The BOBB

The Problem the Community Faces

• Governments and major banks are rapidly moving our communities away from cash transactions, replacing these with electronic payments, in one form or another.
• Banks are closing branches, ATMS are being removed, and more & more venues are refusing to accept cash.
• The Commonwealth Bank, Australia’s largest financial institution is predicting that Australia will be largely cashless by 2026. Large retailers and other major corporations including our mainstream media support and promote this view.
• This is despite many within our community wanting to continue using cash, to enjoy the freedom and enduring convenience it offers, and to avoid the limitations and restrictions imposed by digital payments.

Why is this a Problem?

Cards and electronic payments for either shopping online or in person at local businesses to buy essential goods and services require two essential conditions for transactions to be able to occur. These are:

1. Internet network coverage – so that the transactions can be validated and approved by the merchant and the bank at point of sale.
2. Electricity – to power the payment network and supporting infrastructure.

Without these two critical elements digital payments cannot be made, and essential goods cannot be
purchased.

During the devastating floods in our region, the weaknesses of our current system became obvious. Electrical supply was lost, phone connection failed, banks lost the ability to operate, and the government’s disaster response was ineffective.

The community needed a very fast and effective response but was seriously hampered by failures in the systems we increasingly rely on. These vulnerabilities caused by periodic interruption to power and internet services will become even more critical as we move further down the path to being a completely digital society.

How Can we Avoid This Problem?
As we are moved closer to complete reliance on digital payments and away from cash, it is clear that we will need an emergency non-digital method of payment to be able to make purchases in emergencies. This is critical to avoid the risk of our communities and local businesses coming to a complete standstill during an interruption to the essential services explained above.

To address the financial vulnerability that a digital, cash-free society brings, an initiative has been put in place that is fail-safe and will provide a means to continue transacting in our community, even during service outages.

Our proposal is for our local community to be able to use approved pure silver coins, that have an intrinsic and published value, when necessary to conduct offline transactions. These coins will be known as the BOBB and will provide an Emergency Means of Exchange (EME) that will allow communities to continue to function in times of distress when systems are down.

The BOBB is a beautiful and distinctively designed silver coin, produced in Australia by Ainslie Bullion, a highly reputable Brisbane firm specializing in precious metals for over 40 years. The BOBB is available in both one ounce and half ounce sizes, and Anslie will supply directly to individuals, and can deliver securely to our shire, when required.

Having customers use these coins would be similar to people presenting a $50 or $20 note to make a purchase. Change would be given either in cash or as a credit as explained below. Customers could also buy BOBBs back from the business using cash or card at point of sale.

How to Transact Using the BOBB

• Local businesses will be invited to be part of this program, and to accept the BOBB from customers as an EME to purchase goods or services when required.
• Participating businesses will display a sign on their premises, indicating that they are part of the program, and will accept the BOBB. The sign will read “BOBB Welcome Here”.
• As the price of silver fluctuates from time to time, the exchange value will be set quarterly (ie every 3 months) and will remain fixed until the next review date.
• Each business will also be supplied with a BOBB Book which is an indexed ledger for customer transactions. When a customer makes a purchase using a BOBB, if change is required, the relevant credit may be written up and signed for in the BOBB book and redeemed on a subsequent purchase. Alternatively, change in cash (where available) can be used to facilitate transactions that are less than the BOBB value.
• Businesses may retain the BOBBs that are spent at their store and take advantage of the enduring store of wealth that silver offers, or they may sell them back to customers at the value that has been set for the quarter. This will provide another source of supply of BOBBs into the community for
  purchases when all else fails.
• Providing the community has a sufficient supply of BOBBs essential items will be able to be purchased in times when all else fails.