Guy Debelle, the assistant governor of the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA), believes Scotland could become a testbed for cryptocurrencies if it gains independence from the UK.

Debelle’s remarks were addressed to the audience at the Financial Times Camp Alphaville event in London, in a rather unconventional fashion for a banker: in a T-shirt, speaking through a telepresence robot.

Independent Scotland, Debelle reasoned, has a compelling reason to consider the option, as if the Scots vote for independence this September, they will be “short a currency”.

Debelle said:

“The Scots can go back to experimenting with a multitude of currencies, bitcoin and the like, and we can just sit back and see how it goes.”

Bitcoin could also be challenged by local alternative digital currency scotcoin, which was introduced amid a boom in country-specific coins issued early this year.

Experimenting with free banking

At the event, Debelle also elaborated on Scotland’s economic history.

For instance, he noted that Scotland has a “bit of experience” with competing currencies dating back in the 18th and 19th centuries. He recalled a brief period in Scotland’s history when the country was able to issue its own currencies, independent of the Crown.

Though, he notes that this trial was ultimately unsuccessful:

“They tried this in the 18th and 19th centuries. It worked for a while, but eventually it fell apart.”

However, a number of panellists disagreed with Debelle’s comments, although they were open to the idea of Scotland experimenting with digital currencies, The Guardian reports.

Even Debelle admitted he is not willing to forecast the demise of cash just yet.

Competition vs government monopoly

Kevin Dowd, the author of a recently published paper on bitcoin, agrees with Debelle and believes Scotland’s past banking experiment was in some ways a success.

Dowd’s paper, published by the Institute of Economic Affairs, argues that the UK should effectively privatise the pound and liberalise the monetary system, thus introducing competition in what has been a government monopoly for centuries.

Dowd says that the process would loosely resemble the privatisation of the telecom sector, which brought about a lot of innovation along with better services and lower prices.

Entrepreneur David Galbraith, one of the co-creators of Yelp and RSS, disagreed, however, saying innovation in payments will not happen directly. He pointed out that there are hundreds of payment start-ups today, but nearly all of them are trying to build new services on existing platforms.

He also believes the need to control the protocol renders bitcoin irrelevant in a hypothetical Scottish independence scenario.

Vision Industries is Notified of DOE Award to
Demonstrate a Fuel Cell Electric Refuse Truck

Vision Industries Corporation

May 1, 2014 2:00 AM

Long Beach, CA, May 1, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- / (www.myprgenie.com) --

Vision Industries' (VIIC) proposal to build a fuel cell electric refuse truck has won Phase 1, approval by the U.S. Department of Energy's SBIR/STTR Program (DOE FOA 0001406). The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy and Renewable Energy designed this program to encourage private sector participation in developing and demonstrating a proof of concept heavy-duty fuel cell-electric truck for the waste hauling application.

"I applaud the DOE for supporting us in building a zero emission and low noise refuse truck. I believe that this truck has the potential to become a breakthrough product in the garbage industry," said Vision Industries CEO, Martin Schuermann.

Under the proposal, Vision Industries will be collaborating with the City of Santa Monica's (California) Public Works Division, where the Fuel Cell Electric Refuse Truck will be placed in demonstration service. The project aims to measure and demonstrate operational cost-effectiveness, emission reduction and commercial viability of a heavy-duty fuel cell electric vehicle in the refuse service.

In Phase 1 of the grant, the Company will provide a feasibility study and economic assessment of the prototype vehicle. Phase 2, is the actual assembly and testing of the vehicle.

List of Awardees http://science.energy.gov/sbir/awards/

About Vision Industries
Vision is a developer of zero emission electric/hydrogen hybrid powered vehicles and turnkey hydrogen fueling systems. Vision's proprietary hydrogen/electric hybrid drive system combines the superior acceleration of a battery powered electric vehicle with the extended range provided by a hydrogen fuel cell. For more information on Vision Industries Corp., please visit www.visionindustriescorp.com

Safe Harbor Statement
Matters discussed in this press release contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. When used in this press release, the words "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "may," "intend," "expect" and similar expressions identify such forward-looking statements. Actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those contemplated, expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained herein. These forward-looking statements are based largely on the expectations of the Company and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. These include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties associated with: the impact of economic, competitive and other factors affecting the Company and its operations, markets, product, and distributor performance, the impact on the national and local economies resulting from terrorist actions, and U.S. actions subsequently; and other factors available from the Company.

