A few days ago I caught onto the concept behind Viva. I make time each day to review different cryptocurrencies, ICO's and any new blockchain technologies. My goal is to learn more about programming on various blockchains and to eventually start producing blockchain applications and services. In the meantime I am investing fiat money slowly but surely into various cryptos and ICOs.

One of my interests is in finding solutions to income inequality. As an American it is obvious to me that we are not operating in a fair system and this is contributing greatly to the disparity we see in income while contributing to social unrest. I'm not suggesting that a fast food server make as much money as a founder or CEO of a major multinational corporation, but the divide is way out of proportion. A major reason for our current state lands on predatory lending and fees that our banking system levies on all of us. This falls disproportionately on the poor and working class. I am attracted to VIVA for the same reasons I was attracted to steemit. Both are attempting to reward people for their time and energy in a more equitable manner.

From the white paper:
" In today's financial system every transaction is like opening and closing a leaky faucet. Inevitably, value is lost - usually into the pockets of corporate financiers. In the VIVAconomy™ each and every drop of value is recovered and equitably returned to the individual people, Vivos™, who participate in the VIVAconomy. We have combined a three-tiered stabilized digital currency framework, an online blockchain trading exchange, a proven digital currency ATM network and real world value generating blockchain applications to form the world's first sustainable virtual economy."

Right away this caught my attention. Considering how much money is funneled to banking institutions just in processing alone, there is a substantial amount of wealth that can be harvested here. I know this is what was originally so appealing to me when I discovered bitcoin in 2011(No I didn't hold the over 2500 coins I mined...). Fast transactions for very small fees, anywhere in the world. Having been a business owner for over 15 years, I have paid tens of thousands of dollars in processing and banking fees alone.

As I continued reading through the whitepaper I noticed that they were aware of and attempting to solve another important issue that creates a barrier to entry for all crypto: accessibility. They are building a user friendly wallet, an ATM network they have already tested and are pegging their currency to a USD range of $5.50 plus or minus 10%. Pegging their currency to a USD range is very similar to the steem dollar. This is one of the things I found attractive in steem and another plus for VIVA. I know we hope to develop robust marketplaces and direct trading of crypto for goods and services in the future, but until then it is nice to have something that is easily convertible to a fiat currency and is within a stable and predictable range.

Here is the gist of their currency framework:
"To solve this problem, the VIVAconomy™ is scaffolded around three digital currencies: VIVA Crowns™, vX and VIVAcoins™. Like the heavy counterweight at the foot of a tall crane, VIVA Crowns provide the VIVAconomy with the stability needed to be perceived as a reliable, safe place for Vivos™ to store value. vX are integrated financial instruments that allow any Vivo to store value pegged to a specific amount of external currency. For example 1 vUSD is the number of VIVAcoins equivalent to $1 USD. The vX are redeemable at their face value in the specified currency at any time regardless of the fluctuations of the value of VIVAcoins. VIVAcoins, the third tier currency in the VIVAconomy, is the primary operating currency within the system. All transactions are settled in VIVAcoin which means that these are the coins that businesses and people will use in their daily lives."

Another issue with crypto can be the ability to safely trade the currency. When I first started out in bitcoin we had Mt. Gox and a few other smaller competitors. It felt risky to leave your coins in the exchange wallet any longer than needed and most of these exchanges were unregulated. We're all aware of the security issues that are in play and the hack of Mt. Gox proved to validate many of our fears. I believe things have improved over time, however it is nice to have an easy solution to trade cryptocurrency for other currencies or fiat money. VIVA has created their own exchange which is currently operational if you choose to start buying VIVA currency or VIVA crowns. It is called TradeQwik(https://www.tradeqwik.com/).

The exchange is in beta, but is operational and has been for some time. You can currently trade in BTC, STEEM, ETH, USD and for VIVA crowns and Vx. Their market will help create liquidity for the currency and the great part is that people staked in Viva will get a proportion of the fees collected on the exchange. This highlights the vision behind VIVA that all transactions and business on the network creates value and is redistributed to participants. The exchange is one of many businesses expected to be developed on the network and it will be open to entrepreneurs who want to create more. There is also a VIVA social media platform that appears to work in a similar fashion to steem.

