Alt Currencies Taking Over as Big Banking Fails

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AndyH

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http://www.yesmagazine.org/commonom...ncies-bigger-than-bitcoin-bangla-pesa-brixton

To understand the how and why of alternative currencies, it is helpful to know the history of money and the history of credit more generally. Today, most purchasing power—the ability to buy goods and services—is created by governments issuing money and licensed banks making loans. Yet long before the time of modern money, credit existed in the form of people exchanging IOUs without governments and banks acting as middlemen.


Like the Brixton Pound team, Koru Kenya builds currencies that complement sovereign ones (although the organization now runs several “community currencies” in different locations across the country). Yet the scenarios could not be more different. Brixton is an admittedly hard neighborhood in a massive metro, but in the slums and villages where Ruddick and his Kenyan colleagues work, needs are more basic. As Ruddick put it when I spoke to him, people in Mombasa are not “struggling” in the same sense that they are in U.K. or the U.S.: “People here are starving."

Accordingly, Koru Kenya’s currencies do something the Brixton Pound does not: They create credit where there is not enough. Interest free. When Ruddick arrived in Kenya from the United States five years ago, his co-founders introduced him to a world of both waste and opportunity. There were people who could work but weren’t participating in the local economy. There were plenty of goods, but they couldn’t be bought or sold. All for lack of particular pieces of paper and metal.

“If I have forks and you have spoons but we can’t engage in trade just because we don’t have money, I consider this is a human rights violation,” Ruddick asserts.

In their own different ways, The Brixton Pound, Koru Kenya, and Mazacoin are all attempting to achieve a common goal: empowering people in a monetarily unequal world, from the bottom up. In an age when governments and banks aren’t always the best stewards of communities’ financial growth, security, or privacy, people deserve the ability to provide for themselves. Collaborative innovations around the world, especially within impoverished communities of color, show reasons for cautious optimism. Most alternative currency projects are not indexed to murder and mayhem.
 
Paypal facilitates using Bitcoin on their payment network.

http://www.coinspeaker.com/2015/04/...ts-merchants-to-accept-bitcoin-payments-8664/
PayPal, an online payment processing company owned by eBay Inc., said merchants registered with it may now accept payments in bitcoin.

In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the company said its platform “supports growth with a variety of value-added services designed to help businesses of all sizes manage their cash flow, invoice clients, pay bills, and reduce the need for merchants to receive and store sensitive customer financial information.”

“A merchant can also integrate with Braintree to begin accepting payments with credit or debit cards, PayPal, Venmo, digital currencies such as Bitcoin, or other payment solutions with a single integration,” it added.
 
WetEV said:
How many bitcoin topics do we need?
Apparently we need more so you have more places to troll. This isn't a bitcoin thread - this is about the full range of alternate currencies (as the topic states and as the initial post exemplified).
 
http://www.worldwatch.org/node/5978
Local Currencies Grow During Economic Recession

Berkshare
Photo courtesy Jason Houston

Five local banks have printed more than 2 million Berkshare notes since 2006. The 10 Berkshare note features Robyn Van En, a local pioneer of community supported agriculture.
The gentle mountain slopes of New England isolate the Berkshires, creating a peaceful remoteness in this southern Massachusetts region.
As a result, independent thinkers have thrived here. Herman Melville penned Moby Dick; Norman Rockwell etched paintings of American life; W. E. B. Dubois authored his first calls for emancipation.

Today, the Berkshires is giving rise to a new wave of free thinking. The region's alternative to the U.S. dollar, Berkshares, is among the most successful of the country's local currencies.

Since the currency's launch two years ago, five local banks have printed more than 2 million paper notes. About 185,000 are currently in circulation, according to Susan Witt, a Berkshare co-founder.

The Berkshires is not alone. More communities are creating their own "complementary" currencies during the current economic crisis in an effort to keep wealth in their region.

Witt is now fielding calls from around the world, she said, especially from the United States and United Kingdom.

