Local (coworking space) currency and Bitcoin

[Will Bennis, Locus Workspace]

Hi All,

Our coworking space just introduced it's own cuurrency, Locus Laughs (LOL). Members can earn it for anything they do to contribute to the community, they can use it to pay for any products or services in the space, and they can trade it to one another for services and then use their Laughs to pay for membership or whatever. The idea was to have some way to show some kind of thanks to those who give the most back to the community. It also just seemed like a fun experiment. Though I do worry a little that it will make giving to the community a commodity and take away from the less selfish motives of giving. 

We've also just started accepting Bitcoin. Also largely as an experiment and to add some spice to the space.

Any other spaces experimented with this? Any ideas about what works well or badly with local currencies or with Bitcoin?

Here's our blog post about it with more details about both: 

http://blog.locusworkspace.cz/2013/10/locus-accepts-bitcoin-and-its-own-new.html

Would love feedback and to hear other stories!

Best,

Will

Locus Workspace

[Eli Malinsky]

Hi

We have not done our own currency but its come up a dozen times. We've hesitated because we didn't want to treat 'niceties' as something that required/was worthy of 'payment'. We worried that it would make the vibe dependent on these currency exchanges. that said, we see a ton of benefits too. I'd love to hear from others and also hear how it works out in the weeks/months ahead.

Eli Malinsky
Centre for Social Innovation
Toronto // New York City

[Cristina Santamarina]

Hi Will, 

Interesting experiment, please keep us posted! Encouraging the members to give back to the community (even if it has some way of compensation) doesn't sound like a problem to me. Are you going to establish some kind of equivalences? Or will you give a fixed amount of LOLs to anyone doing anything?

Regarding bitcoins, a while ago we had a request from a space to add bitcoins payments to Cobot - which we actually did - so I know that someone out there is using them. Anyone out there that can share their experiences with these alternative payment methods?

Cheers,

Cristina

http://cobot.me

PS: Will you be at Coworking Europe? :)

[Beth Buczynski]

Hi Will and all,

yes! I love when coworking spaces branch out into other types of sharing. Will, would you be willing to answer a few email questions about how and why you got this started? I'd also love to hear from other spaces (perhaps in the U.S. or elsewhere?) that have implemented something similar or are thinking about it. Would love to hear more about benefits versus perceived risks to the community, as Eli mentioned. 

Feel free to reply on or off list!

Beth

[Paweł Makowiecki]

Hi all,

And thank you for posting that. One and half year ago we start our local currency in our coworking centre to facilitate interactions between our members and wider community. First it was simple spreadsheet in google docs and manual accounting:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0Aqd3SXe3C67edElkZ1Z6Ml9qT0E4MEc3NWV4R0ZOQmc#gid=0

Now we implement automatic system based on Community Forge solution, which we also integrate it with CiviCRM software to coordinate community and aplication that helps coordinate organic shopping of "food cooperative" that works around our centre.
http://communityforge.net/

Soon we will test cheap hardware solution, for our own SMS Gate integrated with all above. If you'll be interested in results of our experiments, please let us know. We'll keep you posted.

Best,.
Pawel

--
Tel. +48 72 7957457 | SMS: +48 791 690869 (Viber, WhatsApp) | http://twitter.com/makowiecki
Wspolpracownia | Collaboratory - Local Hub of Innovation http://www.wspolpracownia.pl

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[Will Bennis, Locus Workspace]

Hi Cristina,

Right now there are no set rewards for particular types of activities, except an initial 500 LOL for all new members to the workspace. But it's something to think about. I'm not sure what you mean by "equivalences" as opposed to a "fixed amount of LOLs" (unless the latter is just redescribing the former). What are equivalences?

I saw that cobot can use Bitcoin, so it's good to get a little background on that.

Was planning to go to coworking Europe, but something came up so I had to cancel. Really sorry to miss it. Was looking forward to some Open Coworking thinking.

Will

[Will Bennis, Locus Workspace]

Pawel,

So cool you've been doing this for that long. And really glad to hear it's still going and developing over time. Gives me some encouragement. What we have no is basically what you started with: a simple Google Docs spreadsheet. There's a member who's pretty passionate about local digital currencies so at some point he may help automate it more using existing web-based currency solutions. 

You're our neighbor (well, relative to most coworking spaces), so if you ever make it to Prague, please get in touch!

Best,

Will

[Cristina Santamarina]

Hi Will, 

What a pity! I am planning a trip to Prague right after the conference (after almost a year I miss it SO much!) so if I have time I will drop by and say hi :).

What I mean with equivalences is, does every contributor earn the same amount of LOLs, no matter what the contribution is? i.e. if I build a 3d printer do I get the same amount of LOLs as if I prepare a pot of coffee? If not, how are you going to decide these amounts?

Cheers, take care, 

Cris

Cristina Santamarina

T: @crissantamarina | M: +49 151 19446249 | W: http://cristinasantamarina.com

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[Will Bennis, Locus Workspace]

Thanks for the clarification. All good deeds are NOT equivalent, but I also don't have a standard system for rewarding (though perhaps I should). Mainly just an issue of keeping it simple for now. I let people request Laughs if they think they're earned them, and I reward them pretty unpredictably based on times I notice someone doing something that I think is above and beyond the call of duty. Maybe Skinner would say this kind of random reinforcement is the best way to encourage good behavior! :) But mostly it's lack of time/energy/strong conviction about how to value good deeds.

Will

PS: Your Rails Girls journal and letters are still at Locus. Stop by and say hi for sure (and get those back if you want them)!

[Cristina Santamarina]

I'm curious to see how that evolves. I love the idea of alternatives to money, but money was created to solve that equivalences problem among others right? 

It'd be cool if you wrote about it in the wiki, as I'm sure the idea has come across some other people's mind. 
I will find time for a coffee when in Prague, and also pick up the Rails Girls materials - I arranged with the Prague team that they'd go to pick it up and use it for further events but it seems they never found the time :). Talk soon, cheers,

Cris

[Darren Overby]

Hey Christina,  

We use Cobot at RockIT CoLabs.   Do you think you could integrate the recurring Bitcoin payments at Coinbase into Cobot?   We would really like to be able to offer our members the ability to pay for their membership by Bitcoin and have Cobot track these payments. 

Darren Overby