Abstract: The global financial crisis of 2008 marked the beginning of intense experimentation with new forms of money. From digital currencies with global ambitions (such as Faircoin and Ethereum) to community currencies of local reach (such as Time Dollars, Regiogeld or Sardex), these novel monies are opening up our thinking on money and on our possibilities to re-imagine, re-organize and re-claim money to put it at the service of an economic commons.

In terms of developing monies for the commons, local community currencies are a case in point. Putting particular communities at the centre (Werner, 2015), drawing on the lessons from the scrips of the 30s (Fisher, 1936), and building on new blockchain developments, some of today’s community currencies are testing various monetary designs and technologies that could indicate a way for a commons post-capitalist future. In a sense, they constitute examples of what Wright (2010) has called “real utopias” as they are suggesting a future by working on it here and now. Whatever the outcome, their emergent practices and governance structures are the result of their efforts to translate the commons paradigm (Bollier, 2016) into the monetary system. This presentation aims at bringing up some of the monetary design features local complementary currencies are experimenting with in their efforts to bring a more sustainable and inclusive future.