We’re partnering with a new group called the Credit Commons Society, which has been formed to promote, educate about and govern the Credit Commons protocol as it evolves to serve the needs of more groups.

The Credit Commons protocol exists to help individuals and groups to account for exchange without using money. It defines how ledgers talk to each other to communicate and agree what transactions to write, and how to ensure that those ledgers are consistent.

The main responsibility of the Credit Commons Society is to look after that protocol as it evolves to serve the needs of more groups, a bit like how the Linux Foundation looks after the Linux operating systems. A forked protocol – which is to say, two protocols to do basically the same job – is much less useful than an agreed protocol. It would be very easy for a trading bloc to recognise the need for a protocol, and then alter the protocol for their own needs, which would mean that their software would no longer be compatible with the rest of the world. If that group worked with the CCS, a way might be found to accommodate their needs in the next version of the protocol.

Second to that job of governance, the society aims to promote, and to educate the public about moneyless trade, why it’s essential for the burgeoning re-localisation movement, beneficial for participants, and how it makes the wider economy more resilient to economic shocks.

Finally, it exists to encourage and support groups to adopt the protocol and, slowly slowly, to link up into a network that allows both local and wider moneyless trade.

This is all done in partnership with Mutual Credit Services, which specialises in designing locally appropriate systems, the governance and the technology.

So how does all that translate into day-to-day work? In these early days, with no resources and populated entirely by activists busy with other things, the endless work of educating and promoting remains mostly undone. The main focus is on organising events online and in person. We run a small meetup called Circular Trade Analytics and were instrumental in planning Way Out Economics – a one-day event in Bristol and online.

Here’s more information on the Credit Commons Society.

If you’d like to help, please contact us.