"In the last four years, there has been a renewed interest in local economy, local production," said Witt, executive director of the E. F. Schumacher Society, a Massachusetts-based think tank focused on local production. "It just skyrocketed with the collapse of the global economy."

Alternative currencies, in theory, encourage consumers to make purchases within their communities rather than elsewhere in the country or abroad. "Buying local" circulates wealth in the region, reduces unnecessary imports, and helps avoid higher unemployment levels, supporters say.
At least 4,000 complementary currencies are now estimated to be in circulation worldwide, compared with fewer than 100 in 1990, according to Bernard Lietaer, a co-founder of the Euro and now a local currency proponent.

The currencies take on various forms. Many function similar to the traditional currency but are distributed at a discounted rate to encourage participation, such as the Berkshares or the cimarrón in Venezuela. Others are designed so that each paper note reflects the per hour labor required to create the product, such as Ithaca Hours in New York or Community Oriented Mutual Economy in Hong Kong.

In Switzerland, the WIR (the German word for "we") functions as a mutual credit system. When a buyer makes a purchase from a WIR participant, the seller receives credit in a WIR account. The credit can then be spent by purchasing something from another participant.

More at the link.
 
Here, learn more about 10 kinds of alternative currency in use today, from Kemp-Robertson’s talk and beyond.

Bitcoin. The world’s best-performing currency, according to Kemp-Robertson, Bitcoin’s value is tied to the performance of a computer network. It’s “completely decentralized—that’s the sort of scary thing about this—which is why it’s so popular,” Kemp-Robertson says. “It’s private, it’s anonymous, it’s fast, and it’s cheap.” Bitcoin is a case study in the increasing desire to place trust in technology over traditional institutions like banks.
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Litecoins. A virtual currency based on the Bitcoin model, Litecoins have a higher limit: “The number of coins that can be mined is capped at 21 million Bitcoins and 84 million Litecoins,” explained a recent Wall Street Journal post, which also noted that Bitcoins are worth more and currently accepted more widely.
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BerkShares. While Bitcoin and Litecoins are worldwide currencies, BerkShares are hyper-local: they’re only accepted in the Berkshires, a region in western Massachusetts. According to the BerkShares website, more than 400 Berkshires businesses accept the currency, and 13 banks serve as exchange stations. “The currency distinguishes the local businesses that accept the currency from those that do not, building stronger relationships and greater affinity between the business community and the citizens,” the site reads.
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Equal Dollars. Philadelphia is also trying out a local currency with Equal Dollars. When you sign up to participate, you receive 50 Equal Dollars; to earn more, you can offer your own possessions in an online marketplace, volunteer or refer friends.
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Ithaca Hours. Another hyperlocal currency, Ithaca Hours—usable only in Ithaca, New York—also hopes to boost “local economic strength and community self-reliance in ways which will support economic and social justice, ecology, community participation and human aspirations.” (For a full list of local currencies in the US, go here.)
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Starbucks Stars. Use of Starbucks’ Stars is limited not to a particular geographic locality, but to the corporate ecosystem that is Starbucks. Once you get a Starbucks Card, you can earn Stars—which buy drinks and food—by paying with the card, using the Starbucks app, or entering Star codes from various grocery store products. According to Kemp-Robertson, 30 percent of transactions at Starbucks are made using Stars.
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Amazon Coins. Another company-specific currency, Amazon Coins, can be exchanged for “Kindle Fire apps, games, or in-app items.” You get 500 Amazon Coins, worth $5, by purchasing a Kindle Fire, or can buy more Coins at a slight savings.
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Sweat. Kemp-Robertson points to a particularly innovative business-specific currency in Nike’s “bid your sweat” campaign in Mexico. Your movements, energy, and calorie consumption are tracked and can be exchanged for goods, ensuring a “closed environment”—only people who (a) own and (b) use their Nike products are welcome.
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Tide detergent. This is a barter system that’s about as far from government-backed as you could get: in 2011, it was discovered that across the US, thieves had been stealing 150-ounce bottles of Tide detergent to trade for $5 cash or $10 worth of weed or crack cocaine. An article in New York Magazine from earlier this year details the fascinating story and what it says about Tide’s super-successful branding.
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Linden Dollars. Linden Dollars, usable within the online community Second Life, can be bought with traditional currency or earned by selling goods or offering services to other Second Life residents. Many people earn actual Linden salaries—some to the tune of a million Linden Dollars—says this article from Entrepreneur.com.
http://blog.ted.com/10-alternative-...-to-berkshares-to-sweat-to-laundry-detergent/
 
