## Innovation Sparks Community Currencies – IMF F&D ## Source details **Canonical URL:** [Innovation Sparks Community Currencies – IMF F&D](https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2021/03/technological-innovation-fueling-community-currencies-adriano) ## Other formats - [Markdown version](/en/publications/fandd/issues/2021/03/technological-innovation-fueling-community-currencies-adriano/index.md) - [Structured JSON version](/en/publications/fandd/issues/2021/03/technological-innovation-fueling-community-currencies-adriano/index.json) - [Bundle manifest](/en/publications/fandd/issues/2021/03/technological-innovation-fueling-community-currencies-adriano/bundle-manifest.json) ## Bibliographic details - Authors: ANDREAS ADRIANO - Published: March 1, 2021 --- ### Historical origins and early experiments - Johann Silvio Gesell (born in 1862) promoted Freiwirtschaft: Freigeld (free money), Freihandel (free trade), and Freiland (free land). - Gesell’s mechanism: require holders to buy monthly stamps to keep currency value (a “hoarding tax”) to boost circulation. - Wörgl experiment (1931): local Freigeld financed infrastructure investment, created jobs, and boosted activity; Austria’s central bank shut it down after two years. - John Maynard Keynes called Gesell “a strange, unduly neglected prophet” and praised the stamp mechanism. - Irving Fisher advocated “Stamp Scrip” during the Great Depression; hundreds of scrips were issued across the United States. - Tenino, Washington: local dollars printed as wooden cards; in 2020 the city minted new wood chips using the same press used 90 years earlier. - WIR franc (launched in 1934, Switzerland): a credit cooperative backed by real assets; annual turnover is around $7 billion. ### Technological resurgence: mobile payments and blockchain - COVID-19 recession catalyzed expansion of digital community currencies, mirroring growth during the Great Depression. - Maricá, Brazil: doubled its income supplement program to residents, paid in mumbucas, two months before any federal support; most transactions occur via mobile phones. - Integrations of mobile payments with blockchain enable immutable decentralized ledgers and real-time transaction recording. - Good4Trust (Turkey): preparing to launch a blockchain-based community currency powered by Celo. - Brixton (London): launched pounds in 2008; in January 2021 announced a digital version using blockchain from Algorand. - Sarafu (Kenya): leverages blockchain and mobile phones; used by 41,000 people across 60 villages; in 2020 spent the equivalent of $2.5 million in over 335,000 transactions. - Creator Will Ruddick: “This platform allows a group of farmers to come together and create their own currency and a resilient economic system from the bottom up.” “Currency is vital infrastructure.” ### Operational advantages and evaluation capabilities - Recording transactions on blockchain allows real-time data collection and evaluation of social initiatives. - Danish Red Cross uses transaction data to study program effects: “For the first time, we can observe a program’s impact in real time,” says Adam Bornstein, head of the innovative finance and systems change team. - Real-time data enables course corrections “within days rather than wait for surveys 12 months after the fact.” - Transaction data can be used to create early warning systems for disasters, improving flexibility in deploying humanitarian resources. - Bornstein on humanitarian finance: “The world is complex and dynamic, whereas humanitarian finance and procurement policies are inherently inflexible.” ### Community and systemic implications - Core objectives remain strengthening communities and supporting local business. - New technologies and social entrepreneurship expand experimentation and potential mainstreaming of alternative currencies. - Local currencies can provide a testing ground for central bank digital currency initiatives. - Ezechiel Copic (Celo): “Local currencies can provide a testing ground for these initiatives.” - Alternative currencies may evolve from local development tools into broader policy instruments with national implications. *Innovation Sparks Community Currencies – IMF F&D, March 2021* --- ## Content in this bundle - **فكرة جديدة قديمة** - [فكرة جديدة قديمة (Markdown version)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2021/march/ar/currencies-ar.pdf.md){rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"} - [فكرة جديدة قديمة (PDF)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2021/march/ar/currencies-ar.pdf){rel="external" type="application/pdf"} - **货币 - 旧理念萌发新芽 - 金融与发展 - 国际货币基金组织季刊 -2021年3月号·第58卷** - [货币 - 旧理念萌发新芽 - 金融与发展 - 国际货币基金组织季刊 -2021年3月号·第58卷 (Markdown version)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2021/march/chn/currency1-chn.pdf.md){rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"} - [货币 - 旧理念萌发新芽 - 金融与发展 - 国际货币基金组织季刊 -2021年3月号·第58卷 (PDF)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2021/march/chn/currency1-chn.pdf){rel="external" type="application/pdf"} - **Innovation Sparks Community Currencies – IMF F&D** - [Innovation Sparks Community Currencies – IMF F&D (Markdown version)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2021/march/en/technological-innovation-fueling-community-currencies-adriano-en.pdf.md){rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"} - [Innovation Sparks Community Currencies – IMF F&D (PDF)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2021/march/en/technological-innovation-fueling-community-currencies-adriano-en.pdf){rel="external" type="application/pdf"} - **Una idea no tan nueva ● Finanzas y Desarrollo ● Marzo de 2021** - [Una idea no tan nueva ● Finanzas y Desarrollo ● Marzo de 2021 (Markdown version)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2021/march/es/technological-innovation-fueling-community-currencies-adriano-es.pdf.md){rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"} - [Una idea no tan nueva ● Finanzas y Desarrollo ● Marzo de 2021 (PDF)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2021/march/es/technological-innovation-fueling-community-currencies-adriano-es.pdf){rel="external" type="application/pdf"} - **Une idée presque nouvelle** - [Une idée presque nouvelle (Markdown version)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2021/march/fr/technological-innovation-fueling-community-currencies-adriano-fr.pdf.md){rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"} - [Une idée presque nouvelle (PDF)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2021/march/fr/technological-innovation-fueling-community-currencies-adriano-fr.pdf){rel="external" type="application/pdf"} - **Денежные знаки. Новая старая идея – Финансы и развитие – март 2021 года** - [Денежные знаки. Новая старая идея – Финансы и развитие – март 2021 года (Markdown version)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2021/march/ru/currency-ru.pdf.md){rel="alternate" type="text/markdown"} - [Денежные знаки. Новая старая идея – Финансы и развитие – март 2021 года (PDF)](/-/media/files/publications/fandd/article/2021/march/ru/currency-ru.pdf){rel="external" type="application/pdf"} --- _Source: https://www.imf.org/en/publications/fandd/issues/2021/03/technological-innovation-fueling-community-currencies-adriano_