OWS Currency

Introduction

We're deploying an alternative currency system for participants at Occupy Wall Street. We will document our experience and how the system is working with the intention of providing other people occupying spaces around the world with the information they need to create their own currency solutions.

We will be deploying a Drupal based system and many of the modules developed by CommunityForge.net. You can see a demo here.

The system is still being assembled but it will likely have the following features:

Features

• Offers/Wants >> Gifting

People post what they want or what they offer. This supports a gifting culture. Posts can be recorded as 'fulfilled,' resulting in a recording of the transaction, but no currency changes hands.

• Mutual Credits >> Circular Barter

People create their own IOUs with each other and record them in the system. Each person is asked to maintain an average balance around 0 to achieve maximum system stability. Different types of credit can be used to expand this functionality into time banking.

• User Points >> Reserve Notes

The General Assembly can issue 'notes' to reward people who perform tasks. These notes can be redeemed through a general store (online), affiliated stores (online/offline) and through media (offline.) Ideally we'd use a cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin for these transactions.

• Loyalty Points >> Rewards

We're organizing with a credit union to issue a credit card that gives people reserve notes as a reward for transacting with specific vendors. Similar to BernalBucks.