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/13/charities-accepting-bitcoins_n_7054958.html
Save the Children is thinking ahead when it comes to the ages of its donors -- that's why it decided to go digital.

“We want to remain contemporary and relevant to current and future generations,” Ettore Rossetti, director of social media and digital marketing at the organization, told The Wall Street Journal. “We don’t only want to be your grandmother’s charity, we want to be your grandchild’s charity. One way to do that is to accept Bitcoin.”
The international aid organization is one of a handful of nonprofits that now accept Bitcoin -- a form of global, decentralized, digital currency that exists online and can be exchanged for U.S. dollars and euros, among other currencies.

As Rossetti noted and Forbes reported last December, more and more charitable groups are accepting donations in the currency, including the American Red Cross, the Wikimedia Foundation, Greenpeace and United Way Worldwide -- the largest charity in the U.S. in terms of public donations, according to Forbes.

Elizabeth Ploshay, an account manager at BitPay -- a company that converts Bitcoin donations to dollars for nonprofits -- told the Wall Street Journal that Bitcoin is gaining interest among "charities that are older and want to rebrand themselves or tap into a younger pool of donors."

A survey conducted last year by researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign found the average age of a Bitcoin user is 33 years old.
 
Andy, give up your crap and your sthick on Bitcoin :roll: It's really getting old... and sad.. Like an old trader that won't let go to that reverse short that he's losing his ass on..

We've all heard it.. BT is amazing.. it's the future..

yet week after week.... Millions and millions go missing or stolen....

and the value just plummets more and more...

http://www.coindesk.com/price/
https://www.coinbase.com/charts

Meanwhile the USD has gained back more strength...

Give it up..

P.S. ANDY... why don't you look up Marc Andreesen and the WinkleBLAH twin's BT investment and see where they are at now? LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

Andreessen is really trying to save face....
http://www.cnbc.com/id/102310995
 
Andreessen Horowitz, he estimated, has invested almost $50m in bitcoin companies to date – including Coinbase and TradeBlock – and is actively searching for more bitcoin-focused opportunities.
:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Tankity tank tank tank.... down she goes
 
JasonA said:
Andy, give up your crap and your sthick on Bitcoin :roll: It's really getting old... and sad.. Like an old trader that won't let go to that reverse short that he's losing his ass on..

We've all heard it.. BT is amazing.. it's the future..

yet week after week.... Millions and millions go missing or stolen....
Frankly, I didn't think that BT was either 'amazing' or 'the future' even when I lived in England. You do know that BT is British Telecom and has absolutely nothing to do with this thread?

I'll reply to your earlier non sequitur with this question: Do you know the difference between McDonalds and the USD? What is it/are they?

If you're unable or unwilling to understand the reasons why this planet has more than 4000 alt currencies (and NO, they're not all BTC and only ~10% are crypto!), or are unwilling or unable to understand that the difference between the value of any particular currency relative to another is irrelevant to the usability of that currency, then I strongly recommend that you stay away from FOREX and probably the stock, bond, and commodities markets. Regardless, though, because you treat your blindness with personal attacks, you'll stay on my ignore list.
 
Just in case anyone's taken in by JasonA or WetEV's trolling, enjoy this Wikipedia entry. Note that this is only for the USA and that not a single one of these is a crypto currency.

