Complementary currency

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Medium of exchange complementing national currencies

title: "Complementary currency" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["local-currencies", "monetary-reform", "alternative-currencies"] description: "Medium of exchange complementing national currencies" topic_path: "general/local-currencies" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complementary_currency" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary Medium of exchange complementing national currencies ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/37/SIMEC._Local_alternative_currency_introduced_by_Giacinto_Auriti_in_Guardiagrele.jpg" caption="access-date=13 February 2025}}"] ::

A complementary currency is a currency or medium of exchange that is not necessarily a national currency, but that is thought of as supplementing or complementing national currencies. Complementary currencies are usually not legal tender and their use is based on agreement between the parties exchanging the currency. According to Jérôme Blanc of Laboratoire d'Économie de la Firme et des Institutions, complementary currencies aim to protect, stimulate or orientate the economy. They may also be used to advance particular social, environmental, or political goals.

When speaking about complementary currencies, a number of overlapping and often interchangeable terms are in use: local or community currencies are complementary currencies used within a locality or other form of community (such as business-based or online communities); regional currencies are similar to local currencies, but are used within a larger geographical region; and sectoral currencies are complementary currencies used within a single economic sector, such as education or health care. Many private currencies are complementary currencies issued by private businesses or organizations. Other terms include alternative currency, auxiliary currency, and microcurrency. Mutual credit is a form of alternative currency, and thus any form of lending that does not go through the banking system can be considered a form of alternative currency. Local Exchange Trading Systems are a special form of barter that trades points for items. One point stands for one worker-hour of work, and is thus a time-based currency.

Purposes

Current complementary currencies have often been designed intentionally to address specific issues, for example to increase financial stability. Most complementary currencies have multiple purposes and/or are intended to address multiple issues. They can be useful for communities that do not have access to financial capital, and for adjusting peoples' spending behavior. The 2006 Annual Report of the Worldwide Database of Complementary Currency Systems presented a survey of 150 complementary currency systems in which 94 respondents said that "all reasons" were selected, among cooperation, micro/small/medium enterprise development, activating the local market, reducing the need for national currency, and community development.

Aims may include:

resocialisation and emancipation
lifeboat currencies
to increase financial stability
to reduce carbon emissions, by encouraging localisation of trade and relationships
to encouraging use of under-used resources
to recognise the informal economy
promote local businesses
maintaining purchasing power, value preservation

Advantages

Alternative currencies increase in activity if the local economy slows down, and decrease in activity if the local economy goes up. They are most successful if the currency circulates within the users, in cycles or loops, as shown in an analysis of the use of Sardex by 1,477 entities in Sardinia in 2013 and 2014.

Disadvantages

According to professor Nikolaus Läufer's theory, the use of local currencies such as Freigeld can only increase economic activity temporarily. Lengthy use of a local currency will ultimately result in a decline in economic activity and lead to a destabilization of the economy. This is due to the increased circulation velocity of the money as the amount in circulation decreases (as currencies as Freigeld reduce in value rapidly).

Tax

There are some complementary currencies that are regional or global, such as the Community Exchange System, WIR and Friendly Favors, Tibex in the Lazio region in Italy or the proposed global currency terra.

A community currency is a type of complementary currency that has the explicit aim to support and build more equal, connected and sustainable societies. A community currency is designed to be used by a specific group.

List of complementary currencies

::data[format=table]

Name	Type	Country	Region
Local currency	United Kingdom	Europe	2009–present
Local currency	United Kingdom	Europe	2009–2021
Local currency	United States	North America	2006–present
Local currency	Canada	North America	1995–present
Local currency	Germany	Europe	2003–present
Local currency	United States	North America	2009–present
Local currency	Kenya	Africa	2010–2011
Local currency	Basque Country, France	Europe	2013–present
Local currency	United Kingdom	Europe	2015–2018
Local currency	Findhorn Ecovillage, Moray, Scotland (U.K.)	Europe	2002–present
Sectoral currency	Japan	Asia	1995
Local currency	United States	North America	1991–present
Regional currency	Malaysia	Asia	2006–present
Local currency	United Kingdom	Europe	2008–2025
Regional currency	Orania, South Africa	Africa	2014–present
Regional currency	Poland	Europe	1960–1989
Local currency	Kenya	Africa
Community currency	Esperantujo (mostly Great Britain and Switzerland)	Mostly Europe	1907- First World War
Europe	1945-1993
Local currency	United Kingdom	Europe	2009–present
Local currency	Canada	North America	1995–2013
Local currency	El Espinal, Veracruz, Mexico	North America	2010–present
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Other non-regional complementary currencies include:

Commercial credit circuit
Community Exchange System (CES) – global exchange network
Digital gold currency
Local Exchange Trading Systems (LETS) – an example of mutual credit, is a type of local currency used in a number of small communities worldwide.
Rábaközi Tallér
Sardex, alternative currency used in Sardinia
Ven – a digital currency used in Hub Culture, a private social network
WIR Bank – founded in 1934, oriented towards small and mid-sized corporations

References

(2011). "La crisi e il sogno di un'altra moneta". [[RAI]].
Stodder, James. (January 2005). "Implications for Macroeconomic Stability".
(November 2018). "Cyclic motifs in the Sardex monetary network". Nature Human Behaviour.
Läufer, Nikolaus. (31 December 2006). "Natural Economic Order Theories or Freiwirtschaftslehre (Silvio Gesell)". University of Konstanz.
Murray, Susan. (22 April 2025). ""The Lewes Pound Bids Farewell"".
[https://next.ft.com/content/cf875d9a-5be6-11e5-a28b-50226830d644 The Sardex Factor, Financial Times]
Blanc, Jérôme. (2011). "Classifying "CCs": Community, complementary and local currencies' types and generations". International Journal of Community Currency Research.
"Faludi, Jeremy "Complementary Currency: For Bootstrapping, But Not For Everything", ''Worldchanging'', 4 October 2005.".
DeMeulenaere, S.. (2007). "2006 Annual Report of the Worldwide Database of Complementary Currency Systems". International Journal of Community Currency Research.
(2009). "Options for Managing a Systemic Bank Crisis". S.A.P.I.EN.S.
(2006). "Community Currency Guide". Global Community Initiatives.
[https://web.archive.org/web/20090612090715/http://www.elecan.net/docs/moned/ccto.pdf Costanza, Robert et al., "Complementary Currencies as a Method to Improve Local Sustainable Economic Welfare", University of Vermont, Draft, 12 December 2003.]
(July 2019). "People Powered Money: designing, developing and delivering community currencies". Community Currencies in Action.
(2014). "The complementary currency systems: a tricky issue for economists". hal.archives-ouvertes.fr.
[https://web.archive.org/web/20120217004625/http://sciencelinks.jp/j-east/article/200214/000020021402A0521947.php B. Rietaer, "Global Complementally Currency: Making Money Sustainable", ''Environmental Research Quarterly'', Vol. 125, pp. 53–59, 2002.]
"Making Money for Business: Currencies, Profit, and Long-Term Thinking". thesolutionsjournal.com.
"Sardex homepage". sardex.net.
"Fizetőeszköz lesz a Rábaközi Tallér". kisalfold.hu.
"The dollar alternatives - Ven". Cable News Network.

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