1

Mapping Community CurrenciesVarieties and GeographiesWe present new empirical evidence from an international scoping study of community curren-cies undertaken as part of the Grassroots Innovations: Complementary Currencies project.

Sustainable monetary sys-tems are being developed by civil society groups and non-governmental organisations, informed by alternative perspec-tives on development, value, economic scale and growth, and responding to the unsustainabil-ity of current global financial systems. These parallel systems of exchange (or community cur-rencies) are designed to promote sustainable development by lo-calising economic development, building social capital and substi-tuting for material consumption, valuing work which is marginal-ised in conventional labour mar-kets, and challenging the growth-based monetary system. This

briefing presents new empirical evidence from the first interna-tional study of the scope and character of community curren-cies. It identifies the diversity, scale, geography and develop-ment trajectory of these initia-tives.

This study draws on docu-mentary analysis, key informant interviews among academics and practitioners, and direct en-gagement in the field through an international workshop and journal special issue. Overall, we found a total of 39 nationally-based community currency groupings, in 23 countries, across six continents, representing a total of 3418 local projects (see

Table 1 for details). Our sample only includes clusters of 5 or more currency projects of a cer-tain type, in a country. This means we have excluded numer-ous one-off projects and new experimental models in the process, but is because we wanted to find established and replicating currencies.

Currency TypesWe built on well-established

categories within the literature and practice: service credits (e.g. Time Dollars/time banks), mu-tual exchange schemes (e.g. LETS), and local currencies (e.g. Hours), to which we added a

This study draws on documentary analysis, key informant interviews among academics and practitioners, and direct engagement in the field through an international workshop and journal special issue.

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fourth group: barter markets (e.g. Trueque)1. We next de-scribe some of the significant features of the characteristics, frequency and distribution of the four types.

Service CreditsThe most common type of community currency found

in our study was service credits, with 1715 projects identi-fied (50.2% of the total), spread across 11 countries and 4 continents. Service credit systems usually aim to build social capital, inclusion and cohesion by rewarding neighbourly support, social care and community-based activities, and work as formalised reciprocal volunteering schemes: mem-bers enrol and list the services they wish to offer and re-ceive, and a central broker matches people up to organise the exchange. The time-based currency unit is fundamen-tal: participants earn a time credit for each hour spent help-ing someone, regardless of the service provided – these credits can be saved up for future use, donated to someone else, or used to purchase services from other members. This represents a radical rejection of market valuations of labour – everyone’s time is worth the same.

The most commonly known of this type is ‘Time Banks’, although not all the service credit projects identified here are formally part of the international Time Banking network. Early examples of ‘Fureai Kippu’ (ticket for caring relation-ship’ are recorded in Japan from 1973, but the idea did not spread from there. In parallel, in the USA, Edgar Cahn de-veloped the idea of ‘service credits’ or ‘time dollars’ in 1986, to utilise untapped skills and resources in deprived neigh-bourhoods, to rebuild communities and restore dignity to the socially excluded. This model of Time Banking spread across the USA, and then to the UK in 1997, via David Boyle and the New Economics Foundation, and since then strong UK and US networks have developed best practice and support

for new projects, with international adaptations in Italy, Spain, Portugal, New Zealand, Finland, Canada, and Japan. Recently, in the UK, new models and adaptations are being developed based on agency-to-agency reciprocity and on organisations incentivising participant behaviour (e.g. Spice in the UK), and specifically focusing on social care (Care4Care). Within the UK, service credit models have been gaining policy interest as part of the UK Government’s ‘Big Society’ agenda. These new models are more instrumental, and less focussed on building neighbourhood mutual self-help and reciprocity.

Mutual ExchangesThe second most prominent category of community

currency is mutual exchanges, which accounted for 1412 (41.3%) of the projects we found, and included groupings in

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Service credits Service credits are time-based currencies that are earned by spending time helping another individual or organisa-tion. Everyone’s time is worth the same - an hour given earns one time credit, regardless of the service provided. Time credits can then be spent on services offered by other members. Service credit systems are often known as time banks. Some are based in a neighbourhood or community context, run by volunteers, and some are hosted by institutions. These sometimes focus on a spe-cific sector such as health, education or criminal justice.