Vision Industries is Notified of DOE Award to
Demonstrate a Fuel Cell Electric Refuse Truck

Vision Industries Corporation

May 1, 2014 2:00 AM

Long Beach, CA, May 1, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- / (www.myprgenie.com) --

Vision Industries' (VIIC) proposal to build a fuel cell electric refuse truck has won Phase 1, approval by the U.S. Department of Energy's SBIR/STTR Program (DOE FOA 0001406). The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy and Renewable Energy designed this program to encourage private sector participation in developing and demonstrating a proof of concept heavy-duty fuel cell-electric truck for the waste hauling application.

"I applaud the DOE for supporting us in building a zero emission and low noise refuse truck. I believe that this truck has the potential to become a breakthrough product in the garbage industry," said Vision Industries CEO, Martin Schuermann.

Under the proposal, Vision Industries will be collaborating with the City of Santa Monica's (California) Public Works Division, where the Fuel Cell Electric Refuse Truck will be placed in demonstration service. The project aims to measure and demonstrate operational cost-effectiveness, emission reduction and commercial viability of a heavy-duty fuel cell electric vehicle in the refuse service.

In Phase 1 of the grant, the Company will provide a feasibility study and economic assessment of the prototype vehicle. Phase 2, is the actual assembly and testing of the vehicle.

List of Awardees http://science.energy.gov/sbir/awards/

About Vision Industries
Vision is a developer of zero emission electric/hydrogen hybrid powered vehicles and turnkey hydrogen fueling systems. Vision's proprietary hydrogen/electric hybrid drive system combines the superior acceleration of a battery powered electric vehicle with the extended range provided by a hydrogen fuel cell. For more information on Vision Industries Corp., please visit www.visionindustriescorp.com

Safe Harbor Statement
Matters discussed in this press release contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. When used in this press release, the words "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "may," "intend," "expect" and similar expressions identify such forward-looking statements. Actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those contemplated, expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained herein. These forward-looking statements are based largely on the expectations of the Company and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. These include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties associated with: the impact of economic, competitive and other factors affecting the Company and its operations, markets, product, and distributor performance, the impact on the national and local economies resulting from terrorist actions, and U.S. actions subsequently; and other factors available from the Company.

Vision Industries is Notified of DOE Award to
Demonstrate a Fuel Cell Electric Refuse Truck

Vision Industries Corporation

May 1, 2014 2:00 AM

Long Beach, CA, May 1, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- / (www.myprgenie.com) --

Vision Industries' (VIIC) proposal to build a fuel cell electric refuse truck has won Phase 1, approval by the U.S. Department of Energy's SBIR/STTR Program (DOE FOA 0001406). The U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy and Renewable Energy designed this program to encourage private sector participation in developing and demonstrating a proof of concept heavy-duty fuel cell-electric truck for the waste hauling application.

"I applaud the DOE for supporting us in building a zero emission and low noise refuse truck. I believe that this truck has the potential to become a breakthrough product in the garbage industry," said Vision Industries CEO, Martin Schuermann.

Under the proposal, Vision Industries will be collaborating with the City of Santa Monica's (California) Public Works Division, where the Fuel Cell Electric Refuse Truck will be placed in demonstration service. The project aims to measure and demonstrate operational cost-effectiveness, emission reduction and commercial viability of a heavy-duty fuel cell electric vehicle in the refuse service.

In Phase 1 of the grant, the Company will provide a feasibility study and economic assessment of the prototype vehicle. Phase 2, is the actual assembly and testing of the vehicle.

List of Awardees http://science.energy.gov/sbir/awards/

About Vision Industries
Vision is a developer of zero emission electric/hydrogen hybrid powered vehicles and turnkey hydrogen fueling systems. Vision's proprietary hydrogen/electric hybrid drive system combines the superior acceleration of a battery powered electric vehicle with the extended range provided by a hydrogen fuel cell. For more information on Vision Industries Corp., please visit www.visionindustriescorp.com

Safe Harbor Statement
Matters discussed in this press release contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. When used in this press release, the words "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "may," "intend," "expect" and similar expressions identify such forward-looking statements. Actual results, performance or achievements could differ materially from those contemplated, expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements contained herein. These forward-looking statements are based largely on the expectations of the Company and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties. These include, but are not limited to, risks and uncertainties associated with: the impact of economic, competitive and other factors affecting the Company and its operations, markets, product, and distributor performance, the impact on the national and local economies resulting from terrorist actions, and U.S. actions subsequently; and other factors available from the Company.

They don't have cash for a buyback. In fact, they don't have cash to pay any bills, which is why they pay for everything in shares.

A Jury trial is "demanded!"