A software package developed by 21 can now be downloaded by any user. The company sees it as a foundation for a capitalist network where people would trade digital goods for digital currency with their peers.

As announced on the соmpany blоg , the new software is available for free download and can turn any device in a quasi-equivalent of the 21 Bitcoin Computer with many ways to earn and spend bitcoins.

After installing the software, users can request free bitcoin for programming purposes from a 21 faucet, earn bitcoin performing microtasks for the company or sell spare machine resources turning their computer into a miniature server that can be used by another program in exchange for the cryptocurrency. These three ways of getting bitcoins do not require a bank account, credit card or anything apart from a profile in a social network such as LinkedIn or Github.

Two other ways of getting bitcoins, according to 21, are either mining them with the help of the 21 Computer (the only function that cannot be used by other devices) or buying them with a credit card or bank account through Coinbase. All bitcoin earned, mined or bought is stored in 21 bitcoin wallet and can be used to write bitcoin-payable programs, which, as 21 claims, is made easy by their software.

Once such a program is completed, it can be published on 21’s marketplace allowing other users to reach it. The blog post says it is the beginning of the “third web”. While the first one, the World Wide Web, connected documents, and the second, the Social Web, connected people, the third one will connect computers making payments to each other. According to 21, the third web would allow people monetise their efforts and render seamless their navigation of paid websites. The blog post emphasises that it was only made possible with the advent of bitcoin because credit cards and PayPal are way more complicated to use. The blog says:

“We like to think of this as perhaps the first capitalist network: a social network where the primary purpose isn’t racking up likes or favorites, but trading digital goods for digital currency with a network of like-minded peers.”

Currently, the 21 software can only be installed on Mac or Linux systems, but in the near future, the company promises to make it available for all kinds of platforms.

Alexey Tereshchenko