Mutual exchange Mutual exchange systems are currencies that are created by their members. Members advertise their ‘offers’ and ‘wants’ in a directory and a central accounts system re-cords transactions. Currency is created when someone spends (goes into commitment to the system), and their trading partner rearns (receives an acknowledgement). Local Exchange and Trading Systems (LETS) are one of the most well known forms of mutual exchange system. Mutual exchange systems tend to exist in a civil society context, often with little support from state or other funders.

Local currencies Local currencies are geographically-bounded (often paper notes) currency which are intended to circulate within a given region. This aims to promote economic activity in the region, supporting the local economy by preventing money from ‘leaking out’ of the locality. Several different local currency models exist, such as the Hours model (USA), Regiogeld (Germany), Banco Palmas (Brazil) and Transition Currencies (UK). Whilst all of these use a paper-based currency many are also experimenting with electronic platforms including debit cards and mobile phone transactions.

Barter Markets Barter markets are intended to overcome shortage of cash, and facilitate exchange amongst a group of users, usually in a regular marketplace. Like local currencies, barter mar-kets tend to use physical notes, which are often issued to new users (as an interest-free loan) to enable them to par-ticipate in the market. Barter markets are often associated with the idea of ‘prosumers’ (individuals who both produce and consume). The most famous example are the barter markets of Argentina which grew to a significant size in the early 2000s, partly as a response to the country’s ongoing economic problems.

1 Our categorisation obscures variations among community currencies of a particular type, and sometimes overstates the distinctions between them. For example, many European mutual ex-change systems use time to denominate their cur-rencies. Therefore, in operation, they are very similar to a community-based Time Bank. One example is the Italian Banche del Tiempo. The literature sug-gests that these systems were inspired by the LETS model, and yet they call themselves Time Banks and network with the Time Bank movements in Spain and Portugal. In such situations, the catego-rizing of currencies was established by assessing their self-identification, their networks, and by taking advice from activists or other currency experts.

3

Tabl

e 1:

Sum

mar

y of

Nat

iona

l Com

mun

ity C

urre

ncy

Type

sTable

&1:&Summary&of&National&Community&Cu

rrency&T

ypes&

Continen

t'Co

untry'

Curren

cy'Nam

e'Type

1'No2

"Status

3"Re

liability4''Develop

men

t'North'

America'

Canada"

SEL""

ME"

15"

First"o

ne"establishe

d"19

97;"slow"growth."

"Jetons"de"Bo

nheu

r""ME"

15"

First"o

ne"200

7;"growth"since"then

."Inspired"by"TV"serie

s""

JEU""

ME"

9"

Started"in"199

8"in"France,"as"a

ttem

pt"to

"revitalise"SEL,"begun

"in"199

9"in"Que

bec,"Canada;"slow

"growth"since."

"Pape

r"based

"local"currencies""

LC"

5"

Begun"in"late"199

0s,"stable"nu

mbe

r"since"200

0s"

&"

L’Accorderie"

SC"

5"

Started"in"200

2;"slow

"growth"since"then

"

&"

Trocs"tes"Trucs"

BM"

5"

Started"20

05;"slow"growth.""

&USA

"Time"Do

llars" "

SC"

260 "

Initiated

"198

6,"steady"growth"fo

llowed

"by"strong"growth"in"re

cent"years"

&"

Pape

rUbased"local"currencies "

LC"

10"

First"o

ne"Ithaca"Hou

rs,"199

1;"growth"in"199

0s,"decline"in"200

0s"

&Mexico"

Red"Tlaloc"

BM"

10"

First"o

ne"199

6,"growth"during"19

90s,"th

en"stability.""

South'

America'

Brazil"

Commun

ity"Banks"

LC"

60"

Establish

ed"199

8;"Palmas"Institu

te"sp

reads"the

"mod

el"in"later"h

alf"o

f"200

0s."

