LifeCoin: A New Virtual Currency for Sharing Leisure Activities in the Smart City by Pol Nadal

LifeCoin: A New Virtual Currency for Sharing Leisure Activities in the Smart City Nadal Cros, Pol and Uribe Pérez, Noelia Abstract — The concept described here represents a novel project of a virtual social currency: LifeCoin. It focuses on the exchange of leisure activities among people. Leisure activities represent an important part of our free time. They not only produce relax but also contribute to our personal development. In fact, the Institute of Leisure Scientific Studies has defined the advantages of doing leisure activities in 5 big groups: social, economic, physiological, environmental and psychological benefits [1]. A lot of these activities can be considered as “services” that one individual can offer. In the same way, these ones can be also seen as services that one might need. Consequently, as a whole it can be seen like an interchange of services. By introducing a virtual currency, non-profit interests are eliminated but the aim of people offering services keeps alive, since users get virtual coins in return, which can be changed for other offered services. This model inspires a social network of leisure services exchange and promotes sharing what people can offer since they will get something in return, in form of LifeCoins, as well as the inherent satisfaction of sharing and socializing. In addition, as a consequence of getting LifeCoins in return, people will be encourage to enroll in another activity so the concept also aims for people doing more leisure activities. 1

With the dramatically grown of internet users, especially in the last decade, it have been a consequently proliferation of virtual communities. Some of them have created and circulated their own virtual currency for goods and services exchanges. So, at its core, virtual currencies act as a way of exchange and as a unit of account within a particular virtual community. The goal of the currency itself remains; it is the format the one that actually changes. Virtual currencies, as any other form of money, meet three different functions [3]: ·Medium of exchange: they are used as an intermediary in trade which implies a coincidence of wants between the parties. · Unit of account: they act as a standard numerical value that measure the value and costs of goods. · Store of value: they can be saved and retrieved in the future. The European Central Bank (ECB) had compiled different kinds of money, as can be seen in Table 1. MONEY FORMAT

Index Terms — Virtual currency, social, community, leisure.

I. INTRODUCTION

Unregulated

Physical

Digital

Certain types of local currencies

Virtual currency

he format of money had changed a lot since it LEGAL E-money appeared. In the middle age there existed just the STATUS interchange of things as way of payment. The first Banknotes Commercial Regulated and coins official money coins appeared in Turkey, between 680 and bank money 560 a.C. While early money had an intrinsic value (in form of (deposits) gold, animals, etc.), modern economies are mostly based on money without value itself, since it consists of items Table 1. Money Matrix. (Source: ECB) representing the good (for instance banknotes). The main advantage is the portability: there is no need of carrying the Although it is difficult to classify virtual currencies since its gold ingots since you can use a piece of paper equal to a fixed diversity and quantity, ECB has sorted them in three different quantity of them. Actually, most of the money in use is groups [3]: designated and issued by a central authority. It is considered 1) Closed virtual currency schemes. Users pay a as “legal tender” and there are 180 currencies in the world. subscription fee and then earn virtual money based However, this list only includes paper, cotton, or polymer on their performance. The money can only be used in banknotes and metal coins and excludes currencies used by the virtual community. It is typical in games, such as non-state entities [2]. World of Warcraft. As with many aspects of society, money has also been affected by recent technological developments such as internet. 2) Virtual currency schemes with unidirectional flow. Users buy virtual currency according to a specific exchange rate but it cannot be exchanged back. The Paper submitted on Jan 21, 2015. money is typically used for virtual goods although P. Nadal Cros, and N. Uribe Pérez are currently enrolled in the Smart Cities sometime it is also possible to get real ones. An Master at the University of Girona example of this group is Facebook Credits. Campus de Montilivi, E17071 Girona, Catalonia (EU) 3) Virtual currency schemes with bidirectional flow. polnadal90@gmail.com, noelia.2407@hotmail.com. Copyright (c) 2009 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. However, Users can buy and sell virtual currency according to permission to use this material for any other purposes must be obtained from a specific exchange rate. With the money users can the IEEE by sending a request to pubs-permissions@ieee.org.

