Insight and inspiration in turbulent times.
In order for sharing to be a successful alternative to the status quo, we need one important ingredient: people. Sharing requires a motivated, passionate community, whether physical or digital.
The current financial system is addicted to growth, through such things as the debt-based creation of money, the charging of interest upon debts, and the growth assumptions embedded in the valuation of shares and other financial assets.
Credibles’ brilliant model is one part loyalty program, one part Slow Money investment, one part crowdfunding campaign, and one part credit currency.
A delegate to the recent Community Currencies conference in The Hague proposed that changing behaviour should be the ‘fourth function of money’, so it may be timely to explore the implications of this line of thinking a little further.
The economy is big news, and a big worry. But there are as many economies as we need. There are global, national, regional, and neighborhood economies. There are economies for greed, destruction, and exploitation, as well as for generosity, creativity, and love. And there are as many types of money as we need to operate these economies.
Gavin Andresen, the lead scientist for the Bitcoin Foundation (and one of its only two staff members) sat down with a few of us at the UMass Amherst Knowledge Commons meeting on Wednesday. Having read so much hype and misinformation about Bitcoin over the past few months, I was excited to have a chance to talk to someone directly connected with this brilliant experiment in algorithmic institution-building. Bitcoin is, of course, the digital currency that has been in the news a lot recently because of its surging value among traders – and its dramatic crash.
•The Other Side of the Coin in Spain •Avoiding Economic Collapse: Complementary Currencies •Social currencies gain strength in Brazil •Digital Gold Rush: The Bitcoin Boom and Its Many Risks •Bitcoin interest spikes in Spain as Cyprus financial crisis grows •Why one English town created its own currency
Bang Goes the Theory •Euros discarded as impoverished Greeks resort to bartering •Ending the Era of Ponzi Finance •The Most Depressing Economic Idea of 2012: The (Near) End of Growth •’Humanity Is Still on the Way to Destroying Itself’
Can a community print its own money? The short answer is a resounding YES and for many this has become a symbol of a Transition town taking the local economy into its own hands. We are very used to using money for exchange and will likely still need it in some form, but ideally one that reduces the problems with conventional money.
The launch of the Bristol Pound on 19 September was the subject of international media attention, and rightly so. The decision by a whole city to reject the pound sterling and take charge of its monetary affairs is an exciting and unique one. However, the most important aspect of the Bristol Pound went widely unreported: the local council is prepared to accept it for payment of local taxes. Once a political authority underwrites a local currency in this way it can become a viable alternative, and the Bristol Pound is the first currency that has been accepted in this way in the UK.
Today’s launch of the Bristol Pound (£B) represents a step change for the UK local currency movement, one which nef is very proud to have supported as part of our Community Currency 2.0 project.
Our obsession with money will be an issue for many as we transition from a wealth-oriented capitalist system. Many blogs focus on money—how to make more, how to keep what you’ve got, how to transition to something different and still be “ahead of the game.” Where will these voices be when the currency quits?