List of community currencies in the United States

Intra-company
The Barter Network[1]

Interstate[edit]
Blue Money Brattleboro, Vermont, and Chesterfield, New Hampshire
BNI[2] Delaware, Pennsylvania, Maryland, New Jersey
Disney dollar Disneyland and Disney World
Fourth Corner Exchange Pacific Northwest
RiverHOURS Columbia River Gorge

Alaska[edit]
Dáanaa

Arizona[edit]
Arizona Dollars Statewide
Tucson Time Traders Tucson, Arizona

California[edit]
Barter Bucks Concord, California
Bay Bucks San Francisco, California
Berkeley Barter Network Berkeley, California
Berkeley Bread Berkeley, California
Central Pound] Clovis, California
Davis Dollars Davis, California
Escondido Dollars [3] Escondido, California
Fairbuck Fairfax, California
Humboldt Hours Eureka, California, and Arcata, California
Mendocino SEED Fort Bragg, California
North Fork Shares North Fork, California
San Luis Obispo Hours San Luis Obispo, California
Sand Dollars Bolinas, California
Santa Barbara Hours Santa Barbara, California
Santa Monica Hours Santa Monica, California
Sequoia Hours Garberville, California
Sonoma County Community Cash Santa Rosa, California
TradeMarket Nevada City, California
Ukiah Hours Ukiah, California

Colorado[edit]
Butte Bucks Crested Butte, Colorado
Carbondale Spuds Carbondale, Colorado (Inactive)
Community Cash Durango, Colorado (Inactive)
NOCO Hours Fort Collins, Greeley, and Loveland, Colorado
North Fork Helping Hands Paonia, Colorado (Inactive)
Mountain Hours Breckenridge, Colorado (2012 - Current)
Mile High Hours Denver, Colorado (2012 - Current)
Peak Hours Colorado Springs, Colorado (2012 - Current)

Connecticut[edit]
Middletown Cash Middletown, CT, Wesleyan University
Thread City Bread Willimantic, Connecticut (Inactive)
District of Columbia[edit]
Potomacs Washington, DC

Florida[edit]
Clear Water Hours Tampa, Florida (2012 - Current)
Tampanio Tampa, Florida (a proposed currency based on the BerkShares Model for Tampa, Florida and surrounding communities) (Inactive)
Timucua Dollar Jacksonville, Florida

Georgia[edit]
Atlanta Hours Atlanta, Georgia (Inactive)

Hawai'i[edit]
Aloha Hours Hawaii, USA (2013 - Current)
Kauai Barter and Trade Network Kilauea, Hawaii

Idaho[edit]
Boise Hours Boise, Idaho (Inactive)

Indiana[edit]
BloomingHours Bloomington, Indiana (Inactive)

Iowa[edit]
Wash Bucks Sioux City, Iowa

Kansas[edit]
[REAL Dollars] Lawrence, Kansas (Inactive)

Kentucky[edit]
Berea Bucks Berea, Kentucky (Inactive)

Louisiana[edit]
Mo' Money New Orleans, Louisiana (Inactive)

Maine[edit]
Waldo Hours Unity, Maine (Inactive)

Maryland[edit]
Anacostia Hours Mount Rainier, Maryland
Baltimore Hours Baltimore, Maryland (Inactive)
P.E.N. Neighborhood Exchange Takoma Park, Maryland (Inactive)
The BNote [1] Baltimore, Maryland

Massachusetts[edit]
Amesbury Hours Amesbury, Massachusetts (Inactive)
BerkShares, Southern Berkshires, Massachusetts
Cape Anne Dollars Gloucester, Massachusetts (Inactive)
Valley Dollars Greenfield, Massachusetts (Inactive)

Michigan[edit]
Bay Area Bucks Traverse City, Michigan
Detroit Cheers Detroit, Michigan
Hollandollars Holland, Michigan (being discontinued but honored by local chamber of commerce[4])

Minnesota[edit]
Hero dollar Minneapolis, Minnesota

Missouri[edit]
Chamber Bucks Maryville, Missouri
Kansas City Barter Bucks Kansas City, Missouri (Inactive)
Marbles Columbia, Missouri (Inactive)
Hermann Bucks Hermann, Missouri
Trounce Saint Louis, Missouri

