Bristol to launch their own currency in September

[niko]

Businesses can pay local taxes in Bristol pounds and the council has offered its 17,000 staff the option of receiving part of their pay in the currency.
Mundy's team -- funded initially by grants -- have designed an electronic system for payments by text message, plus what they say are forgery-proof notes.
Stores selling products from cider to skate shoes said they were considering joining the scheme, which Mundy believes will have a tangible economic effect.

 http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j6wqQyVUcZbJA9hkNMnaA_J0t__Q?docId=CNG.dc9e2090a196d5730ad325eae75724c8.111

[Stephen Gornick]

Businesses can pay local taxes in Bristol pounds and the council has offered its 17,000 staff the option of receiving part of their pay in the currency.
Mundy's team -- funded initially by grants -- have designed an electronic system for payments by text message, plus what they say are forgery-proof notes.
Stores selling products from cider to skate shoes said they were considering joining the scheme, which Mundy believes will have a tangible economic effect.

 http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j6wqQyVUcZbJA9hkNMnaA_J0t__Q?docId=CNG.dc9e2090a196d5730ad325eae75724c8.111

I thought they had already launched, but apparently it was just a trial, using their electronic-only system.

Cashing out to pounds costs 3%, and is only guaranteed as an option when done through the credit union holding the GBPs backing the currency.

[salty]

Cashing out to pounds costs 3%, and is only guaranteed as an option when done through the credit union holding the GBPs backing the currency.

So this is designed to promote localism? Not a bad idea IMO, and probably the best place in the UK to give it a go. It'll be good for bitcoin to see alternative currencies being used in the UK at least.

[salty]

Quite a few towns in the UK are implementing similar systems, this is just the biggest one.

Really? Do you know where else?

[DublinBrian]

This is good news because it makes it harder to ban bitcoin if there are other alt currencies around. Especially if local governments are issuing them.

[Vladimir]

Bristol city council is simply running interference to help out Bitcoin. Good one.

[niko]

This is good news because it makes it harder to ban bitcoin if there are other alt currencies around. Especially if local governments are issuing them.

My thoughts exactly. I've heard of small-scale grassroots attempts at local currencies, but this is pushed by the local government. It legitimizes alternative currencies in the eyes of an average Joe. Besides, until now I thought the possibility of some local government trying out Bitcoin was a pipe dream - not so sure anymore. It might happen.

[lebing]

Quite a few towns in the UK are implementing similar systems, this is just the biggest one.

Really? Do you know where else?

Brixton pound is one of the largest local currencies in the UK
But there are LETS exchanges everywhere, just on a much smaller scale in each case.

[scribe]

Lewes launched their Pound about a year ago - I spoke to a local trader recently who thought it was a pain as a) nobody took them for anything *useful* like car parking, and b) exchanging it back into GBP meant a time-costing trip to one particular building. Good to see it's still going, but there are definitely some real problems around demand and usability that both local currencies AND Bitcoin need to resolve in order to work.

[salty]

Lewes launched their Pound about a year ago - I spoke to a local trader recently who thought it was a pain as a) nobody took them for anything *useful* like car parking, and b) exchanging it back into GBP meant a time-costing trip to one particular building. Good to see it's still going, but there are definitely some real problems around demand and usability that both local currencies AND Bitcoin need to resolve in order to work.

I was going to post something similar, having looked into it I found http://thelewespound.org/, the scheme's website, all the recent entries seem to indicate a failing project, this one is interesting:

Future Directions for The Lewes Pound:  Keeping Money in Lewes
Public Meeting on Tuesday 8th May at The Linklater Pavillion

The Lewes Pound, as I’m sure you’re aware, has been much less active than it was in the months following its launch – for a number of reasons. The purpose of the currency is to support Lewes and it’s local economy in building resilience and the ability to respond to changing financial, environmental and social challenges. And there is a persuasive argument that an electronic currency might solve many of the problems around the dwindling circulation of the Lewes Pound. We’d like the opportunity to begin to air these ideas to the stakeholders in the Lewes Pound – and obviously we’d like as many different opinions and perspectives to be represented as possible.

