Libre Currency
Description
Sybille Saint Girons and Carole Fabre:
"Libre-currency proposes a self-issuance, or co-creation of units by the people of the monetary system for the people. Calculated on a mathematical equation with three variables: number of human members alive, their average lifespan and monetary mass, it ensures symmetry on space and time. As no material value is absolute in space and time, Libre-currency is rooted on our unique common value among humans on Earth: being alive on Earth!
Symmetry in space: at a time T, everyone wherever he is, co-creates its part of money at the same amount. Symmetry in time: an old generation could not co-issue more than the next, and the next more than the former. Therefore it’s sustainable as it’s valuable for everyone everywhere; no one can deprive others even next generations. Respect, innocuity and sovereignty are embedded in the DNA of Libre-currency, as every human member is an equal co-creator of the currency, independently of its production, unconditionally of its status. People are co-producing their universal dividend because they are humans alive. Organizations can also be part of the monetary system but they aren’t co-issuing units, only trading.
As Bitcoin, Libre-currency algorithm generates monetary units. But unlike data mining, here algorithm relies on the three variables; unlike proof-of-work, it’s people’s proof-of-life that determines recurrent and periodical creation of units (per day, week, month...). Thus each human member’s wallet increases evenly according to the universal dividend co-created. Then members, human or organizations, can use their units to sell and buy among them as any currency. A blockchain ledger records either recurrent issuances or transactions exchanges.
According to experimentations, issuing money with Libre-currency creates favourable conditions to behave toward social changes and sustainability, as it’s intrinsically fair, abundant, transparent and decentralised. People are responsible, equal and free, and Libre-currency insures durability and reliability.
Moreover each monetary community self-manages its Libre-currency. The only needs are a way to regularly validate that people are alive meaning having a “proof-of-life” mechanism (e.g. through web-of-trust-certification process) and a Libre-currency-algorithm-blockchain. Yet Libre-currency is only solving monetary issuance, other mechanisms have to be set by the members (prices, taxes, finances, marketplaces...)."
(https://www.reglesdejeux.com/libre-currency-for-sustainable-social-change/)
Status
Carole Fabre and Sybille Saint Girons:
"Three experimentations have been done (MONEY M, OPEN-UDC, UCOIN now DUNITER), three
software are developed (CESIUM web, SAKIA client, XXX android) and three Implementations are
running (MONEY M pioneer C2C, REAL-NET open worldwide B2B2C2C, SOUS local B2B2C).
Game “Trading Floor” (or its fork Ğeconomicus) is comparing Free-currency mechanisms with
Debt-currency, allowing players to confront quantitative and qualitative outcomes and attitudes
change (metrics would be presented). Furthermore players become aware of their own behaviours
in their exchanges depending on the currency used."
(https://www.reglesdejeux.com/libre-currency-for-sustainable-social-change/)
Example
Duniter
Andrew Gillick:
"It is fitting that the movement to create a digital currency for social dividend is gaining momentum in France. Inspired by the concept of Libre currency, or free currency which issuance is neither based on any goods nor on any production but co-issued by all individuals alive in a community.
Duniter is software for producing "libre" decentralized cryptocurrencies and is libre -under GPL license, meaning the project cannot be privatized (whereas open-source MIT projects can be) created by a French computer engineering Cedric Moreau. One of the currencies being built on the Duniter protocol is a "freedom-enabling" currency, ğ1, that is created equally by all participants in the system - there are no miners, no incentives to hoard, no reserves or central banks, everyone has an equal right to issue the currency.
The monetary design of Duniter and its consensus algorithms are based on four economic "freedoms":
- Freedom of choice of currencies and accounting methodologies;
- Freedom to access resources;
- Freedom to produce;
- Freedom to exchange and determine prices.
A money can only be called "libre" if it respects these 4 guiding principles, in the sense that its monetary code doesn't infringe them. The euro for example is not a "libre" currency because it has legal tender and is therefore imposed to citizens by a positive order. Bitcoin and gold are not "libre" either because production is in the hands of miners only, rules 3,4 and 5 are not observed.
Universal income: Redistributing wealth or recreating it? Duniter is not a redistribution of wealth, its dividend is a percentage of the total monetary mass and not a share of wealth ; it is a simply a co-issuance of a mean of exchange. In this system all citizens are an equal distance to the source of money issuance, unlike the current system, or to use an analogy of a garden sprinkler where water from the source is equally distributed as opposed to a tiered fountain where water is fed initially to a small top tier until it overflows and is distributed to the lower and bigger pools beneath.
Only individuals can co-create the currency and organizations can participate by buying and selling the currency but not in its creation. Like fiat there is no intrinsic value in the Libre currency and it is pegged to the production of any goods or backed by resources, it is simply created for people being alive. The distribution of currency is determined by age, average lifespan and the monetary mass of the currency at the time of issuance. The elderly and deceased will get less and eventually none. "Proof of life" of individuals will be basis for issuance.
Duniter will have validating nodes on its blockchain, but they will validate transactions and citizens identities only, there will be no mining done by the nodes so the hash rate and difficulty to verify transactions will be low enough to be done on a laptop or phone. Is is indeed the mere action of validating your peers' real-life identities and of running nodes that are the source of the money creation." (https://bravenewcoin.com/insights/how-blockchain-is-reshaping-our-economic-environmental-and-social-orders-ptIII)
Open UDC
Andrew Gillick:
"OpenUDC is another software platform that allows users create their own free currency based on the Théorie Relative de la Monnaie (Relative Theory of Money) by French engineer Stephane Laborde which defines a money system where no human has privileges in money creation either in time or in space. OpenUDC allows each community that wants to use its own free money to define its own Universal Dividend set of rules." (https://bravenewcoin.com/insights/how-blockchain-is-reshaping-our-economic-environmental-and-social-orders-ptIII)