CROS NADAL – URIBE PÉREZ: LifeCoin: A New Virtual Currency for Sharing Leisure Activities in the Smart City

purchase both real and virtual goods. An example of this group is Linden Dollars. Probably the most widely known virtual currency is Bitcoin, a system operated by computing networks that collectively encrypt, verify, and process transactions. Its main advantages are that it is open source, non-national, stable in supply and controlled by its users rather than an organization. However, it had an important security fault some time ago that converted regain confidence people its biggest challenge. In order to use it, the user needs to have installed a Bitcoin wallet on the computer or mobile phone, it will generate the first Bitcoin address and more money can be created whenever it is needed. Addresses can be disclosed to whoever the user decides to, so s/he can receive payments [4]. In spite of everything there is a huge tendency of alternative currencies. As Mary Mellor states in her book “The Future of Money: From Financial Crisis to Public Resource” it seems that now more than ever there is a need for more socially, economically and environmentally sustainable systems of finance [5].

personal info, services and transactions through the LifeWallet. LifeCoin is a closed virtual currency, so there is no way to exchange LifeCoins into another currency. By this way we avoid people trying to get money through the platform; because the aim is to promote sharing leisure and making possible experiences avoiding official money necessity. Anyone can do this, no matter the earnings but the motivation. The only source of incomes for the business is the users who pay for the LifeApp+ A. LifeApp The whole operation of the system relays on the LifeApp platform. It is accessible via web page and it also has its mobile version through a smart phone application (currently available for Android® iOS® and Windows Mobile®). A friendly interface welcomes the visitor, where s/he has access to the search engine, the kind of categories offered and the cities where those services are located (see Figures 1,2,3 and 4). .

II. VIRTUAL CURRENCIES IN THE SMART CITY According to the European Commission, a smart city is a place a place where the traditional networks and services are made more efficient with the use of digital and telecommunication technologies, for the benefit of its inhabitants and businesses [6]. In this way, there is a big investment in Information and Communication Technologies (also known as ICT) research with the aim to fulfil 20-20-20 targets [7]. Since the way of how we see cities is evolving and technology plays an important role in it, alternative currencies appear as a new key factor in communities’ development. There is little literacy regarding virtual currencies in the Smart City, however the authors considerate that it will be an emerging topic soon. In their opinion, virtual currencies agree completely with the aim of smart cities, not only in the sustainable part but also in the social one.

Figure 1. Main web page.

III. LIFECOIN LifeCoin arises as a social connector between individuals which like leisure activities. Either in the way of “offering” or “asking for” – prosumer profile. When someone offers a leisure activity (hereinafter “service”), s/he will get LifeCoins which can be only exchanged for other services listed in the LifeApp platform. In the same way, any member of the network can request for a service offering an amount of LifeCoins. Anyone interested in the system should enroll in the LifeApp platform through either the web page or the smart phone application. Since the very beginning, s/he will be a LifeUser and will get a personal and non-transferable account – LifeAccount, from which the LifeUser can manage their

Figure 2. Location page.

Figure 3. Options page.

ii. LifeProfile Associated with the LifeAccount there is a personal user profile section, LifeProfile, where the users set its private and public profile. The private part keeps some personal info such as email, mobile phone, etc. and also includes an option for personalized services alerts and preferences. In this area the user can also configure services and store their favorites. The public section everything that can be viewed but any other LifeUser. It includes reviews of services’ users, the list of services offered by the LifeUser and a brief intro about themself if s/he want to, among others. The application takes privacy seriously and any e-mail or personal info is revealed without the LifeUser’s consent. In addition, public LifeUser information is just revealed only to other members of the platform. People/entities out of the community are not able to see it. In order to ensure the identity of the users, to validate the profile all the users must send a photo of themselves holding a paper with their name. By this way all the profiles can be validated and then give them the welcome reward. This procedure also aims users to have a friendlier LifeProfile, since it includes a picture of themselves.

Figure 4. Popular & New Arrivals page.

