Finance:Initiative Q

Short description: Speculative payment network and digital currency

Initiative Q is an attempt to create a new payment network and digital currency. It was created by Israeli entrepreneur Saar Wilf, who previously founded Fraud Sciences, a payment security company acquired by PayPal. Initiative Q is backed by Cato Institute economist Lawrence H. White. The initiative has indicated it will not take measures to evade state regulation.

Initiative Q’s goal is to not replace payment cards and paper money but to create a new payment system. It is “creating a new currency (the Q) and distributing it to anyone who helps speed up adoption." The Q is not a cryptocurrency and is not decentralized, but will instead be overseen by an independent monetary committee, much like a central bank.

Marketing and Rollout

Registering for Initiative Q is marketed through multi-level marketing. The currency reserved for registrants will not be released until a critical mass of adopters identify themselves. In November 2018, Vox.com reported that more than two million people had signed up in 180 countries. Later the same month, O Globo reported more than five million registrations, and The Times of India reported that countries with large numbers of registrations included India, Brazil, United States and United Kingdom.

Criticism

In October 2018, Frank Chung of news.com.au wrote that the marketing style could be "perceived as a scam or pyramid scheme" and Daniel Huszák of portfolio.hu compared it to multi-level marketing without the fee. Owen Gough of Digital Spy wrote "Is Initiative Q real or fake? Short answer – we have absolutely no idea."

In contrast, Brendan Markey-Tower, economist at the University of Queensland, said on Stuff.co.nz in November 2018 that it was "not a scam" and that the scheme wouldn't "make you fabulously wealthy. It is, nonetheless, an interesting idea."

Huszák enumerated potential problems with the scheme such as no clear crypto-currency security measures, unclear transaction/exchange costs, and potential for market manipulation by the largest holders of currency.