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COMPLEMENTARY
CURRENCY PRIMER
Complementary currencies are making a comeback in solving
the liquidity problems throughout the world. Today it’s
estimated there are at least 2,500 complementary currency
systems worldwide. As the name implies,
complementary currencies work side by side with national
currencies and are not meant to replace them.
During the Great Depression banks were failing and
the flow of currency was reduced. When government revenues
declined and company payrolls waned, many communities in the
United States sought solutions beyond the official legal
tender. Governments and unions, churches and civil groups
issued currency certificates. New designs were introduced;
Seattle issued money of cardboard, while nearby Tenino issued quarters,
half-dollars and dollars of Sitka spruce
Also during the Great Depression, Wörgl
Austria achieved what’s been referred to as the "Miracle
of Wörgl". It
all started when the Mayor issued "Certified Compensation
Bills", a form of currency commonly known as Stamp Scrip,
or Freigeld. There
immediately followed a rapid growth in employment; local
government projects could now be completed.
The economy of Wörgl seemed to defy the depression
that was felt by the rest of the country.
Presently, Ithaca Hours is chief among the complementary
currencies in the U.S., with its historical roots in the scrip
that circulated widely in America during the great depression,
it also harkens back the local script issued at birth of the
country. Ithaca
Hours is the oldest and largest local currency system in the
United States. Over
900 participants publicly accept Ithaca HOURS for goods and
services; additionally some local employers and employees have
agreed to receive partial or full wages in Ithaca Hours.
Another U.S. complementary currency in circulation today
is BerkShares, a local currency used in the Berkshire region of
Massachusetts that is backed by U.S. dollars. Local
businesses accept BerkShares as part of an initiative to
encourage consumers to shop locally; hundreds of local merchants
accept this local currency. Consumers
can exchange U.S. dollars for BerkShares at community banks,
paying ninety-five cents of national currency for one BerkShares;
as a result consumers in effect receive a 5% discount on local
purchases.
A salient example of a complimentary currency used outside of the U.S. can be
found in Switzerland. There
numerous small businesses have banded together to created the
WIR system, a complementary currency program in use for more
than 50 years. Evidence
from the Swiss experience in using the WIR has proven that the
availability of a complementary currency designed for business
use tends to stabilize the boom and bust business cycle and
helps to smooth out the overall economy.
In Japan there is the Fureai Kippu, a
complementary currency issued by the Sawka Welfare
Foundation. It is a time-based currency created with the
specific goal of promoting care and service to the
elderly. People earn credits as they spend time helping
people in their community; one unit of Fureai Kippu for each
hour earned.
We are presently on the cusp of a global complementary digital currency
revolution, with most of the worlds currencies now represented
only by ones and zeros on a network of servers around the world,
with less and less printed script. This has opened the
door for a completely digital currency that will resist borders
making have global potential. There are presently two global
digital currencies in limited use on the internet, they are the
Ven and Bitcoin.
The Ven first appeared on Facebook in 2008 as a “Hub
Culture” application, the currency became tradable to anyone
with an email address making it the first global digital
currency to move from an online social network into the real
world at a network of Hub Culture Pavilions in key cities around
the world, where they are negotiable for goods and services
offered by their members.
Then there is Bitcoin that came out of a 2009 white paper
released by Satoshi Nakamoto (believed to be a pseudonymous
person or group) which outlined a platform for a P2P currency.
It was designed to be anonymous, being generated and distributed
at the ends of the network instead of a central network point.
To proliferate it needed an innovative architecture; the open
source nature of what develop into the Bitcoin has allowed it to
take root and develop quickly.
Bitcoin
is touted as currency solution, but it's really a speculative
commodity and is too unstable to have broad general
appeal. It's value is growing exponentially starting at
1,309 BTC for a dollar in 2009, then breaking $100 per BTC in
2013 and presently trading at $853, but like the Tulip Mania in
Holland in the early 1600, it can bust wrioing out its entire
value. Also, the method of mining the bits is time and
energy consuming and limited in the number of Bitcoins produced,
not adequately reflecting the demand for a currency.
These digital currencies do though reveal the future of money, they
expand the options of how global societies establish and trade
value. Presently the globalized digital currency economies
are small but they are growing. There are over 6.2 million
Bitcoins in an economy worth almost $50 million USD and there is
5 million Ven circulating with a GDP equal to over $500,000 USD,
reportedly growing at 10x annually. The rise of digital global
currencies such as the Ven and Bitcoin suggests that multiple
global currencies may offer a range of formats for trade as they
gain strength and wider acceptance.
VeraCoin™, the proposed global digital complementary currency,
follows in the vain of its predecessors and takes on a
shape that supports the goals and aspirations of the citizen
members of Vera City.
For
Reference:
Links to wiki on the major experts
of complementary
currencies.
Thomas
H. Greco,
Jr Bernard
Lietaer TABLE
OF CONTENTS
AN
INITIATIVE TOWARD A SUSTAINABLE FUTURE
VERACOIN™ – A Global Complementary Digital Currency
BENEFITS OF VERA-CITY, VERACOIN™
&
VERASHARES
REVENUE
STREAMS - VERA-CITY, VERACOIN™
&
VERA SHARES
TOWARDS
A PURE CREDIT ECONOMY
A
COMPLEMENTARY CURRENCY PRIMER
OPEN
ENTERPRISE MODEL - A SELF REPLICATING SYSTEM
AN
OPEN LETTER TO OCCUPY WALL STREET
THE 1%
- A HISTORIC PERSPECTIVE
IN
CONCLUSION
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