Auroracoin (code: AUR, symbol: ᚠ) is a peer-to-peer cryptocurrency launched in February 2014 as an Icelandic alternative to bitcoin and the Icelandic króna. The unknown creator or creators use the pseudonym Baldur Friggjar Óðinsson (or Odinsson). They stated that they planned to distribute half of auroracoins that would ever be created to all 330,000 people listed in Iceland’s national ID database beginning on March 25, 2014, free of charge, coming out to 31.8 auroracoins per person.
Auroracoin was created as an alternative currency to address the government restrictions on Iceland’s króna, in place since 2008, which severely restricts movement of the currency outside the country. Iceland’s Foreign Exchange Act also prohibits the foreign exchange of bitcoins from the country, according to a government minister. Auroracoin was the first of a number of country-based cryptocurrencies.
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