Montana[edit]
Missoula Hours Missoula, Montana (Inactive)

New Hampshire[edit]
Shire Silver

New Mexico[edit]
Santa Fe Hours Santa Fe, New Mexico (Inactive)

New York[edit]
Brooklyn Greenbacks Brooklyn, New York (Inactive)
Capital Area Self-Sustaining Hours Albany, New York (Inactive)
Chenango Hours New Berlin, New York (Inactive)
Columbia County Hours Philmont, New York (Inactive)
Ithaca Hours Ithaca, New York
TimeBanksNYC New York, New York (inactive)
Stoneridge Hours Kerhonkson, New York (Inactive)

North Carolina[edit]
Asheville LETS Credits Asheville, North Carolina
Bull City Bucks Durham, North Carolina (Inactive)
Earthaven Leaps Earthaven Ecovillage
Mountain Money Mars Hill, North Carolina (Inactive)
PLENTY Pittsboro, North Carolina

Ohio[edit]
Cuyahoga Hours Cleveland, Ohio (Inactive)
Portage Hours Kent, Ohio (Inactive)
Simply Hours Columbus, Ohio (Inactive)
Summit Hours Akron, Ohio (Inactive)
Wooster Hours Apple Creek, Ohio (Inactive)

Oklahoma[edit]
Tulsa Hours Tulsa, Oklahoma (Inactive)

Oregon[edit]
Bridgetown Bucks from PDX Currency Corp. Portland, Oregon
Cascadia Hour Exchange Portland, Oregon
Columbia Community Exchange Columbia County, Oregon
Gorge Local Currency Cooperative Hood River, Oregon
Jefferson Rounds Coos, Curry, Douglas, Klamath, Lake, Jackson, and Josephine Counties
HOUR Exchange Corvallis, Oregon
PDX Timebank Portland, Oregon
Xchange Stewards Portland, Oregon
Reedville Free Exchange Reedville, OR

Pennsylvania[edit]
Lehigh Valley Barter Hours Bethlehem, Pennsylvania (Inactive)
Ormita Commerce Network Barter System Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Equal Dollars Community Currency, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Timebank Media, an initiative of Transition Town Media. Media, Pennsylvania
Philadelphia uses "Equal Dollars" according to AARP Bulletin May 2012 page 28

South Dakota[edit]
Brookings Bucks Brookings, South Dakota
Hobo Dough South Dakota State University, Brookings, South Dakota

Tennessee[edit]
Riverbend Tokens Chattanooga, Tennessee (Inactive)

Texas[edit]
Greyhound Bucks Taft, Texas (Inactive)
Houston Hours Houston, Texas
C-City Cash Colorado City, Texas

Vermont[edit]
Bristol Bucks Bristol, Vermont
Buffalo Mountain Hours Hardwick, Vermont (Inactive)
Burlington Bread Burlington, Vermont (Inactive)

Virginia[edit]
Floyd Hours Floyd, Virginia (Inactive)

Washington[edit]
Fourth Corner Exchange Washington, Oregon, Colorado, New Mexico, Ohio, California
Dibspace Seattle, Washington
Eastside Timebank Kirkland, WA
SWEL Timebank Shoreline, Washington
Snohomish Diamonds Snohomish, Washington
Bainbridge Island Bucks Bainbridge Island, Washington (no website found—outdated?) (Inactive)
Kettle River Hours Kettle Falls, Washington (no website found—outdated?) (Inactive)
Kitsap Hours Bremerton, Washington (no website found—outdated?)
Lopez Island Hours Lopez Island, Washington (no website found—outdated?) (Inactive)
Skagit Dollars Mount Vernon, Washington (no website found—outdated?) (Inactive)

Wisconsin[edit]
Chamber Bucks Eau Claire, Wisconsin
Madison Hours Madison, Wisconsin
Milwaukee Hours Milwaukee, Wisconsin (Inactive)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_community_currencies_in_the_United_States
 
Give it up Andy, your just a troll no different then the Mt.Gox guy... a pusher and a peddler.

