From parody to popularity: Bendigo's own Strayacoin is a unique Aussie addition in the world of cryptocurrency

Bendigo-based digital currency expert Jack Hurley created the coin over the space of two days in January as both an experiment and to “have a few laughs”.

It was one of the first to originate in Australia – and Jack took special care to make sure it was as Aussie as possible.

With the help of graphic designer Aaron Tyler, of “Straya Cash” fame, the pair created a coin that took on as many Australian-isms as possible – from iconic phrases like “shrimp on the barbie”, to embedded images of beer cans and thongs.

They also made sure there was one for every Aussie: 24,809,843 are available to be mined, the population of Australia on Australia Day 2018.

Jack, who runs 47.com.au out of the Bendigo Possum Works Innovation Hub, said Strayacoin’s ideal purpose was for mates to transfer them to one another to buy Vegemite, Bunnings snags, Russell Coight DVDs and more.

“Strayacoin is a fair dinkum peer-to-peer payment solution that can be applied across a massive number of uniquely Australian financial and transactional problems,” he said.

“For example, using Strayacoin means that the days of waiting for a mate to pay-up for the backyard ‘cashie’ from a month ago with an out-of-date slab of Toohey’s New are gone.

“’Davo’ can now pay with Strayacoin on the spot.”

On Tuesday morning, just two internet users were mining Strayacoin for free using their own PC.

By Tuesday afternoon, 14 were mining.

And by Wednesday morning, more than 100 were adding Strayacoin to the crypto wallets.

Already a quarter of a million of them have been mined.

The coin will eventually be floated on the market, reflecting its true value alongside the 1500 or so cryptocurrencies.

Jack said three cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, had serious practical purpose at this stage and a further 50 had merit.

He said it was only the beginning, and predicted cryptocurrency would be the “pin” that bursts the “bubble” of traditional financial markets.

That remains to be seen, but at the moment Jack just hoped his idea would prompt others in Australia to find their own “locally developed crypto-solutions”.