Looking to coin it in

‘HullCoin’ was launched in a blaze of publicity in 2017 – even making headlines in the Financial Times. Using blockchain technology, it was described as the world’s first ‘Community Loyalty Point’.

The digital ‘coins’ could only be earned by doing “good works” in Hull’s community and were spent by accessing discounts offered by local retailers. This was tech that put a value on socially-useful tasks.

Around 120 retailers across the city took part in the project. Hull City Council and the Groundwork environmental both supported the project, as did its university, Hull College group and the Department of Work and Pensions.

Coins were given by those organisations to people for volunteering or helping themselves or others to “create a better community”.

Two years on, those behind the experiment have declared it a success, and they are now hard at work, looking to role the concept out both nationally and internationally as a commercial venture.

The initial scheme was backed by funding from Comic Relief and the National Lottery.

Peter Kemp, director at Hull-based Community Valued, says the work being carried out now is looking at the next stage of Application development to create a platform that is being tested at the moment with a launch planned shortly.

He says: “The Hull project was an experiment looking at how to use a crypto-currency to recognise social value.

“It really gave us the confidence to move forward with this. We got a lot of user experience and feedback from various groups.

“That has given us the platform to move forward to the next level both with the business model and the technology.”

Kemp says there is interest in the scheme from local authorities, charities and health organisations across the M62 corridor, from West Yorkshire through to Greater Manchester and the Lancashire coast.

He adds: “It has become a commercial venture and we are actively looking for investors to support the way we want to scale up.

“We are putting together a portfolio at the moment to raise PE investment and in another six to eight months we will be ready for serious investment.

“If we get it right we are looking at a UK market worth hundreds of millions of pounds, it is a great prize.”