Conference in Witten ‘New forms in dealing with money’ (pk-k) of Witten/Herdecke, complementary 01.10.2010 – means of payment be used alongside the euro, there are around the world more and more. Bonus miles and points, discount checks and coupons are now all too familiar each probably. There are a few consumers who so something is not used in the own shopping. But there are in addition to the alternative currencies commercially issued by companies including those created by citizens for citizens and be. In Witten, a Conference was held last Saturday, to which the Coinstatt cooperation ring had invited. “The diversity represented by the participants in the Conference was remarkable: Regiogeld, performance-covered clearing units, or a replacement ring were also presented as a scientific elaboration of complementary currencies-typing or developing system for a village within the city”. Coinstatt had not publicly, but personally such people invited from their own expertise the subject of new forms Edit in dealing with money”. The discussions of the presented work results were similarly lively and qualified.

Touch points and interfaces between the various approaches were impressive in it. “Working in many places in your own projects on specific topics, which taken together indicate the actual relevance: civic engagement, to improve the local, regional or even the personal economy on the one hand, but also the democratization of money, on the other hand, to issue their own currency units” goes, were consistent theme behind of the Conference. The Coinstatt cooperation ring, through one of his representatives, presented the idea to build a network for a variety of complementary currencies, where, across a network of single initiatives can take place regions and themes (and should). In addition to the Division of elaborated knowledge, so a composite offers also the possibility to make different currencies convertible. The alternative currency from the Ruhr area would be to use then in southern Germany. The question raised in connection to the appearance of the Coinstatt cooperation ring after a possible integration of peer-to-peer loans on a euro basis should be considered in the current plans for the cooperation ring.

Consumers could lend directly each other, their Konditionen among those involved would be freely negotiable. There are platforms for such initiatives already, but still not self-governing and connected with an own complementary currency. The local government is a central concern of the Coinstatter who want to start a registered co-operative society for it as a legal form. In the diversity of represented what relevance received at the Conference also significantly, the ideas company in the context of relevant social developments by Rudolf Steiner and Silvio. Both, Rudolf Steiner and Silvio Gesell, represented already 100 years ago the ideas, currently for the initiators of complementary currencies the provide scientific foundation for own developments. It is among the currencies of the non-governmental consensus that E.g. no interest will be charged and the management of the clearing units should follow principles of cooperative or associative. The Witten-September Conference”will be repeated in the coming year, the Coinstatt cooperation ring has begun to build the cooperative, which should give a framework for the emerging network. Interested parties are always welcome and can contact like Coinstatt, in further developments to be directly involved. Peter Krause-Keusemann