Argentina"

True

que""

BM"

20"

Started"19

95"by"an"enviro

nmen

tal"N

GO;"rapid"growth"in"early"200

0s"as"respo

nse"to"national"m

onetary"crisis;"steep"de

cline"sin

ce."Som

e"system

s"still"exist.""

Vene

zuela"

True

ke""

BM"

13"

First"p

ermanen

t"system"establishe

d"June

"200

7;"growth"fo

llowing"governmen

t"sup

port"in"200

8;"last"new

"system

"establishe

d"in"201

0.""

Europe

'UK"

LETS""

ME"

250"

Initiated

"198

5;"growth"in"199

0s;"in"de

cline"sin

ce"200

0s"

"Time"Ba

nks "

SC"

250"

First"o

ne"199

8,"slow

"growth"th

rough"20

00s,"re

cently"re

newed

"interest"(re"Big"Society)"

&"

Transition"Cu

rren

cies" "

LC"

5"

Instigated

"200

7;"initial"growth;"the

n"plateauing"fo

r"learning,"with

"current"expansio

n"and"expe

rimen

tatio

n"

&"

Spice""

SC"

13"

Adaptatio

n"of"Tim

e"Ba

nking"started"20

08,"slow"growth.""

&France"

SEL""

ME"

465"

Started"in"199

4;"growth"during"19

90s;"Active"ne

twork"and"ne

w"sy

stem

s"emerging"but"unclear"how

"many"system

s"are"active"natio

nally."

&"

SOL"Co

mmitm

ent"

SC"

5"

Started"20

07;"U

ndergoing"a"pe

riod"of"con

solidation"following"the"initial"experim

ent."Th

is"is"on

e"of"th

e"three"type

s"of"SOL"curren

cy"in"th

is"hybrid"sc

heme"

&Ge

rmany"

Tauschrin

ge""

ME"

230U30

0"

Initiated

"199

3,"growth"during"19

90s,"in"decline"sin

ce"200

5 "

&"

Senioren

geno

ssen

schaften

""SC"

70U80"

Laun

ched

"in"199

0,"steady"growth"since"then

."

&"

Regiogeld""

LC"

30"

First"o

ne"in"200

3,"fo

llowed

"by"rapid"grow

th;"currently"con

solidating"

&Be

lgium"

Letsvlande

ren""

ME"

30"

First"p

roject"in"199

4,"fo

llowed

"by"slo

w" growth."N

ational"coo

rdination"from

"200

9U20

11"sa

w"dou

bling"of"projects"

&"

SELULETS""

ME"

65"

"

No#da

ta#available.# #

&Ita

ly"

Banche

"del"Tiempo

"SC"

391"

First"o

ne"establishe

d"19

95;"rapid"growth"during"19

90s;"app

aren

t"plateau"since"then

"

&Spain"

Bancas"del" Tiempo

""SC"

250"

Instigated

"200

1,"growing"particularly"in"last"fe

w"years.""

&Sw

itzerland

"Tauschsystem

" "ME"

38"

Started"late"199

0s,"growth"in"200

0s;"n

ow"stable"

&Au

stria

"Tauschkreis""

ME"

35"

First"o

ne"199

5,"growth"during"19

90s,"stable"since"then

"

&Finland"

Aikapankki""

SC"

20"

First"w

ave"pe

aked

"during"19

90s,"se

cond

"wave"curren

tly"growing."

&Po

rtugal"

Banco"de

"Tem

po"

SC"

31"

First"o

ne"in"200

1;"slow

"growth"th

rougho

ut"200

0s"

&Nethe

rland

s"LETSkringen""

ME"

100"

First"o

ne"199

4,"Amsterdam,"current"growth"

&Hu

ngary"

Talentum

""ME"

15"

First"e

stablishe

d"19

94,"slow"growth"since"

Afric

a'South"Africa "

Commun

ity"Exchange"System

s"ME"

32"

First"system"in"Cape"To

wn,"200

3;"steady"growth"since"then

"As

ia'

Japan "

Fureai"Kippu

"and

"Tim

e"Ba

nks"

SC"

391"

First"e

stablishe

d"19

73,"the

n"reinvented

"as"F

ureai"Kippu

,"rapid"growth"in"198

0s"and

"90s;"early"200

s"decline"and"recent"re

surgen

ce. "

&"

Vario

us"m

utual"exchange "

ME"

35"

Few"sy

stem

s"in"19

90s."Boo

m"after"TV"do

cumen

tary"in"199

9."Decline"in"re

cent"years."

