KASH Cups
KASH Cups
In the near future, every ‘thing’ in the Internet of Things will become a form of currency. Powered by Financial Technologies (Fintech) bots that identify and broker opportunities for trade between other things, smart contracts will prevent social and economic value from escaping. The KASH cup is the first manifestation of this near future. Designed by Scottish ceramic artist Katy West in collaboration with the Centre for Design Informatics and Teun Verkerk, the KASH cup is a limited edition of 100 coffee cups that operate as a pop-up digital currency.
Augmented with NFC and RFID chips, each cup has a data shadow that reflects its credit status – on (available for coffee), off (unavailable for coffee). The cloud ‘bank’ displays the credit status of each cup which can be added to if people spend time to meet and talk to each other (turning on coffee cups). Credit is spent at the point of purchase where the barista swaps the credit for a cup of coffee.
KASH Cups was developed through the Design United Things2Things programme for the ESRC After Money Research Project.
Conceptual design Chris Speed and Tuen Verkerk
Cup Design: Katy West
NFC and KASH Cloud: Ferdinand Ginting Munthe
Modelling and integration: Mark Kobine
KASH Cloud graphics: Bettina Nissen
Coordination and documentation: Jane Macdonald