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the open money projects

Open money is a means of exchange freely available to all. Any community, any association - indeed, any body - can have their own money. Open money is synonymous with LETS - an invitation to come inside and play, as in open door and open house; collaboration as in open hand and open for all; attitude as in open mind.

The purpose of the open money project is to bring together and organize the people and resources necessary for the development and propagation of open money everywhere.

The open money project is a work in progress - a continuation of almost 25 years of LETSystem and community currencies development all over the world, two community way projects in Canada using smart cards, the Japan open money project, and, most recently, a community currencies services provider - ccsp.

The intent is to develop an open money kernel - a core set of text files, administration tools and software systems that are sufficiently coherent and clear that further elaboration of the set derives from the core concepts themselves, rather than from the particular agendas of the originating writers and contributors. The open money kernel is to have a life of its own.

Material submitted for inclusion in the kernel or in the supporting documentation will presently be reviewed and edited through a moderated process between the main contributors.


These web pages currently are the result of material developed for the Japan open money project during 2001. Here you will find an elaboration of the project itself, its purpose and principles, and the essentials of open money design. A cc college curriculum describes the development of open money systems and details the functional elements - ccp, ccsp, cc dns, smart cards, community way (fund raising for community and financing for cc development).

Throughout 2001, Kohkoku Magazine, the Hakuhodo Corporation and the Japan Research Institute have sponsored "jomp" - the Japan open money project - with 6 editions of the Kohkoku magazine in Japanese and English devoted to "future social design". The pages linked below were written specifically for publication in the Kohkoku magazine and for the organization of jomp. They are the most developed set of open money materials to date - soon to be available in Japanese on the web, and then in progressively more languages.

    - exchange - the publication of the open money manifesto - the problem with money and what to do about it. This declaration of virtual money independence gave the broad outline of expected developments, made several specific predictions, and announced the Japan open money project - jomp.

    - play - the theory of open money and the means to explore that theory - LETSplay - the game that can tell you all you really need to know about money, "real" and virtual.

    - open - the works, the necessary and sufficient ways and means, the nuts and bolts of the cc systems organization - cc college, patterns of trading, naming systems, operations and administration.

    - go - it's the next step, and the one that counts. Nothing starts without it and there's no time to lose.

    - way - on the way to OS2, the Wizards of OS conference in Berlin on open systems and open society - the future of money and the form that it takes.

    - review - a summary of the year as a whole, and the next directions.

The most developed of the open money projects at this time are in Canada - in the Comox Valley and also in Tofino and Ucluelet in the west coast of Vancouver Island. There continues to be growing interest in community currencies throughout the world.

We are interested in working with anyone with a serious intent to develop open money systems anywhere.


For more information, email -

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