ROCS

Proposed Robust Complementary Community Currency System (ROCS) Hybrid-Money by MCAPS™

The most prominent characteristic of the proposed ROCS-Hybrid-Money is that it circulates only in closed merchant loop network economy markets and regional areas. ROCS-Hybrid-Money can also circulate in the market economy as local demurrage currency. It cannot earn interest and is not meant to be saved in accounts. ROCS-Hybrid-Money has a demurrage charge and expiration date, after which the money becomes worthless. The currency unit is one hour of services, and transaction prices are negotiated. It can be used to purchase goods and services in participating closed merchant loop network economy local stores or other market place. Participants receive eco-money at the start of transactions, and offer services on the service menu. Transactions can take place directly between members, or through coordinators who perform a matching function. ROCS use something called demurrage as an incentive to keep people's balances close to a balanced zero. Demurrage works like a negative interest rate--the larger your account, the more credits you have to pay. These credits is then used to "pay" the record keeper, or act as a reserve fund for the use of the system--for example, if someone with a negative balance bails out of the system, the reserve fund can be used to balance the books. ROCS credits are not linked to any national currency, but to negotiable hours. That way two people can agree, for example, that for the purposes of their exchange, one hour of legal council is worth four hours of data entry. Exchanging goods can still use this system, perhaps using the average local wage per hour as a starting point for negotiating a credit-based price. Using negotiable hours means that a ROCS will be more stable than other community currency systems in shaky economic conditions.

An innovative feature of the system is the proprietary Municipal ROCS-Hybrid-Money Expansion and Disbursement Model. Simply put, this is a system for municipal bond-backing of ROCS-Hybrid-Money or eco-currencies. The local or special district gives ROCS-Hybrid-Money to non-profits that are registered disbursement organizations that in turn issue ROCS-Money to volunteers and program participants. The volunteers spend ROCS-Hybrid-Money with program participants and participants of the ROCS-Money Merchant Pool. There is a demurrage charge of 8% USD when spent and the value goes down to zero depending on how long the ROCS-Hybrid-Money is held because it is not meant to be saved so value can be reintroduced into the system. Local government as a tax substitution can use demurrage-charge currency. Hence, demurrage-charge limits the need to increase taxes to fund municipal activities and services. At the same time, more money circulating creates work and increases consumer spending and traditional tax revenues.

Source

 * Transaction Net ROCS

Additional Information

 * ROCS-Hybrid-Money Wiki
 * Blog: U.S. EcoMoneyCard

Key Terms
Eco-municipality, Municipal Revenue Enhancement, Green Eco-Jobs, Business and Employment Cooperatives, Community Development, Environmental Sustainability, Demurrage Currency, eco currency, Microfinance, Mutual credit, Robust Complementary Community Currency System, Private-Label Credit Card and Marketplace, Mobile Applications, Network Economies, Payment Systems, Accreditation, Alternative Payment Systems, Banking Transparency, Bond Interest-Swap, Currency Conversions, Currency Demurrage, Credit Union, Cooperative, Distributive Wealth System, Free Markets Economy, Local-Area Booster Currency, Local Debt Conversion, Market Transparency, Microfinance Institution, Municipal Revenue Bonds, Mutual-Credit, Negative-Interest, Re-Distribution of Income, Regional Economic Complex, Scrip Dollars, Smart Card, Substitute Tax Revenue