Since it is expected that most users access the system through the smart phone application, two versions of the mobile app have been considered: free and paid one (LifeApp+). The free option is the standard version and contains all the basics to operate successfully in the system. On the other hand, LifeApp+ has no advertising and offers early-bird and promotional deals which are not available in the standard versions. LifeApp+ have a cost of 1,95€. B. LifeAccount Anyone interested in being a member of the network can join the system by just creating an account for free through LifeApp (either web page or smart mobile application) and LifeApp+ (also either web page or smart mobile application). When somebody turns into a LifeUser, s/he receives a welcome pack formed by an easy introduction to the platform operation including basic rules and 1 LifeCoin for basic users and 3 LifeCoins for premium users which directly goes to their personal wallet (LifeWallet) for spend in the platform. In this way, we encourage the new user to use the platform. i. LifeWallet Each LifeUser gets its very personal LifeWallet when registered. LifeWallet works as rechargeable online stored-value account and is uniquely associated with the user’s LifeAccount. The LifeUser can check in any moment the transactions s/he have made and the balance of LifeCoins.

C. System Operation Once a person has converted into a LifeUser, s/he can use the platform through either the web page or the smart phones applications in the way of “offering a service” and “asking” for one. The search engine of LifeApp platform is made by 4 easy steps. The first one is the main page where users can look for anything in any location. If the user search a site, such as Barcelona, the search engine will show another page with 3 options to complete. These 3 steps are: transport, accommodation and activities (see Figures 5, 6 and 7). Of course if the user is not looking for transport nor accommodation, just only for an activity, s/he can go directly to this step and choose which one s/he wants and finish the booking. This 3 steps approach wants to encourage de consumer to buy and make his/her trip easier and complete because in the web s/he will find the 3 necessary steps to make the trip more enjoyable. i. Service Offer If a LifeUser wants to offer a service, s/he has to create a new one of recover an old one already created by him/her. S/he will have to catalog it in one of the three main groups defined in the platform. Although the user is not obliged to specify more than that, the system also makes more sub-groups into private initiatives, which are listed below. A single service can belongs to more than one section if the advertiser thinks so. a. Accommodation In this section users can offer/ask for accommodation in any place. Amount of

CROS NADAL – URIBE PÉREZ: LifeCoin: A New Virtual Currency for Sharing Leisure Activities in the Smart City

people, days and any other aspects can be set. The operation is inspired in Couchsurfing and Airbnb (see Study Cases I & II section for more details). Transport It includes any offer and request for long or shorts trips. It is a mixture of Uber and BlaBlaCar services (see Study Cases III & IV sections for more details). Private initiatives All the services that do not correspond to the former categories should be included here. i. Food Any kind of service related to food should be included here, mainly referred to eating. ii. Tourism This includes guides, walking-tours, etc. It can be similar in some aspects to Trip4Real (see Study Case V section for more details). iii. Teaching Lessons and classes of any subject should be included here. iv. Entertainment Any kind of show or performance should be included here, and different kinds of them are considered: 1. Music 2. Sports 3. Dancing 4. Others v. Others This section is for those all activities that cannot be included in the former ones. People is very creative so we cannot catalog all the possible types of services!

Figure 6. Transport page.

Figure 7. Activities page.

Figure 8. Activity page.

Figure 5. Accommodation page.

Once the ad is created, the user can add as many information as wanted, including pictures, videos and text (Figure 8). Some aspects of the advertisement are mandatory: minimum and maximum number of participants allowed to join for the service, a brief description of it (minimum 10 words), cancellation terms (no LifeCoins return in case of cancellation, negotiable or without penalization – see Service Cancellation section for more information regarding

