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Complementary currency

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Medium of exchange complementing national currencies

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In 2000 Italianheterodox economic thinker and law professorGiacinto Auriti introduced in his birthplaceGuardiagrele alternative currencybanknotes, which were shortly after confiscated by Italian authorities.^[1]

Acomplementary currency is acurrency ormedium of exchange that is not necessarily a national currency, but that is thought of as supplementing or complementing national currencies.^[2]^: 3^[3]^: 2 Complementary currencies are usually notlegal tender and their use is based on agreement between the parties exchanging the currency. According to Jérôme Blanc of Laboratoire d'Économie de la Firme et des Institutions, complementary currencies aim to protect, stimulate or orientate the economy.^[4]^: 7 They may also be used to advance particular social, environmental, or political goals.^[5]^: 4

When speaking about complementary currencies, a number of overlapping and often interchangeable terms are in use:local or community currencies are complementary currencies used within a locality or other form of community (such as business-based or online communities); regional currencies are similar to local currencies, but are used within a larger geographical region; andsectoral currencies are complementary currencies used within a single economic sector, such as education or health care. Manyprivate currencies are complementary currencies issued by private businesses or organizations. Other terms includealternative currency, auxiliary currency, and microcurrency.Mutual credit is a form of alternative currency, and thus any form of lending that does not go through the banking system can be considered a form of alternative currency.Local Exchange Trading Systems are a special form ofbarter that trades points for items. One point stands for one worker-hour of work, and is thus atime-based currency.

Purposes

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Current complementary currencies have often been designed intentionally to address specific issues, for example to increase financial stability.^[6] Most complementary currencies have multiple purposes and/or are intended to address multiple issues. They can be useful for communities that do not have access to financial capital, and for adjusting peoples' spending behavior.^[7] The 2006 Annual Report of the Worldwide Database of Complementary Currency Systems presented a survey of 150 complementary currency systems in which 94 respondents said that "all reasons" were selected, among cooperation, micro/small/medium enterprise development, activating the local market, reducing the need for national currency, and community development.^[8]

Aims may include:

resocialisation and emancipation
lifeboat currencies^[jargon]
to increase financial stability^[6]
to reduce carbon emissions, by encouraging localisation of trade and relationships
to encouraging use of under-used resources^[3]^: 2
to recognise the informal economy
promote local businesses
maintaining purchasing power, value preservation

Advantages

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Alternative currencies increase in activity if the local economy slows down, and decrease in activity if the local economy goes up.^[9]^{[dubious –discuss]} They are most successful if the currency circulates within the users, in cycles or loops, as shown in an analysis of the use of Sardex by 1,477 entities in Sardinia in 2013 and 2014.^[10]

Disadvantages

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According to professor Nikolaus Läufer's theory, the use of local currencies such asFreigeld can only increase economic activity temporarily. Lengthy use of a local currency will ultimately result in a decline in economic activity and lead to a destabilization of the economy. This is due to the increased circulation velocity of the money as the amount in circulation decreases (as currencies as Freigeld reduce in value rapidly).^[11]^{[clarification needed]}

Tax

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There are some complementary currencies that are regional or global, such as theCommunity Exchange System,WIR and Friendly Favors, Tibex in theLazio region in Italy or the proposed global currencyterra.^[12]

Acommunity currency is a type of complementary currency that has the explicit aim to support and build more equal, connected and sustainable societies. A community currency is designed to be used by a specific group.^[13]

List of complementary currencies

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Name	Type	Country	Region	Active
Brixton pound	Local currency	United Kingdom	Europe	2009–present
Bristol pound	Local currency	United Kingdom	Europe	2009–2021
BerkShares	Local currency	United States	North America	2006–present
Calgary dollar	Local currency	Canada	North America	1995–present
Chiemgauer	Local currency	Germany	Europe	2003–present
Detroit Community Scrip	Local currency	United States	North America	2009–present
Eco-Pesa	Local currency	Kenya	Africa	2010–2011
Eusko	Local currency	Basque Country, France	Europe	2013–present
Exeter pound	Local currency	United Kingdom	Europe	2015–2018
Eko	Local currency	Findhorn Ecovillage,Moray, Scotland (U.K.)	Europe	2002–present
Fureai kippu	Sectoral currency	Japan	Asia	1995
Ithaca Hours	Local currency	United States	North America	1991–present
Kelantanese dinar	Regional currency	Malaysia	Asia	2006–present
Lewes pound	Local currency	United Kingdom	Europe	2008–2025^[14]
Ora	Regional currency	Orania, South Africa	Africa	2014–present
Bon Towarowy PeKaO^{[dubious –discuss]}	Regional currency	Poland	Europe	1960–1989
Sarafu-Credit^{[dubious –discuss]}	Local currency	Kenya	Africa
Spesmilo	Community currency	Esperantujo (mostly Great Britain and Switzerland)	Mostly Europe	1907- First World War
Stelo	Community currency	Esperantujo (mostly Great Britain and Switzerland)	Europe	1945-1993
Stroud pound	Local currency	United Kingdom	Europe	2009–present
Toronto dollar	Local currency	Canada	North America	1995–2013
Tumin	Local currency	El Espinal, Veracruz, Mexico	North America	2010–present

