[2015-02-22]The Guardian: Can a Bitcoin-style virtual currency solve the Greek..

[pawel7777]

Can a Bitcoin-style virtual currency solve the Greek financial crisis?

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/feb/22/can-a-parallel-digital-currency-solve-the-greek-financial-crisis

There’s almost no upside to a eurocrisis. You become part of a rolling maul of politicians, journalists and economists ripping and gouging at each other, both in private and on Twitter. The only advantage of being there is that it forces you to think laterally about money. Soon – if the Greek crisis is not resolved – one of the most audacious pieces of lateral thinking ever could get a try-out: a parallel digital currency, issued by the Greek government, modelled on Bitcoin, but with a crucial difference.
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[Snipe85]

The problem is not the currency they're using but the way they're spending it. All debts the monetary system has created are not real, that's why some countries like Iceland decided not to repay theirs.

[odolvlobo]

The article doesn't really have much to do with Bitcoin, other than demonstrating that people don't understand how Bitcoin works. Other than that, it is an interesting article. The idea is that Greece issues a currency redeemable for euros after two years.

My opinion is that Greek government would be going deeper into debt, borrowing from the holders of the currency. The good news is that the debt would be interest-free. The bad news is that the Greek people would be forced to accept a currency that will become worthless when the Greek government defaults and cannot redeem it.

[brekyrself]

There are a number of ways a blockchain can help Greece:

-Streamline and support blockchain start-ups in Greece (Gateways, Exchanges, etc...).  They do have a large population of highly educated youth.
-Government uses it for internal spending where the citizens can see how their taxes are being utilized.  Democracy 2.0
-A blockchain can even be used for voting purposes.  See Bitshares DPOS system where delegates are voted in/out by shareholders.  A similar system could be put in place where the delegates are the elected politicians and paid directly by the blockchain.  This concept is very in-depth and would be a LONG term goal...

Possibilities are endless however any blockchain implementation on a national level will be met with extreme resistance from those who have $$$ thus current control.