system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Could payment be made obsolete, even partially, if all the things exchangeable by participants in an economy were cleared algorithmically?

I'm no expert on economics, but it seems that if such a Bitcoin-like algorithm existed, value would not necessarily have to be carried by currency. For example, it could be expressed by sets of coefficients in a sum over all exchangeables: "2L milk per week for a year, or one iPod touch, or $100, or..." Each participant may have a different programme of consumables valuation, against their own producibles or against a currency. Minimum standards of living could be maintained by introducing charity instruments.

Intuitively it seems it should work better in small, self-reliant communities than in large cities, but it might also work well in the underground economy.

What don't I understand here? What would be a best case/worst case effect of such a system being adopted anywhere in the world right now? Are there any books that illuminate this topic?
gpt
So an alternate medium of exchange, used to fill in for actual cash, for use in small, self-reliant communities?  Sounds a bit like company script used in old mining towns.

What would the benefit of this type of system be (except to the persons in control of it)?  Why not just use money?