SOLVED. Adult Sci Fi. Newly discovered cheap propulsion tech enables indep. low Earth orbit settlements. Orbital financial system built based on trust & cryptography which competes w Earthbound currencies. Title: play on Yggdrasil. Read 2008-2012. [s]

[Justin]

I recall the book's title being some play on the word Yggdrasil (Norse mythical tree of the cosmos) for a character in the book who was named after the word. Her name was Gradasil or something like that. The foundation of the story was that a newly discovered propulsion technology (anti-gravity perhaps) made achieving low earth orbit available to just about anybody. This resulted in colonizing earth's orbit with independent settlements. Some sort of economic union develops between the settlements and I recall some sort of financial system based on something like cryptocurrency and the redundancy allowed by the settlements hosting the "data" forms a reliable banking system which completes with earthbound currencies.

The book was published in English but I don't recall if UK or USA published. I read this between 2008 and 2012 and I feel like it was a recent book when I read it. I recall the cover art being simple with a white or silver "Tree of Life" on a dark background (night sky-ish)

[Kris]

Justin, is this book for adults or teens?

Is Earth the only planet in the story? Any aliens?

[Justin]

Hi Kris,

It is adult level and Earth is the only planet involved with possibly the Moon playing a part in the story. No aliens are involved.

[Sue]

It’s not Gradisil is it? I haven’t read it but I had heard of it and was struck by the resemblance to Gradasil.
Gradisil by Adam Roberts

[Justin]

Thank you! That is it. With a made up word as a title and my misspelling it, search engines were not picking up Gradisil as an hit.