Can we create an alternative monetary cycle?
Currently private banks mint money and lend to the governments wqho then spend and tax to pay back the loan. There have however been alternative methods, such as the http://www.lietaer.com/2010/03/the-worgl-experiment/. Could an alt-coin be minted that automates this 'stamping' method. Perhaps ethereum-type smart contracts could be used, allowing the network to 'shave' and transmit a portion of each coin to a null address, essentially reducing the monetary supply.
Would this be of benefit to a community at large in the same way that Worgl was helped?
Time Banks pay people for working each hour in their own 'vouchers' which can then be learned and traded. within the time bank. What if the blockchain was used to provide authentication and validity of working time, this hourly coin could then be traded with other timebanks(ignoring the disparity in costs of living) and helping local communities bring in the experts they need.
Historically there were pre-contact Caribbean people who worked(building roads, huts) in exchange for protection. There is instance of in-kind payment still in our tax code form earlier days, when fiat money did not have a monopoly, even on the payment of taxation.
You could even apply this to the reverse of our current situation, each individual could mint their own AltCoins, guaranteeing a work of a certain amount of hours, in return universal income could be in the form of committing to purchase a minimum amount of each person's ALTcoins. Any authority would instead of being a "lender of last resort" as nowadays, would instead act as a "buyer of last resort" (BLR), rather than a supplier, so currencies would be free to proliferate and trade. The BLR, would after buying these AltCoins, simply destroy them,thus reducing the money supply. Furthermore there is no need to worry about competition(who would sell a product for $3 when they can sell it for $5?:), anybody buying coins above the price of the BLR would simply reduce the welfare burden.
Of course under such a system there is still a a central authority (albeit much weaker) than our current day ones, and the BLR would have to have some form of income with which to fund it's purchases. Of course since each coin represents an hour's work they can gain free workers for infrastructure improvements, and other government type projects then charge for the resulting improvements. Anyone who does not want to do the work is free to agree a payment with a third party to do the work for them. The only way for speculators to gain access to the currency, would be to pay for someone's labour.
Would this be of benefit to a community at large?
These are things to chew on.