled taco giving had come to an end. The monarchy had already established itself, and though there was a brief period were Katie, a strategista, seemed poised to make a run for the throne. The new regulations closed the pipeline that would have allowed this.

Taco Charity

Recently a new bold idea in has been gaining momentum. Giving Tacos Directly to those who need it. Marie Formica is spearheading this effort. Marie is using a loophole in the taco code that allows for charitable donations. One troubling aspect of this program is that the only recipient as of today has been a member of our legislative branch. We reached out to Marie and received a prepared statement regarding allegations of impropriety:

“Often overlooked in the competitive taco economy are our leaders. Yes, they wield power over the pace of labor within NJI Media’s walls but it’s a necessary and thankless job. They need tacos like everyone else”

She went on to add:

“I’d argue there are no regulators, no kings on Slack. Except Leo Bauza, of course, on whom I have imposed a taco gifting ban.”

Full disclosure, the main critic and observer of the taco economy is me, Leo Bauza, and some might say the entire taco economy doesn’t actually exist anywhere but in my imagination. Those people are of course wrong.

Planet Taco

In this time of initial taco accumulation it’s hard to tell what the future holds. There is no way to use tacos or trade tacos. New tacos entering the economy get put in a frozen bank account of sorts, the leaderboard. Some suggest that a central taco bank should be set up to control taco creation and set interest rates as it introduces taco lending. This would create a regulatory body separate from the legislative branch. Others still wonder why we have this taco thing anyway. One thing is certain, I only hope this taco thing takes off so that one day I might be coming to you in the form of downloadable audio content saying “Hello, and welcome to Planet Taco. I am Leo Bauza and…”

We reached out to our regulatory body who refused to comment on the story. We also reached out to the office of the Taco King and did not hear back. We attempted to contact Chad Kroeger for comment through twitter but have not received a reply.

As always we love hearing what you have to say, you can reach us on social media or leave a comment here.

Update: The ever evolving taco economy delivered some news recently. Taco Rewards have been added by the tacurrency creator, Doug, The statement reads:

Sign up for our Rewards program and make giving tacos much more meaningful. Your company controls your taco currency by assigning a value for each taco. Employees can then redeem their tacos for items that your company designates.

What this means for the future of tacos at NJI media remains unclear. What is clear is that the fast pace of of tacurrency mirrors that of cryptocurrencies like bitcoint and dogecoin. That is to say we are clearly headed for the moon.