&"

Vario

us"local"currencies "

LC"

133"

Rapid"grow

th"in"early"200

0s"and

"decline"sin

ce"th

en"

&South"Ko

rea"

LETS"

ME"

10"

First"o

ne"initiated

"199

8"by"a"green

"network,"ra

pid"grow

th"during"IM

F"austerity

"measures,"fo

llowed

"by"de

cline"sin

ce"th

en."

Australia'&'

NZ'

Australia"

LETS"

ME"

25"

Establish

ed"198

7;"growth"in"early"199

0s,"decline"by"late"199

0s"

New

"Zealand

"Time"Ba

nks "

SC"

24"

First"o

ne"in"200

5;"re

cent"growth"

"Green"Do

llars"

ME"

8"

Establish

ed"in"198

6,"with

"rapid"grow

th"in"80s"and

"90s,"and

"decline"sin

ce"th

en"

1"whe

re"an"estim

ated

"range"is"given"for"n

umbe

r"of"p

rojects,"th

e"midpo

int"is"taken

"for"sub

sequ

ent"calculatio

ns"

2"ME"(M

utual"Exchange);"LC"(Local"Currency);"B

M"(B

arter"M

arket);"SC"(Service"Credits)"

3"Indicates"p

resent" national"CC"status:"

grow

th"in"num

ber"o

f"systems,"

"plateau"in"num

ber"o

f"systems",

"current"num

ber"b

elow

"previou

s"peak"Th

ere"is"no

"data"for"1

"of"the

"39"natio

nal"systems"()."

4"Re

liability"of"data"source"indicated"as"fo

llows:""Hi

gh,"

Med

ium"and

"Low."

"

&

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14 countries among five continents. Mutual exchange curren-cies are created by the act of spending: one person’s credit equals another’s debit to the system, accounts always sum to zero and the both the value and utility of the currency is maintained by trust in other members to meet their commit-ments (as ‘debts’ are known). Mutual exchanges usually oper-ate within a defined geographical area, providing users with access to interest-free credit which can be ‘spent’ within the trading circle. Members advertise ‘wants’ and ‘offers’ in a directory; a central accountant records transactions – tradi-tionally paper-based, many systems now use online account-ing systems. Some projects link the value of their currency to national currency; others prefer a time-based system; some even mix time and currency values. Research indicates that although mutual exchanges are clearly aimed at supporting local economies, it is the social and community-building benefits which have greatest impact through fostering social networks.

The most well-known example is the Local Exchange Trading Scheme (LETS), pioneered on Vancouver Island, Canada, 1983, by community activist Michael Linton, as an ‘emergency money’ during recession. LETS generally emerge from civil society, and they spread rapidly through Canada, UK, New Zealand and Australia during the 1980s and 90s via ‘new economics’ and green activist networks. Replication of grassroots groups is the main route to growth, facilitated by low-tech, low-cost paper-based mechanisms. There was some UK local government involvement in the early 1990s, and in Europe till the present day, and national networks have waxed and waned as funding allows. Growth in the UK peaked in the late 1990s; in Europe some years later. Nationally-specific adaptations of LETS are evident in France, Hungary, Ger-many, Austria, Switzerland, and Australia, and similar models have sprung up in South Africa, Japan and French-speaking Canada. There is ongoing innovation with new technologies and forms, and several other community currencies have been inspired by LETS, leading to new forms and hybrids. As noted above, the CES model is inspired by LETS and pro-vides an electronic platform on which mutual exchange can take place. This system originated in South Africa but has spread internationally and has been used by existing mutual exchange systems as well as new ones. Also of particular in-terest is the Talente Tauschkreis Vorarlberg which is a large and stable mutual exchange system in Austria that has also developed a linked local currency scheme.