From the whitepaper:
"The Tradeqwik Exchange makes all of these conversions easy and simple. For the advanced currency trader it provides the ability to leverage complex instruments like lending and margins. However, for the normal everyday Vivo it simply facilitates the movement between the VIVAconomy and the rest of the world. Even better, every transaction that occurs on the Tradeqwik Exchange generates value which benefits equitably every member of the VIVAconomy. "

So how does this help with inequality and income distribution? This leads us to the VIVA liquidity pool. The pool is where VIVAs can invest their earnings and receive dividends on their investment. All VIVAcoins that are minted are borrowed from the liquidity pool which is funded by all of the individual VIVA liquidity accounts. Again this is similar to the steem, steem power and steem dollar concepts. The more we keep as individuals in the liquidity pool, the more we get paid out in dividends which we can re-invest in the liquidity pool or convert to our VIVA current account for trading/spending.

From the whitepaper:
"The liquidity pool is funded entirely by individual Vivos and acts as the people's voice in the VIVAconomy. All VIVAcoins that are minted in the VIVAconomy are first borrowed from the global liquidity pool. The liquidity pool charges the mints interest for this and maintains a spread between what it charges in interest and what it pays in dividends. This spread is split into three parts: • 50% to liquidity pool participants as a dividend • 25% to the VIVA Awards Committee • 25% to the VIVA Social Media Platform. "

We've discussed the general aspects of VIVA and how it works. One final aspect is the VIVA Awards Committee. This portion of VIVA currency will be distributed to help fund individuals, businesses and causes that promote and enrich the platform. It might be business startups on the platform, charity initiatives or maybe just to support an individual in a tough time or career transition. This will be decided by VIVA crown holders who want to issue an AR that will provide a reward based on the current value of the awards pool. There are limits to help protect imbalances and to protect the value of VIVA currency.

From the whitepaper:
"Every 90 days, Crown Holders can perform these actions for each Crown they own: 1. Sell (rent out) a Treasury Right (TR) to a mint, or sink a TR into the liquidity pool (thereby purchasing additional ownership stake in the pool). 2. Give an Award Right (AR) to any VIVA user. TRs and ARs can be used independently of each other, and mixed in whatever measure is desired depending on how many Crowns you have. For example, if a Crown Holder has 10 Crowns, she could choose to rent out 3 TRs, deposit 7 TRs in the liquidity pool, and issue 4 ARs to deserving users, all for the same 90 day period (not all ARs have to be used). Like TRs, an AR is good for a 90 day period and then it expires, allowing you to issue another one. The purpose of ARs is to allow Crown Holders to award people a potentially life changing amount of money, above and beyond what simple voting can accomplish. "

The VIVA social media platform is a critical aspect to the VIVA community. It operates in a similar manner to steem with some key differences. Voting on the platform centers around individuals rather than specific pieces of content. There will be plenty of content available on the platform, but the voting centers around voting for a user or business's total contribution to the community. Rewards come from the spread in the VIVA liquidity pool as outlined above.

From the whitepaper:
"The VIVA Social Media Platform, however, is much more than just a content creation and sharing platform. Vivos can vote for and reward business activities as well. Are you an entrepreneur, business owner, or charity organization? The VIVA network will allow you to be rewarded through votes for the positive contribution you make in the world!"

For a more in depth discussion of the social media platform voting and rewards dynamics I recommend reading the whitepaper linked at the end of this post.

There is so much more to explore in the whitepaper and I encourage you to review it. There is an upcoming VIVA crown ICO on May 1st if you are interested. Check out tradeqwik(https://www.tradeqwik.com/) if you want to trade now or join the VIVA chat (https://chat.vivaco.in/home) to ask questions.

Here is the link to the whitepaper: http://go.vivaco.in/ref/T6119710/ You need to provide an email to gain access. So far I have not received any spam, etc.

Thanks for reading! Follow me and I'll follow you back!