Highlander Alastair Caithness is ploughing ahead with plans for a new cryptocurrency on behalf of the third largest political party in the US after the man who enlisted him dropped out of the race to become president.
Mr Caithness believes AmeriCoins are the solution to kickstart the US economy after Covid-19 and give every citizen in the world’s biggest economy “the opportunity to live the American dream”.
He was appointed to the role of chief blockchain adviser to the Libertarian Party by political activist Adam Kokesh, who recently failed in his bid to secure a nomination and join the race for the White House.
Instead, the Libertarian Party’s battle to oust Donald Trump from the presidency later this year will be led by university lecturer Joanne Jorgensen.
Although Ms Jorensen’s chances of success are slim, given the dominance of Republicans and Democrats in US politics, the party she now takes into November’s general election does have one congressman.
Libertarians are opposed to any government interference into personal, family, and business decisions, while believing everyone has the right to arm themselves for the purposes of self-defence.
Mr Caithness hails from Inverness and is chief executive of the California-based software and energy firm Ziyen Energy.
He aims to create a new decentralised monetary system based around AmeriCoins, which were a keystone of Mr Kokesh’s plans for “an orderly dissolution of the federal government”.
The ambition is for them to be fully backed by national assets including land, energy, gold, timber and mineral reserves.
Mr Caithness, 45, has already developed a cryptocurrency for trading very small stakes in energy assets. ZiyenCoins were first used for an oil and gas lease in Texas last October, when an acquisition was made using 2.3 million of the tokenised units.
Further trades have been completed since then and Ziyen is moving towards its first ZiyenCoin acquisition in the wind energy sector.
In a rallying cry for AmeriCoins, Mr Caithness said they were the “only feasible way to save Main Street America”.
He said: “The current federal stimulus plan will push too many Americans into poverty and relies heavily on the federal government for survival. There is an alternative.
“AmeriCoin converts the federal government’s substantial resources into a usable currency which will be distributed to all American citizens.
“This will level the economic playing field for Americans and serve as a form of reparations and basic income for US citizens who have struggled to achieve economic liberty.”