Local CurrenciesThe third group of community currencies is

geographically-bounded, paper-based ‘backed’ local curren-cies, comprising 243 projects (7.1%) from 6 different countries and four continents. Inspired by regeneration-focused depression-era stamp scrip, contemporary cities and regions have issued local currency notes to circulate within a geographically-bounded region, increasing the local eco-nomic multiplier and supporting local businesses. In some cases these are convertible to national currency, thereby form-ing ‘local exchange vouchers’ redeemable only within certain areas or with participating businesses; once issued, they circu-late freely until being converted back to national currency. Such currencies are intended to complement the national currency, increasing the velocity of local exchanges but not supplanting national currency or inter-regional trade. The

demands of business participation means that particular at-tention is paid to security features; many systems use conven-tional currency printers to produce their forgery-resistant notes.

This category includes Hours currencies, which origi-nated in Ithaca, New York State, USA, in 1991, followed by more in the USA and Canada linked to green and alternative grassroots groups, and other similar schemes elsewhere which use local currency to boost local economic activity. The US Hours community currencies have plateaued with relatively small numbers of projects, and there is no national network explicitly linking or supporting them. The German Regiogeld (regional money) projects are more focussed on local eco-nomic development and have a strong network sharing best practice and experience, and have seen a period of growth, followed by a current consolidation. The Brazilian Commu-nity Banks issue ‘social’ currency as part of a solidarity economy-based movement towards economic development and citizen empowerment which aims to boost local eco-nomic activity in cash-starved marginal regions, indicating a politically progressive agenda. A local currency model came to the UK in 2007 and has been growing slowly to 5 curren-cies at present; although there is no formal networking activ-ity between these, there is shared learning and experimenta-tion with electronic payment mechanisms to increase uptake. The Bristol Pound is the most recently-launched with online and electronic payments alongside paper notes, and claims to “support Bristol’s independent businesses, strengthen the local economy, keep our high streets diverse and distinct, helping build a strong community” (Bristol Pound website). These are all associated (to a more or less visible extent) with the Transi-tion Towns grassroots degrowth and localisation social movement, and aim to increase local economic resilience.

Barter MarketsOur fourth category, barter markets, accounted for 48

(1.4%) of the projects, operating in 4 countries from 2 conti-nents. These are a hybrid of local currency and mutual ex-change, comprising a new infrastructure to enable people to exchange goods and services within a limited site-specific event without the need for mainstream currency. Within this type, individuals normally join a local club and are issued with some local currency – effectively an interest-free loan. These are non-convertible and are used to trade with other members at regular dedicated markets.

These first emerged in Bernal, Beunos Aires, Argentina, as a sustainability initiative instigated by an environmental NGO in 1995. Emerging in a context of deindustrialisation and fiscal crisis the barter networks expanded rapidly during the Argentinean financial collapse of 1999-2002 , and be-came a lifeline for a very wide demographic. The Argentin-ean barter clubs were beset by rivalry between competing networks and suffered a catastrophic collapse in credibility following a critical television documentary in November 2002. However, some Argentinean systems still remain and similar models have been adopted in Venezuela and Mexico where it has become closely associated with ideas of the soli-darity economy. Informal barter markets are also likely to be operating ‘below the radar’ in other South American coun-tries. A barter market system (Troc-tes-Trucs – ‘swap your stuff ’) has also emerged in Quebec, Canada - a region with a strong social economy movement, However, this system has a