5 this) and the price in LifeCoins (it is strictly forbidden to make any mention to other currencies). However, the user (service provider) can also choose “open-price” option and the users (consumers) will decide the number of LifeCoins the activity “deserves” after doing it. The minimum amount of offered/asked LifeCoins is set to 1. In addition, ads are visible for join them for a limited time. The user defines how long an ad lasts although minimum and maximum are set for 1 day and 3 months, respectively. ii. Service Demand The system also offers the possibility to any LifeUser of making “calls” requesting services that are not advertised in the system. The user just simply publishes the service s/he would like to join detailing as much as s/he wants to. S/he also can set how many LifeCoins s/he would offer for joining the service or let the service provider to decide the price. iii. Service Joining Any LifeUser can join any service advertised in the platform. By doing it s/he agrees with the conditions set by the advertiser, such as amount of LifeCoins, date and time and any other requirement that may appear (for instance, take your own racket to a tennis class, take your own blanket if you want to sleep in my couch, etc.). The user can contact the advertiser via public or private messages in order to get more information about a service. The transaction of LifeCoins is made in the moment that the LifeUser agrees the conditions of the offered service and decides to join it and just in case the user have enough LifeCoins in the LifeWallet to cover the service. The number of LifeCoins that the service costs keep blocked by the system until the service is done. This mechanism prevent an advertiser from spending the LifeCoins a user pay of a service before doing it, since the “producer” can cancel the activity. In case of “open-price” option, the user will have 3 days after doing the activity to “pay” the amount the LifeCoins s/he estimates. If s/he does not do it, the system will set an automatic price of 1 LifeCoin. Then, both the advertiser’s and the user’s wallets are conveniently updated. Also there exists the option that the consumer thinks that the price for an offered service is too high. In this case, a counter-offer can be sent to the provider. iv. Service Cancellation Policy A LifeUser can remove an already published ad in any time without penalty. In case of a service cancellation done by the advertiser, all LifeUsers who signed up for it will receive their LifeCoins back. On the other hand, if a LifeUser that joined a service wants to cancel their attendance s/he will have to refer to the cancellation terms of the service. In any case,

cancellations one week prior to the date of the service are allowed without penalties in terms of LifeCoins and in case of no show up there will be no LifeCoin return. Three options are considered: o No return in case of cancellation In case of no attendance, the user will not receive the LifeCoins s/he paid back. It is intended for those services in which a cancellation may affect a lot the service. o Negotiable The advertiser may set specific conditions in terms of time prior to date cancellation, exceptions, etc. The user will have to contact the advertiser if required. o Cancellation without penalization The LifeUser can cancel their attendance to the service without LifeCoins penalty. This can be done at minimum 2 hours prior the time of the service. Less than that will be penalized with 1 LifeCoin that the advertiser will receive. v. Rewards The system will reward the users occasionally. Sometimes these rewards will be according to their activity in the network and also there will be occasionally rewards. In this way, LifeUsers are encouraged to offer and use services. Any kind of reward, offer or promotion will be in terms of LifeCoins or discount codes. There is no possible transaction in euros in any moment, excluding the paid mobile version LifeApp+. It is strictly forbidden to ask for/offer any other currency in any service from the platform and it might suppose the removal of the LifeAccount. vi. LifeApp+. The users of LifeApp+ will be offered a complete trip pack when they search for a specific city. The platform analyses all the tags of each activity proposed on the website according the search in terms of location and number of people. For example, if a LifeApp+ user looks for leisure in Barcelona for a weekend and for just one person, the search engine will show packs of people offering a transport for those dates and for one person, producers offering accommodation for those dates for one person and finally producers offering activities for the same dates and for one person as well. The full trip in a pack (transport + accommodation + activities). Of course the main advantage of getting this pack is the price. It will be lower than buying separately. The producers do not lose money because the system will pay the difference. vii. Control & Maintenance The system counts with security guarantee and everyday advertisements are review by qualified staff so that all of them obey the rules. In addition, users are

CROS NADAL – URIBE PÉREZ: LifeCoin: A New Virtual Currency for Sharing Leisure Activities in the Smart City

