It is a piggy bank, but a piggy bank unlike those adults grew up with. The ERNIT Piggy Bank clearly isn’t a hollowed out piece of ceramic into which children drop coins, but rather it’s little Wi-Fi-enabled computer into which parents drop digital currency.
“ERNIT is the best parts of the physical piggy bank, the old classical piggy bank and the best parts of the digital money of the new money of society today,” ERNIT’s Soren Nielsen says. “The child in the app can set up goal. It’s very good for the learning experience that the child can set up a goal that is concrete and has a timeframe towards when am I going to get there. That’s how they’re going to learn about values so they can put money into the different parts and see ‘Ok, if I put money into the soccer ball and get that today, but then the bike moves further away in the timeframe.’ So it’s a very big part of the learning experience."
What is happening behind the scenes is that you actually need to set up a bank account for the child at the same bank you have an account. When parents, grandparents, friends or whoever decide to add money, ERNIT then simply acts as the go between for the transfer. Developers say the device merely triggers the transfer, just as you would do a transfer on your phone or computer. All of the bank's security and protection remains intact.
Now even though this was designed primarily to teach kids about budgeting, it can also be used to teach kids and their parents about the emerging and very confusing digital currency called Bitcoin.
"You can transfer bitcoins into the system,” Nielsen says. “The learning part around that is, of course, bitcoin is going to be a part of our society going forward. So we think it’s a learning experience, as well to learn about bitcoins and what that is and what it can be used for."
ERNIT, just wrapping up a Kickstarter campaign, is set to launch June of next year for $120.
To get more detailed info on how it works or to preorder one, check out ernit.com.