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4 Privately-issued currencies
Several large companies issue points to their customers, to be redeemed for products and services produced by that company. Often, a network of companies will join to share in the offering and redemption of points. While these can hardly be considered stable currency systems, they present many of the same features as "legitimate" currency: they are a store of value, issued in discrete units; they are controlled by a central issuing authority; and they have varying rates of exchange with other forms of currency. For example, frequent flyer miles can be bought using U.S. dollars.
- Frequent Flyer Mile : The most commonly-known points systems are the frequent flyer miles issued by major airlines. The first such system was issued by American Airlines. Other customer loyalty incentives have followed this model, including points systems offered by soft drink manufacturers such as Pepsi. Subway tokens, issued by city transit authorities, can be considered a highly specialized form of currency.
- E-gold: privately issued digital currency backed by gold
- Scrip: is a type of private currency where a certain value is captured, and used to purchase goods from a company. Examples of scrip include gift certificates and gift cards. However, scrip is not considered a currency in itself, but merely a store of value, denominated in another currency.
- Liberty Dollar: A silver backed currency with a 1 to 1 exchange rate with the American Dollar.
5 Local currencies
In economics, a local currency is a currency not backed by a national government, and intended to trade only in a small area. Advocates such as Jane Jacobs argue that this enables an economically depressed region to pull itself up, by giving the people living there a medium of exchange that they can use to exchange services and locally-produced goods (In a broader sense, this is the original purpose of all money.) Opponents of this concept argue that local currency creates a barrier which can interfere with economies of scale and comparative advantage, and that in some cases they can serve as a means of tax evasion.
Local currencies can also come into being when there is economic turmoil involving the national currency. An example of this is the Argentine economic crisis of 2002 in which IOUs issued by local governments quickly took on some of the characteristics of local currencies.
see: local currency also called community currency
6 World currency
With such developments as the Euro allowing for facilitated trade and perhaps a corresponding increase in a wider identity, proposals for a global currency have accelerated, even while it is recognized that several political and economic factors would need to be addressed and intermediate steps taken before such a concept might be accepted by the diverse nations of the world.
7 See also
