Circles represents one of the most radical departures from traditional monetary systems ever implemented. Rather than relying on central banks, governments, or even decentralized protocols to issue currency, Circles enables each individual to create their own personal currency at a rate of 1 CRC per hour. This fundamentally challenges the assumption that money must be issued by a central authority for everyone else to use, instead creating a system where monetary sovereignty belongs to individuals and communities. The platform operates through trust networks where people accept currencies from those they know personally, while enabling broader exchange through an emerging web of interconnected trust relationships.
Key Highlights
- Personal Currency Issuance: Every person automatically generates 24 CRC per day (1 per hour), making them the sovereign issuer of their own currency rather than a passive recipient of centrally-controlled money. This transforms the fundamental relationship between individuals and monetary systems from dependence to autonomy.
- Trust-Based Transaction Networks: Rather than relying on algorithmic consensus or central validation, transactions flow through networks of personal trust where users explicitly choose whose currencies they will accept. This creates localized economic circles that can operate independently while connecting to broader networks through mutual trust relationships.
- Elimination of Monetary Gatekeepers: The system requires no banks, government approval, or traditional financial infrastructure to create and exchange value. Users can immediately begin participating in the economy simply by signing up and building trust relationships with others in their community.
- Group Currency Creation: Beyond individual currencies, Circles enables communities to create shared group currencies that all members can access, providing tools for local economic coordination and collective resource sharing without requiring complex governance mechanisms.
- Anti-Speculation Design: The continuous issuance of personal currencies and trust-based acceptance mechanisms resist typical cryptocurrency speculation patterns, focusing instead on facilitating real economic activity and community relationship-building.
- Scalable Localism: While each person starts with direct trust relationships, the network topology allows for broader exchange through chains of trust, enabling local economic circles to connect with regional and global networks while maintaining local autonomy and control.
Practical Applications
Circles can be implemented across multiple community and economic contexts:
- Local communities seeking economic resilience can use Circles to create internal exchange systems that reduce dependence on external financial institutions while enabling mutual aid and resource sharing among neighbors and local businesses
- Worker cooperatives and community organizations can implement group currencies to facilitate internal resource allocation and create shared economic infrastructure that operates independently of traditional banking systems
- Bioregional networks can connect multiple local Circles to enable trade and resource sharing across geographic areas while maintaining local economic sovereignty and decision-making authority
- Alternative economic experiments like transition towns, ecovillages, and intentional communities can use Circles to operationalize gift economy principles while maintaining practical mechanisms for exchange and resource coordination
- Social movements and mutual aid networks can create economic infrastructure that supports their organizing work without relying on extractive financial institutions or requiring complex legal structures for resource sharing
The system provides particular value for communities seeking to build economic alternatives that prioritize relationship-building and local resilience over efficiency or profit maximization.
Connection With SuperBenefit
- Embodies radical decentralization of economic power by eliminating central monetary authorities and enabling individual and community monetary sovereignty, directly supporting SuperBenefit’s vision of distributed rather than concentrated economic control.
- Demonstrates practical implementation of trust-based coordination systems that operate through social relationships rather than extractive market mechanisms, aligning with SuperBenefit’s emphasis on community stewardship and mutual aid principles.
- Provides a working model for local economic resilience that complements SuperBenefit’s bioregional organizing approach by enabling communities to create economic infrastructure that serves local needs rather than external profit extraction.
- Challenges fundamental assumptions about monetary systems in ways that align with SuperBenefit’s regenerative economics approach, showing how technology can support community autonomy rather than corporate concentration of power.