You would be wrong to think that the Euro is the only currency in use in Spain; there are now fewer than 30 currency alternatives available, depending on where you live.

Of course, we’re including bartering, time banks and the such, but there are also local currencies, as well. Take Cataluña, for example where there is the EcoXarxas nework, which is part of the CIC or Cooperativa Integral Catalana. In this system the currencies are the Eco and Ecosol. In Vilanova they have the turuta. The turuta, by the way, has been cited by The Washington Post as the way to counter the global financial system.

Closer to home in Andalucía we have the veteran Zoquito, which is the oldest of the ‘social currencies,’ having come into being in 2007 in Jerez de la Frontera. In the old town of Sevilla you can find the Puma, and in Alcalá de Guadaira you will find the Pepa. And it goes on: in Aljarafe there is the Jara and in Málaga you have the Coin or Axarco and in Huelva, the Choquito.

All over Spain – all over Europe, in fact – these currencies have sprung up, which are based on mutual credit and cannot be converted to Euros yet they are equivalent to them in value. So how do they work?

It works on what is known as the LETS system: A local exchange trading system, which is a locally initiated, democratically organised, not-for-profit community enterprise that provides a community information service and records transactions of members exchanging goods and services by using the currency of locally created LETS Credits. LETS networks use interest-free local credit so direct swaps do not need to be made. For instance, a member may earn credit by doing childcare for one person and spend it later on carpentry with another person in the same network.

Obviously, this has an advantage over bartering because you can earn credit it with one person and then spend it elsewhere (as long that it is the same network) without a series of goods exchanges. One of the big pluses is that this system boosts local markets, encouraging individuals to buy within their own communities.

Of course, for it to work, you need some kind of central control where transactions are registered: CES (Community Exchange System). The CES is volunteer run and IT based.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. If your Spanish is up to it, visit: www.movimientoparamo.org/

(News: Spain)