free to contact the platform if anything happen or if they suspect that somebody is using the LifeAccount with bad intentions. viii. Services’ Promotion LifeUsers can promote their services by a fixed tax of 1 LifeCoin. In return, their services will be publicized both in LifeApp and LifeApp+. D. Overall Objectives The system aims to promote leisure among people with nonprofit intentions. In this way, a trustable network can be established since while doing activities together people socialize. Due to the fact that the platform offers a wide range of activities (sportive, cultural, learning, etc.) users improve their skills while socializing. Said that, the systems aims for a more unselfish, healthy, happy and cultivated society… and for free! The actual currency of the system is the motivation of learning new things and having fun. Scenario 1. Poluco is new in the system and he wants to earn LifeCoins by sharing an activity. He has to follow the next steps: 1. Make a profile: a. Fill all the information request. b. Validate your profile: Take a photo with a paper of your name. 2. Identify your user on the LifeApp. 3. Click on “Share Leisure”. 4. Write all the information request: a. Name of activity. b. Type of the activity offered. c. Where is located. d. Time it takes. e. Price. f. Minimum persons. g. Cancellation policy. h. Deadline. i. Other information 5. Share your activity. 6. Wait for consumers’ petitions. 7. Payment(s) are done. 8. Make the activity. 9. The payment(s) go to Poluco’s account.

5. 6. 7. 8.

Make the payment Payment is accepted and you are enrolled Make the activity and have fun! Share your experience in the platform

Scenario 3. Artemis is a LifeUser already but she has run out of LifeCoins and she wants to make an activity. 1. Identify your user on the LifeApp. 2. Click on Share Leisure to offer an activity and get some LifeCoins. 3. Update your account to LifeApp+ and get extra LifeCoins. In the following section we depict some existing applications that coincide with LifeCoin and LifeApp in general in some aspects. The main features are mentioned, relations with LifeCoin are established and the advantages of the system proposed in this paper are presented. IV. BENCHMARKING A. Case Study I: Fureai kippu Fureai kippu is a Japanese sectoral currency created in 1995 by the Sawayaka Welfare Foundation so that people could earn credits helping seniors in their community. The basic unit of account is an hour of service to an elderly person. Sometimes seniors help each other and earn the credits, other times family members in other communities earn credits and transfer them to their parents who live elsewhere. These credits accumulate- users may keep them for when they become sick or elderly themselves, then use the credits in exchange for services. Alternatively, the users may transfer credits to someone else. A surprising part of the project has been that the elderly tend to prefer the services provided by people paid in Fureai Kippu over those paid in yen. This may be due to the personal connection [8]. LifeCoin aims to create the same circle of trust as Fureai Kippu and encourage people to look for leisure activities inside the network instead of paying for them outside. In addition, LifeCoins offers the “extra” of providing more than just “one” type of service.

B. Case Study II: Couchsurfing Couchsurfing is a service that connects members to a global community of travellers. It can be used to find a place to stay or share your home and hometown with travellers. First of all Scenario 2. Noe is new in the system and she wants to look the user needs to create a profile. They suggest to fill out the for a specific activity. She has to follow the next steps: profile as much as possible since it will be the reflection of the 1. Make a profile: user. It can be seen in Figure XX. Then the user can start to a. Fill all the information request. explore the city to meet the other Couchsurfing users or just b. Validate your profile: Take a photo with a look for a place to stay in other parts of the world (see Figures paper of your name. 9 and 10). When the user finds a place s/he likes, s/he have to c. Your LifeWallet is updated. contact to the potential host requesting for a place to stay. In 2. Identify your user on the LifeApp. addition, the user can also be a host/hostess by offering a 3. Search for an activity you would like to do and where. place to stay to other travellers. 4. Review the features of the service a. Read the description b. Check the number of required LifeCoins

7 C. Case Study III: AIRBNB Airbnb is a platform where people can publish and find accommodation (see Figure 11). People can offer their own houses/rooms for rent and some extra services can be fixed as well. It have had some controversial since there have been cases of damages in houses and it have been banned in New York [12].

Figure 9. Couchsurfing personal profile.

Figure 11. Airbnb main page.

LifeCoin brings the benefits of Airbnb: more flexibility in accommodation, the possibility of staying in a “home” instead of a hotel/hostel room but without its drawbacks: users share their place with people from the network, so there is some level of trust somehow. In addition, there is no “money” interchange (just LifeCoins) so there is not for profit interest so, consequently, no illegality.

Figure 10. Couchsurfing search page.

The two main advantages of this system is that is free and the user connects with locals, so it is more than “just staying” at somebody else’s place.

