The rise of Bitcoin has brought international attention to the fact that money is a social technology that can be redesigned to function in dramatically different ways than most of us are used to. This realization, while startling to some, has long been the premise of a growing alternative currency movement. For decades, monetary innovators have experimented with local currencies, time banks, and other forms of alternative exchange designed, in principle, to strengthen local economies, create opportunity, and build community cohesion and resilience. In this workshop we’ll discuss various case-studies with an eye toward what it takes for new modes of exchange to go beyond niche pilot projects and actually effect transformative change in the context of diverse and structurally inequitable communities.

Collaborative live notes: https://commonbound.hackpad.com/Timebanks-Community-Currencies-and-the-S...