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5

Unt

itled

1U

ntitl

ed 2

Unt

itled

3U

ntitl

ed 4

Aust

ralia

&

NZ

2433

00

Unt

itled

1U

ntitl

ed 2

Unt

itled

3U

ntitl

ed 4

Asia

391

4513

30

Unt

itled

1U

ntitl

ed 2

Unt

itled

3U

ntitl

ed 4

Afric

a0

320

0

Unt

itled

1U

ntitl

ed 2

Unt

itled

3U

ntitl

ed 4

Euro

pe10

3512

6335

0

Unt

itled

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ntitl

ed 2

Unt

itled

3U

ntitl

ed 4

S Am

eric

a

0

060

33

Serv

ice

Cre

dits

Mut

ual

Exch

ange

Loca

l C

urre

ncie

sB

arte

r M

arke

tsN

Am

eric

a26

539

1515

4.5%

4.5%

11.7

%

79.3

%

N A

mer

ica

(9.8

%)

Serv

ice

Cre

dits

Mut

ual E

xcha

nge

Loca

l Cur

renc

ies

Barte

r Mar

kets

35.5

%

64.5

%

S Am

eric

a (2

.7%

)

1.5%

54.1

%

44.4

%

Euro

pe (6

8.3%

) 100.

0%

Afric

a (0

.9%

)

23.4

%

7.9%

68.7

%

Asia

(16.

6%)

57.9

%

42.1

%

Aust

ralia

/NZ

(1.7

%)

Figure 1: The Geographical Distribution of Community Currencies

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Gill Seyfang3S, School of Environmental SciencesUniversity of East AngliaNorwich NR4 7TJ01603 592956g.seyfang@uea.ac.uk

Noel Longhurst3S, School of Environmental SciencesUniversity of East AngliaNorwich NR4 7TJ01603 591385n.longhurst@uea.ac.uk

stronger emphasis on supporting sus-tainable development through the reuse of goods, than the economic solidarity ideology which motivates the Mexican and South American systems.

Community Currencies Around the World

Having identified four major types of community currencies for sustain-ability, their prevalence (shown in Table 1) and their particular characteristics and objectives, attention now turns to the geographical diffusion of these ini-tiatives. Figure 1 presents data about numbers of local community currency projects, showing how the four commu-nity currency types are distributed across different continents. This reveals:

• Europe has over two-thirds of the world’s total community currency projects, and of these, just over half are mutual exchanges, almost

half are service credits, and only a tiny minority are local currencies.

• Asia follows with around a sixth of the world’s currency projects, of which over two thirds are service credit schemes, a quarter are mu-tual exchanges and the remainder local currencies.

• North America is the third most populous region for a tenth of pro-jects, of which the vast majority are service credit schemes – mainly in the USA.

• South America represents only 2.7% of the total projects identi-fied, and these are local currencies and barter markets.

• Australia and New Zealand have very few projects, only 1.7%, split equally between mutual exchanges and service credits.

• Finally, Africa’s community cur-rencie (1% of the international

total) are exclusively mutual ex-changes.

ConclusionsThis briefing has summarised the

findings of a scoping review which re-vealed a wide diversity of different community currencies. These have emerged from a range of different con-texts and display a wide range of objec-tives and goals. The breadth and com-plexity of this field opens up a number of areas of further investigation. For example, how different national types have diffused and evolved; the extent to which they have succeeded or not; and what kinds of critical challenges they face. Irrespective of their relative suc-cess or failure, the proliferation of community currency systems over the last 30 years illustrates the potential of civil society to act as a source of sus-tainability innovation.

Read more research briefings at www.grassrootsinnovations.org1 Introducing Grassroots Innovations2 Complementary Currencies for

Sustainability3 Community Innovation for Sustainable

Energy4 Innovating Complementary Currencies5 A Thousand Flowers Blooming6 A Glimpse Into Grassroots Climate Action7 Seeing Community Climate Action8 Measuring Community Energy Impacts9 What Lessons Get Shared?10 Intermediation in Shifting Policy Contexts11 Community Energy Scenarios12 Community Energy: Taking stock, moving

forwards?13Global Spread of Community Currencies14Mapping Community Currencies15 Community Currencies and Sustainability

www.grassrootsinnovations.org

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Seyfang, G. and Longhurst, N. (2012) Mapping Community Currencies Grassroots Innovations Research Briefing 14 (Norwich: University of East Anglia)