D. Case Study IV: Uber Uber is an application which allows users a transport network by connecting passengers with drivers through its software. It is having a lot of controversy right now. In fact, it have been banned in some cities all over the world such as Berlin, Delhi, some cities in U.S.A. and whole Spain [12] [13]. Many other countries & cities are in process of doing it as well [14].

Once the user have registered, instead of hailing a cab, s/he simply uses Uber's mobile app to request a pickup location LifeCoin bring together the strong points of Couchsurfing but (see Figure 12). Since registered users already have their also goes more than just staying & connecting with locals credit card information saved in Uber's app, there's no need since in the same platform you can also find a wide range of for cash and receipts are emailed. It allows 6 ride-sharing extra activities to do in the city you are visiting such as guides, options: UberX, Taxi, Black, SUV, LUX and the last and focus transport, local cuisine, etc. of all controversy: UberPop, which allows any person with car, previously accepted by the company, to offer their personal car. Uber’s drivers retain 80% of the fare earned, with the company taking the other 20%. It had a quickly spread, becoming a popular app in 205 cities in 45 countries [15].

CROS NADAL – URIBE PÉREZ: LifeCoin: A New Virtual Currency for Sharing Leisure Activities in the Smart City

Figure 12. Uber app main page.

One of the main problems of Uber is that, supposedly, makes unfair competition to traditional local taxi systems. However, our proposal do not follow remuneration (just LifeCoins in return, which cannot be changed to “official” currencies), it is just for the members of the network and it is more focused to longer trips, although local ones are also available. All things considered, LifeCoins takes the benefits of Uber without the controversial aspects that it implies.

Figure 13. BlaBlaCar application.

F. Case Study VI: Trip4Real Trip4real is an online company that offers peer-to-peer activities mainly in Spain and recently in London and Lisbon. The systems connects local people with visiting travelers and people can offer activities for money in return (see Figure 14). Actually it is having a big success in Spain

E. Case Study V: BlaBlaCar BlaBlaCar is another transport application which connects passengers with drivers. People just need to publish the route they are doing, the possible stops during the way and the price (see Figure 13). People interested in the route may contact the driver to arrange some aspects of the trip. In its beginning it was free, but now users must pay a fee per trip to the service. There is some other systems that act similar to BlaBlacar such as Amovens [18]. The strong points of BlaBlaCar are that it is usually cheaper and faster than public transport, more flexible in time and location (the user can arrange with the driver a pick up&deliver point and time). Although this application also has come with some controversial, it seems to be less “harmful” than Uber. Our application offers all the good from BlaBlaCar (flexibility, closeness among drivers and passengers, etc) without the potential for profit interests that may appear in BlaBlaCar and of course without extra charges.

Figure 14. Trip4real application.

Figure 15. CANVAS for Freemium model.

VI. BUSINESS MODEL The philosophy behind Trip4Real is quite similar to LifeCoin. However, the last presents a network which offers more than just activities and there is no official money in return. On one side, this can be less motivating to promote people offering activities but on the other side, since the platform allows multiple kinds of leisure things, users get the incentive of changing what they offer for another service in the future. G. Conclusions Taking into account the previous analysis, it can be seen how the presented system in this paper could improve how people state their leisure activities. In addition, since it not just focused on the strict sense of “leisure” (users can share their knowledge through classes, for instance) it can be seen as general platform for interchanging whatever anyone can offer and also ask for. The comparative among all previous systems and LifeCoin can be seen in Figure 16. V. REAL PROOF OF WORK We ensure the correct operation of the system when nobody communicates any problem and, therefore, the LifeWallets of both provider and consumer update accordingly. If a consumer reports any incident (for example, the activity was a fraud or the producer never appeared) after the date of a service’s acquisition, the platform will carefully analyze the case and solve it. In Open Price case, the consumer will be charged with 1 LifeCoin automatically if s/he do not pay in a period of three days after enjoying the activity.