[the_thing]

I hate to spoil your joy over this, but this Bristol currency isn't really a currency. As far as I know, it's fixed to the british pound in 1:1, thus it is merely GBP in another form. The reason why they started this project is that once you exchange your money to the Bristol thing you usually spend it there. If you just had GBP you would likely spend it somewhere else. So it helps the local economy. From our point of view this turistic attraction is irrelevant.

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. I got my information from newspapers and it may be wrong.

[swissmate]

Nice idea to make their own currency in Bristol.

Somebody should tell them about Bitcoins.

[scribe]

I hate to spoil your joy over this, but this Bristol currency isn't really a currency. As far as I know, it's fixed to the british pound in 1:1, thus it is merely GBP in another form. The reason why they started this project is that once you exchange your money to the Bristol thing you usually spend it there. If you just had GBP you would likely spend it somewhere else. So it helps the local economy. From our point of view this turistic attraction is irrelevant.

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. I got my information from newspapers and it may be wrong.

Agreed - most local currencies are closer to the Gift Card model used by shops in that it limits where you can spend your cash (except you can convert it back to other currencies, at a push). From the spender's perspective, that's a big limitation - "Like Cash! Only less useful!" - you need to offer a *lot* of discounts (like, system-wide) to make it meaningful/attractive to spenders, and local businesses often don't have the margin to do that.

I'd like to see more development around reasons for local currencies - but realistically I think that has to come from, or feed directly into, local taxes/government. Could local taxes be tied into transactions in the local currency for example, e.g. spend Brixton Pounds to give x% to a local development fund? Given that the main draw is to keep money "local" rather than disappear into international companies and pensions, doesn't that open up scope for more local feedback?

I'd like to see more online presences for local areas too - electronic local currencies could feed into this nicely, like a kind of gift card for an aggregated online store for an area. An "eBrixton" site could bring together items from shops in Brixton, which you could then buy online using Brixton pounds, or pre-order online and pick-up in person. There's opportunity for gifts if you know someone's going to be visiting a place, but also means that if people have a Brixton Pound leftover after visiting for the day, it's not just lying around in a drawer being forgotten about.

[salty]

I hate to spoil your joy over this, but this Bristol currency isn't really a currency. As far as I know, it's fixed to the british pound in 1:1, thus it is merely GBP in another form. The reason why they started this project is that once you exchange your money to the Bristol thing you usually spend it there. If you just had GBP you would likely spend it somewhere else. So it helps the local economy. From our point of view this turistic attraction is irrelevant.

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. I got my information from newspapers and it may be wrong.

Oh yeah you're spot on, but I think it's going to add legitimacy to alternative currencies in general.

[jago25_98]

The problem I've noticed with local currencies is that they usually die out when the good times come back. By the time they are useful again they're nowhere to be found.

The biggest ones I've known of are in Switzerland during WWII and Argentina, Buenos Aires province, Quilmes.

The Argentine one is going to this day but fallen into disuse. 

AFAIK all these local currencies are destined to fail without offering a unique advantage. There has to be something to promote their use for them to go long term. In a crisis that demand is there.

But if there is no unique use other than not being the main currency in the area they just get slowly sidelined. Bristol council would have to make the Bristol pound the only method of payment for some kind of bill to get it to persist. Likewise they could offer some of the advantages that Bitcoin does over conventional financials like making it easier for the homeless to register for an account or lower inflation.

In Scotland they have a different looking banknote. Does this mean they have the ability to break away if they wish?

All of the schemes need to man up and switch to Bitcoin as Bitcoin has the leadership they don't.

