Woodcoin is the first physical cryptocurrency.
Each Woodcoin is engraved with a unique 8-character alphanumeric ID and photographed to capture its one-of-a-kind wood grain. These images are published in a global torrent archive — searchable, permanent, and publicly verifiable
Woodcoin is the first cryptocurrency you can carry in your pocket.
Let’s imagine that 10 countries each issue 10 Woodcoins, for a total of 100 coins. Every coin is photographed and registered in a decentralized global database that all countries share (for example, through a peer-to-peer network).
Each participating nation also keeps a local copy of this registry.
From that moment onward, this functions as a shared international monetary system. If any country were to issue new Woodcoins on its own, they would not appear in the local copies maintained by other nations, and would therefore be immediately recognized as invalid.
Crucially, the system requires no proof-of-work mining and no vast electricity consumption. Security and trust come from the shared registry and the physical uniqueness of each coin, not from burning energy on cryptographic puzzles.
However, the total supply of coins could still be increased — but only if all participating countries agree to expand issuance and update the shared database together.
This system still qualifies as a form of cryptocurrency because the images of the coins are secured using cryptographic hash functions and shared via a peer-to-peer network, much like how movies or images are distributed on torrents. Each participant keeps a local copy of the hashes, allowing anyone to independently verify that a coin’s image is authentic and has not been tampered with.