[ANN] Woodcoin – A Physical-Digital Money System Based on Wood Grain Uniqueness

[mveljko78]

Introduction

Most cryptocurrencies are purely digital, secured by hashing or staking.
Woodcoin takes a different approach: it is a hybrid money system that uses the natural uniqueness of wood grain combined with digital verification.

Each wooden coin is both:

A physical token – carved from wood, with a unique grain pattern that cannot be forged.

A digital entry – photographed, documented, and published on a peer-to-peer network for public verification.

This creates money that is both tangible and cryptographically verifiable.

How It Works

Unique Identity – Every coin has an 8-character alphanumeric code (0–9, a–f).

Verification – High-resolution photos of each coin are published in a decentralized torrent swarm. Anyone can verify authenticity by comparing the coin’s wood grain and code.

Scarcity – Just like gold has density, wood has a fingerprint-like grain structure, making counterfeiting practically impossible.

Why Wood?

Physical scarcity – No two wood grains are the same.

Sustainable – Based on renewable natural material.

Historically proven – Communities have used wooden money in the past (e.g., Tenino, WA). Woodcoin modernizes this with digital verification.

Current Status

Physical coins are being minted and documented.

A torrent-based database of authenticity is live.

Website: www.woodcoincrypto.com

Open Questions for the Community

Is this closer to a collectible, a complementary currency, or a true cryptocurrency?

Could hybrid physical–digital systems fill gaps left by purely digital money?

What risks or opportunities do you see in tying money to natural uniqueness (wood, Damascus steel, etc.)?

Links & More Info
🌐 Website: woodcoincrypto.com

📖 Book: A New Kind of Money (Amazon) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F4XN3YC4
💬 Discussion welcome below!

[IMZ Noo Account]

Hmmm . . .

'Could hybrid physical–digital systems fill gaps left by purely digital money?'

In my district, lots of folks are not big Internet users. The notion of a hybrid crypto used in the style of a local 'scrip' is interesting.


'Physical coins are being minted and documented.'

How would price discovery happen?


But I think the elephant-in-the-room question is: why not use silver coins?

[mveljko78]

Mod note: Merged consecutive posts.

Why not use silver coins? Because gold and silver are deflationary, they are capped. Their supply cannot be increased significantly.
With gold, silver and bitcoin, nations are doomed to deflation (which leads to unemployment and war), and with fiat they are doomed to inflation and hyperinflation.

And of course...if for example you and I want to trade between ourselves, with woodcoin price for that is zero. If we choose silver or gold we first have to give
some of our goods to 3rd parties to obtain gold and silver for our trade.
After a while that gold and silver will leak out to 3rd parties and we will have to 'buy' it again for our trade.
For example English colonies in America frequently run out of gold because of trade deficit with Europe. In the end they started printing paper money backed by tobacco (for their internal trade).

Well in fact gold and silver can be mined from the ground,and its supply can be marginally increased. But that is expensive and amount of gold in circulation is always growing slower than the economy. It is always deflationary.
Gold always acts as a brake on the economy. Because if you take a loan in gold or in bitcoin it will get more expensive every day, even without interest. For that reason financial crisis was unheard of before introduction of fiat money.
Gold always acted as a brake. But on the other hand with fiat we always end in inflation or cycles of boom and bust. Woodcoin is an attempt to find a middle ground. A hard currency ,but supply can be increased (or decreased) if all trading parties agree.

Gold was used because it can be verified in a decentralized way - by comparing size of the coin to weight. Simple balance scale was enough. But in the age of internet we can use other materials as well, and perform decentralized check easily.