[the_thing]

I hate to spoil your joy over this, but this Bristol currency isn't really a currency. As far as I know, it's fixed to the british pound in 1:1, thus it is merely GBP in another form. The reason why they started this project is that once you exchange your money to the Bristol thing you usually spend it there. If you just had GBP you would likely spend it somewhere else. So it helps the local economy. From our point of view this turistic attraction is irrelevant.

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. I got my information from newspapers and it may be wrong.

Oh yeah you're spot on, but I think it's going to add legitimacy to alternative currencies in general.

I hope not!
If the public somehow connects bitcoins with this bristol gift cards (i refuse to call it a currency. thanks to scribe for a wonderful alternative name), everyone will think of bitcoin as a gift card. Misconception is the last thing we need.

Everyone is overly exicted about a thing that only matters to the Bristol community and has nothing to do with bitcoins.

[lebing]

I hate to spoil your joy over this, but this Bristol currency isn't really a currency. As far as I know, it's fixed to the british pound in 1:1, thus it is merely GBP in another form. The reason why they started this project is that once you exchange your money to the Bristol thing you usually spend it there. If you just had GBP you would likely spend it somewhere else. So it helps the local economy. From our point of view this turistic attraction is irrelevant.

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. I got my information from newspapers and it may be wrong.

Oh yeah you're spot on, but I think it's going to add legitimacy to alternative currencies in general.

I hope not!
If the public somehow connects bitcoins with this bristol gift cards (i refuse to call it a currency. thanks to scribe for a wonderful alternative name), everyone will think of bitcoin as a gift card. Misconception is the last thing we need.

Everyone is overly exicted about a thing that only matters to the Bristol community and has nothing to do with bitcoins.

Just because it matters only to bristol or its tied to the GBP doesnt mean its not a currency. Its still a store of value and a medium of exchange. It's simply designed to promote exchange that does not allow for money to leak out of the local area (think walmart vs your local hardware store).

[DublinBrian]

Local currencies are just glorified gift vouchers, which can only be spent locally. So they stop money leaving the area.

However, theres another reason why people issue them. The issuers are hoping that people will not redeem all the currency notes for goods or fiat, thereby creating a profit for the issuers. Thats one reason why I dont like them. The issuers can enhance this profit mechanism, by putting obstacles in the way of holders from redeeming them. So they put expiry dates on the bills, or they only allow them to be redeemed for fiat in a certain place and time.

The second reason I dont like local or private currencies, is the issuers could issue lots of them, and then go bust, or abscond, making it impossible to redeem them for fiat. That means local merchants will stop accepting them for goods, and they become instantly worthless.

Because of these reasons, local or private currencies are often considered a bit of a scam. Unfortunately, bitcoin is often tarred with the same brush. I am finding it hard to convince people that bitcoin is not like this.

[lebing]

Local currencies are just glorified gift vouchers, which can only be spent locally. So they stop money leaving the area.

However, theres another reason why people issue them. The issuers are hoping that people will not redeem all the currency notes for goods or fiat, thereby creating a profit for the issuers. Thats one reason why I dont like them. The issuers can enhance this profit mechanism, by putting obstacles in the way of holders from redeeming them. So they put expiry dates on the bills, or they only allow them to be redeemed for fiat in a certain place and time.

The second reason I dont like local or private currencies, is the issuers could issue lots of them, and then go bust, or abscond, making it impossible to redeem them for fiat. That means local merchants will stop accepting them for goods, and they become instantly worthless.

Because of these reasons, local or private currencies are often considered a bit of a scam. Unfortunately, bitcoin is often tarred with the same brush. I am finding it hard to convince people that bitcoin is not like this.

FUD.

Show me how this is a scam http://www.letslinkuk.net/

And be clear about why you think "bitcoin is often tarred with the same brush".

[DublinBrian]

FUD.

Show me how this is a scam http://www.letslinkuk.net/

And be clear about why you think "bitcoin is often tarred with the same brush".

You have presented no counter argument to the points Ive set out.