Other non-regional complementary currencies include:

Commercial credit circuit^[15]
Community Exchange System (CES) – global exchange network
Digital gold currency
Local Exchange Trading Systems (LETS) – an example ofmutual credit, is a type of local currency used in a number of small communities worldwide.
Rábaközi Tallér^[16]
Sardex, alternative currency used inSardinia^[17]^[18]
Ven – a digital currency used inHub Culture, a private social network^[19]
WIR Bank – founded in 1934, oriented towards small and mid-sized corporations

References

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^"La crisi e il sogno di un'altra moneta" [The crisis and the dream of another money] (in Italian).RAI. 2011. Retrieved13 February 2025.
^Costanza, Robert et al., "Complementary Currencies as a Method to Improve Local Sustainable Economic Welfare", University of Vermont, Draft, 12 December 2003.
^^a ^bLietaer, Bernard; Hallsmith, Gwendolyn (2006)."Community Currency Guide"(PDF). Global Community Initiatives. Retrieved18 June 2015.
^Blanc, Jérôme (2011)."Classifying "CCs": Community, complementary and local currencies' types and generations"(PDF).International Journal of Community Currency Research.15:4–10.
^Fare, Marie; Ahmed, Pepita Ould (2014)."The complementary currency systems: a tricky issue for economists". hal.archives-ouvertes.fr. Retrieved18 June 2015.
^^a ^bLietaer, Bernard; Ulanowicz, Robert; Goerner, Sally (2009)."Options for Managing a Systemic Bank Crisis".S.A.P.I.EN.S.2 (1).
^"Faludi, Jeremy "Complementary Currency: For Bootstrapping, But Not For Everything",Worldchanging, 4 October 2005". Archived fromthe original on 13 March 2009. Retrieved2 March 2009.
^DeMeulenaere, S. (2007)."2006 Annual Report of the Worldwide Database of Complementary Currency Systems"(PDF).International Journal of Community Currency Research.11:23–35.doi:10.15133/j.ijccr.2007.003.ISSN 1325-9547.
^Stodder, James (January 2005)."Implications for Macroeconomic Stability"(PDF). Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 30 August 2017. Retrieved3 April 2014.
^Iosifidis, George; Charette, Yanick; Airoldi, Edoardo M.; Littera, Giuseppe; Tassiulas, Leandros; Christakis, Nicholas A. (November 2018)."Cyclic motifs in the Sardex monetary network".Nature Human Behaviour.2 (11):822–829.doi:10.1038/s41562-018-0450-0.ISSN 2397-3374.PMID 31558815.S2CID 256713022.
^Läufer, Nikolaus (31 December 2006)."Natural Economic Order Theories or Freiwirtschaftslehre (Silvio Gesell)" (in German). University of Konstanz. Archived fromthe original on 20 November 2012. Retrieved3 April 2014.
^B. Rietaer, "Global Complementally Currency: Making Money Sustainable",Environmental Research Quarterly, Vol. 125, pp. 53–59, 2002.
^"People Powered Money: designing, developing and delivering community currencies"(PDF). Community Currencies in Action. Retrieved17 June 2015.^{[permanent dead link]}
^Murray, Susan (22 April 2025).""The Lewes Pound Bids Farewell"".The Lewes Pound.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
^"Making Money for Business: Currencies, Profit, and Long-Term Thinking". thesolutionsjournal.com. Archived fromthe original on 8 November 2011. Retrieved20 March 2014.
^"Fizetőeszköz lesz a Rábaközi Tallér". kisalfold.hu. Archived fromthe original on 29 August 2010. Retrieved28 August 2010.
^"Sardex homepage". sardex.net. Retrieved20 March 2014.
^The Sardex Factor, Financial Times
^"The dollar alternatives - Ven".cnn.com. Cable News Network. Retrieved3 April 2014.

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