Develop alternative currencies
Any currency that is used as an alternative to the dominant national or multinational currency systems is an Alternative Currency or Private Currency. They are created by an individual, corporation, or organization, they can be created by national, state, or local governments, or they can arise naturally as people begin to use a certain commodity as a currency.
Local currencies, created by local governments, also have the benefit that they cannot be spent abroad, and thus the money always keeps circulating locally, benefiting only the local economy.
BITCOIN is a is an innovative payment network and a new kind of money. Bitcoin uses peer-to-peer technology to operate with no central authority or banks; managing transactions and the issuing of bitcoins is carried out collectively by the network.
BRISTOL POUND is an example of a local currency, designed to support Bristol’s thriving independent business sector and keep money in Bristol circulation again and again.
As stated by NEW ECONOMICS FOUNDATION
“By using community currencies effectively, local economies can unlock a range of social, economic, and environmental benefits for their local people. We need to challenge orthodox thinking about how money works, and realise that money is a tool that should be working for us, not making us work for it.
While the community currency field is still in its early stages, it already indicates that this relationship with money is possible. Rather than dividing and dominating societies, money can be re-designed to unite and empower us around common needs and objectives. “
Labour Shadow Chancellor, John McDonnell’s research into ‘new economics’, is investigating numerous innovations in to our existing Money and Finance system as it requires serious reforming to provide the solutions to overcome the major social and environmental issues we face today.