But when the cards fall and it hits the fan, you have no answers :roll:

P.S. Where's you answer on all this Bitcoin amazingness and the idiot twins/Andreessen :lol:

Waiting for the typical witty Andy response
 
Also Andy... you Wiki link/post to ALL THE DIFFERENT currencies is MEANINGLESS.. if you know you posted "community" and Bitcoin/Crypto is Private :lol:

They have nothing to do with each other... yet Bitcoin is "Private" and gets stolen and lost all the time :lol: :lol: :lol:
 
http://www.forbes.com/sites/katiegi...be-on-the-rise-in-the-u-s-and-why-it-matters/

Why Local Currencies Could Be On The Rise In The U.S. -- And Why It Matters
As of this summer, you can be broke in Santa Barbara, California, and still afford organic produce from the farmers’ market. You can be dollar-broke, that is—but if you have enough Santa Barbara Missions tokens jangling in your pocket, earned in exchange for helping out at a number of local nonprofits, you’ll be set.
Historically, too, local currency systems have cropped up in periods when economies falter. During the U.S.’s Great Depression in the 1930s, several hundred municipalities and other groups across the country issued local currencies to keep the gears of regional economies turning. In the midst of its own depression, in 1932, the small town of Wörgl, Austria, leaned on a local currency issued by its mayor to climb out of a deep unemployment ditch. In response to more recent economic turmoil in Greece, a complementary money system called Local Alternative Units (“tems” in Greek) has emerged.
 
http://baltimoregreencurrency.org/about-local-currency

About Local Currency

Local currency, also called complementary currency, is money that is designed to be used within a community, town, or city. Whereas national currencies, like the US Dollar, are now loaned into existence, necessitating their repayment with interest to a bank or financial institution, local currencies exist solely to facilitate commerce within a community and to preserve and restore the social nature of trade and business. Dollars are universal, but they don’t have the same power that local currencies have, to promote and grow a local economy, in ways that benefit the people and not banks.
 
JasonA said:
Also Andy... you Wiki link/post to ALL THE DIFFERENT currencies is MEANINGLESS.. if you know you posted "community" and Bitcoin/Crypto is Private :lol:

They have nothing to do with each other... yet Bitcoin is "Private" and gets stolen and lost all the time :lol: :lol: :lol:
I'm embarressed for you, Jason. It's clear you still have no idea what crypto is and is not. You also don't appear to have read the posts in this thread to find out why your off-topic noise is both. Finally, there's nothing 'private' about any of these - whether local or crypto.

Sorry, still no. Sadly.
 
Some folks here might think that a that current rise in the value of the USD is good. If one bought USD with their higher-value local currency when the US was stuck in our part of the ongoing global recession, then their 'buy and pray' method brought them some profit this time. US manufacturers are not excited about the rise in value of the USD because it makes US products more expensive - and this reduces sales, profit, cash flow, and taxes for the company and our economy.

The important point is that this opportunity for potential profit exists because different currencies have different values. If all of the world's currencies had the same value, the entire foreign exchange market would cease to exist. Currency volatility is required.

http://www.businessinsider.com/r-currency-hedged-etfs-in-vogue-as-investors-clamor-for-more-2015-2
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. investors spooked by wild swings in the foreign exchange market are piling into exchange-traded funds that strip out the local currency on their international equity portfolios, making them one of the most sought-after financial products in 2015.
With the dollar having rallied more than 19 percent since the beginning of 2014, investors are seeing gains in overseas stock markets eaten up by losses against the greenback.

"People are voting with their feet," said Luciano Siracusano, chief investment strategist for WisdomTree Investments in New York. "They're putting billions of dollars into these funds, and what they're saying is, 'We don't want to be 100 percent unhedged.'"
People are voting with their feet - they're buying lower-priced foreign currencies and selling the too-high USD.

Of course, this is a game for folks with money they can afford to lose. The folks using local currencies are doing so to disconnect from the global debt games (where the odds are never in their favor).
 
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