Complementary Alternative Currency Systems and Resource-Exchange Systems Beyond Just Crypto

“Making money” is about helping create a world where we end the monopoly of a mono-currency and increase/diversify the types of currency/resource-exchange systems we have, such as:

1. Time Banks.
2. Digital Time Banks.
3. Complementary Local Currencies, such as the Baltimore dollar.
4. Growing our own food: both home-gardens and community gardens. Hydroponics and Aeroponics are a great help here.
5. Crypto-Currency.
6. Universal Basic Income, including “Circles”, "Manna" and "Swift" which are UBI via Cryptocurrency.
7. Adviser Equity.
8. Tribe Equity.
9. Increasing my Creativity and Earning Potential.

AND, I understand that in the meantime, it’s important to have a good amount of the conventional mono-currency to power and fuel these other forms of currency. But I never lose sight of the larger goal.

And what’s the larger goal once these 9 different types of currency are more mainstream?

That would help create a True Equality, Freedom and Justice for ALL.

Here's why: it was Bernard Lietaer's book "New Money for a New World" that first alerted me to the blind spot of both Capitalism and Communism:

They both used a currency system that was basically a monopoly - one currency for the entire country. Thus, it was millions of people trying to scrabble for the same scrap of the same resource.

He proposed an alternative - how about have complementary local currency in addition to the national currency? Examples are already in place such as the Baltimore dollar. Bali, Indonesia, and Curitiba, Brazil also have complementary local currency. This increased the abundance and flow of resources in these cities because not everyone had to fight for the same resource any more.

This itself was a game-changer.

Because of this background information I had, I was really excited about Crypto and Blockchain, beyond the implications of the technology itself. This was an amazing way to end the monopoly by providing not just one complementary alternative but thousands!

But note that Crypto-Currency and Complementary Local Currencies are entirely different systems of currency.

This is what this article is about - the monopoly of fiat currency is not only regarding the currency itself but also regarding the system of currency too.

In this article, I'd like to explain

1. Time Banks.

2. Digital Time Banks.

3. Advisor Equity

4. Tribe Equity.

TIME BANKS

A time bank is based on the idea that we don't all have the same amount of money but we all have the same amount of time. We all have the same 24 hours in a day. And we may not always have money to give but we do sometimes have time to give in exchange.

It's Trade/Barter 2.0. The problem with regular barter is that the exchange is 1-1 - not supported by community. So, what you want to give me, I may not want. Fiat currency was supposed to solve this problem but there has been a big price to pay as you all may know. I won't get into that in this article.

Enter "Time Banks". It's barter that's supported by community. If I give you an hour of time for a massage, I earn one unit of Time Bank Currency. You don't have to give me anything back directly for that. Instead, I can use that unit of Time Bank Currency to hire someone else to clean my room for an hour, for example.

The limitation though is that it's still local.

Enter DIGITAL TIME BANKS.

The Best example is Simbi. Disclaimer: Simbi does not call itself a "digital time bank". This is my own interpretation of how Simbi works.

You initially earn Simbi currency just for joining, for referrals and for your first gig. After that, you can do gigs in exchange for trading with others OR you can ask to be paid in Simbi currency. You can then use this Simbi currency to pay for anything else the community offers. Now, unlike a regular time bank, the currency system is NOT based on units of time. You, the user, can decide for yourself how much Simbi each gig is worth, and charge that amount. Most gigs on Simbi are less than 100 Simbi though.

Next: ADVISOR EQUITY.

This is technically not a currency system at all but a resource exchange system.

I originally learned this from "The Last Safe Investment: Spending Now to Increase your True Wealth Forever" by Bryan Franklin and Michael Ellsberg.

It's a way for you to earn millions of dollars of shares of a company without money but through your "Super Skills" or "Advisory Skills".

For example, many years ago, a graffitti artist turned down $60,000 to spray-paint a wall. He asked for shares of the company instead. Smart move because that building was Facebook.

But of course, these are the "outliers". Most people are somewhere in the middle: they are more likely to earn about $100,000 at the most using "Advisor Equity".

The example I gave just now, which is from the book, is "formal Advisor Equity".

There's also "Informal Advisor Equity". For example, if someone allows you to hang out on their million-dollar yacht or boat a few days or weeks a year in exchange for something you could do for them that takes very little of your time and energy but is extremely valuable to them, you save yourself a lot of money buying a boat you'd hardly use anyways...

I highly recommend reading this book for more details.

TRIBES OR TRIBE EQUITY.

This is also from "The Last Safe Investment".

Having a local community of people who deeply love you and have your back - this itself can be extremely valuable. In this modern-age, we are getting more and more disconnected from our families and communities partially because we rely too much on fiat currency as our source of power and nourishment.

Of course, relying too much on community can also result in a dangerous imbalance such as co-dependency with the tribe or even conformity.

So, once again, it's a good idea to not rely on any one resource-exchange system but have multiple currency systems and resource-exchange systems at our disposal.

So, in a sense this is "Multiple Streams of Income 2.0". This is "Multiple Streams of Currency and Resource-Exchange Systems".

Thank you for reading.

Upvotes, Comments and ReSteems always appreciated.

Sincerely,

Kundan Chhabra