The fermium model is a business model that combines free basic services with payed premium services. This model has a wide number of free users. Only a 10% of total users have a premium account. This small (little) percentage subsidizes free users. The model is viable because the free service has a low margin cost. The CANVAS graphic for freemium model can been seen in Figure 15, where white is general platform and it branches out into free (yellow tags) and premium services (blue ones). In this type of models is important to have into account the average of a free service per user and the price that premium user have to pay for the services. VII.

SUCCESS INDICATORS

In order to check the success of LifeCoin and its platform we propose to monitor some aspects:  number of visits per month, in order to check the interest of people in general in the system;  number of registered users per month, so we can count how the network grows;  number of successful purchases per month, in order to monitor the activity of the system. By classifying according to the most active LifeUsers, it will be helpful when doing rewards;  number of cancelled services per month, to check the commitment of users with their proposals;  amount of LifeCoins created per month (units/month), is a way to check the activity of the whole platform. It is directly related to the new users (since they get LifeCoins

CROS NADAL – URIBE PÉREZ: LifeCoin: A New Virtual Currency for Sharing Leisure Activities in the Smart City

when they register themselves in the platform) and also to the activity (because of the rewards). Depending on the given results some measures in order to improve the results will be taken.

[9] [10] [11]

[12] [13] [14]

Fureai Kippu

Couchsurfing

Air BnB

Uber

BlaBlaCar

Trip4Real

LifeCoin

Transport platform Accommodation platform Activities platform Virtual currency Freemium business model Currency exchange Use of money Need to have a profile “Prosumer” platform Web platform Application platform Rewarding Taxes

[15]

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[16] [17] [18] [19]

https://www.couchsurfing.com/ www.airbnb.com http://www.preferente.com/noticias-de-hoteles/airbnb-consideradailegal-por-un-juzgado-de-nueva-york-239195.html (Acceded January 2015) https://www.uber.com http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/cad1f9c4-2391-11e4-8e2900144feabdc0.html#axzz3PSALlpzP (Acceded January 2015) http://www.bbc.com/news/business-30395093 (Acceded January 2015) http://www.mainstreet.com/article/uber-banned-in-5-us-cities-thatwant-your-taxi-business (Acceded January 2015) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uber_%28company%29 (Acceded January 2015) http://www.blablacar.es/ https://www.amovens.com/es/ http://www.trip4real.com

Pol Nadal Cros is a student of Smart Cities Master at the University of Girona (UdG). He is an architect for the University of Girona. He has worked in several recognized architect studies. He is interested in new technologies applied to the city in order to make it more efficient in all ways. He is available at polnadal90@gmail.com.

Figure 16. Comparision among differetn systems.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The development of this work count on the help and knowledge of Pep Lluis de la Rosa, professor and Ph.D. at the University of Girona (UdG) and the founding director of EASY Innova - TECNIO, as well as president of Strategic Attention Management S.L

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Institute of Leisure Scientific Studies “White Paper #7: The Benefits of Leisure”. Available online: www.fritidsvetarna.com/1_Kultur_och_fritid/7_Benefits_of_Leisure. pdf.(Acceded January 2015) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_circulating_currencies European Central Bank “Virtual Currency Schemes”. Available online: http://www.ecb.europa.eu/pub/pdf/other/virtualcurrencyschemes201 210en.pdf. (Acceded January 2015) https://bitcoin.org/en/how-it-works (Acceded January 2015) M. Mellor, “The Future of Money: From Financial Crisis to Public Resource” Pluto Press, London, 2010. https://ec.europa.eu/digital-agenda/en/smart-cities (Acceded January 2015) http://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/package/index_en.htm (Acceded January 2015) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fureai_kippu

Noelia Uribe Pérez is currently a student of Smart Cities Master at the University of Girona (UdG) and she is doing her Ph.D. in Management of Smart Grids with Distributed Energy Sources and Storage at the Centre for the Development of Renewable Energy Sources (CEDERCIEMAT). She is a Telecommunication Engineering and got a Master in Renewable Energies, Fuel Cells and Hydrogen by the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC). She has also been part of the Detectability Laboratory at the National Institute of Aerospace Technology (INTA). Noelia is deeply interested in energy and sustainable development. She can be contacted at noelia.2407@hotmail.com