Svalbard Money

Create, buy and sell digital Svalbard-money

On www.svalbard.money you learn about the fascinating monetary history in Svalbard: bills and (Soviet) coins issued by the mining companies there through much of the 20th century. You may also print your own Svalbard money; technically these are non-fungible tokens on the Ethereum blockchain.

What is money really? Well, money quite simply is what money does … Moreover, it is trust enshrined: We have to trust that a bill issued by a central bank is indeed worth what it claims to be worth. Ordinary banks also issue money in as much as loans generated by banks and bank deposits may be used interchangeably with official, physical cash.

In Svalbard, however, American, British, Norwegian, Swedish and Soviet mining companies issued their own local money for approximately 80 years. Why? Mainly due to practical reasons: The mining communities in Barentsburg, Grumant City, Longyearbyen, Ny-Ålesund and Pyramiden would be isolated from the mainland for large parts of the year. Yet they always needed money. Money to pay wages, money that miners could use to buy products and services. This unique currency was only accepted in the company towns in Svalbard. On paper, Svalbard money was independent of both central banks and commercial banks.

It was work in the coal mines that gave the workers access to Svalbard money. Over time there was an unambiguous relationship between money and work. The invisible watermark on the Svalbard notes was one of work and toil, production and value creation. Hence, at least when it comes to language, the Svalbard money is reminiscent of hyper-modern cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ether. The latter type of money is commonly associated with both “mining” and “proof of work” as well …

Log in and register on www.svalbard.money to learn about money in Svalbard and to acquire digital Svalbard notes. There you can read essays about Svalbard and Svalbard money, listen to podcasts about money, mining and blockchain technology, buy art, play games and answer various “monetary questions”. This project is initiated and owned by SpareBank 1 Gruppen. You may access the explanatory white paper concerning Svalbard money here: www.svalbard.money/whitepaper

Text:
Morten Søberg