Hub Culture, a self-styled online 'collaboration network' claims to have completed the first commodity trading deal priced in a virtual currency.
Hub Culture has around 25,000 members it describes as "global-influencers" and has developed its own currency, dubbed Ven, that lets people trade in goods, services and knowledge.
The network says that its Hub Culture Knowledge Brokerage Services has now negotiated a gold production contract in South America sold to a private European buyer using Ven.
The six month forward contract includes an option to extend to rolling production, and includes a Ven transaction price at a variable rate close to 9400.00 Ven per troy ounce. The initial transaction is valued at over 233,000.00 Ven.
Stan Stalnaker, founding director, Hub Culture, says: "This Ven trade is the beginning of a new era for virtual currency, and sets the stage for brisk global demand for Ven at large. As part of our commitment to the creation of a wider economy that better tracks externalities, this Ven trade has particular advantages for everyone, including an embedded carbon signal and forward price stability."