“What you get is fast-track financial involvement where you don’t have go to a bank and become a client. You get access to financial services which are provided right to your mobile phone at prices which are way lower than what you normally get at conventional banks.”

With the initial roll out taking place at the start of April, some of our readers may already have heard of REC, moreover, some of our readers may have actually spent REC in a shop. This is not to be confused with Regalcoin’s REC… by the way. If you have no idea what I am talking about, REC or Recurso Economico Ciudadano, which translates to ‘Citizens Economic Resource’ in English, is a brand-new cryptocurrency which has been set up for use in Barcelona. At present, the currency can be used across ten districts within Barcelona, with plans to roll out its reach to the wider, metropolitan areas of Barcelona. According to Sputnik News, the value of REC is a direct reflection of the Euro, so to give you an idea of the value of REC, at present €1.00 equals around $1.20, therefore each REC is valued at around $1.20. REC can be spent in local shops and businesses buy citizens who live in the districts through which REC is operational. It has been set up in an attempt to boost the local economy and to encourage users of REC to spend at local businesses, rather than in larger chain superstores. As it stands, REC can only be exchanged for Euros by registered business owners, meaning only the businesses can profit from it’s circulation. Users of REC however can essentially only exchange the currency for commodities. We should consider that as REC is a reflection of the Euro, in terms of value, it is not as volatile as traditional cryptocurrencies. This is part of a much bigger initiative from the Urban Innovative Actions (UIA) programme which is working alongside the EU to develop a plan for guaranteeing all citizens a minimum level of income, blockchain technology can be used to get the wheels of this programme in motion. According to Sputnik News, economic Juan Valerdi has commented on this programme, stating that is offers a wide range of possibilities for other cities too. Valerdi said:As it stands, REC is set to continue until October 2019 when a review will be conducted on the success of the project, providing all goes well, many people are expecting REC to continue growing in Spain after this date, could this be the start of a true nationally adopted cryptocurrency? This is a fantastic idea and I do hope to see REC and the UIA programme flourish, not only is it providing cryptocurrency education to regular people, it is giving power back to the citizens and the business owners in Barcelona. As a very cosmopolitan and politically motivated part of Spain, I can’t think of a better place for this sort of technology to be trialled in.