Regions & Governments

At the Bristol Pound we encourage people to spend their money with local businesses in Bristol and the surrounding region, to stimulate and generate a stronger local to regional economy. Our target population is around 1m making us the largest scheme of its kind in the UK. We spent a year researching what system would cope with our ambitions, talking to many experts in the field. In the end Cyclos was the only contender.

Ciaran Mundy – CEO Bristol Pound CIC

Local and regional governments

Cyclos4Pro introduces innovations to help regional and local authorities to stimulate their economies. They can channel existing funds and expenses through a local payment environment in which innovative tools help to increase the local multiplier. The software also provides tools to create more and cheaper credits for local SME’s. Cyclos is used worldwide by many NGO’s and governments, below some examples are mentioned.

Bristol

The Bristol Pound is the UK’s first city wide currency. The local Credit Union, a formal financial institution, manages the Cyclos accounts. The Bristol City Council accepts Bristol Pounds for local taxes, while the Mayor makes a strong statement of support by accepting no less than 100% of his salary in local Pounds. Some 20 other UK cities closely follow the progress in Bristol and showed interest to copy its example.

Brixton pound

The B£ encourages people to think about where their money is going and commit to spending a proportion of it locally. It helps to maintain the diversity and uniqueness of Brixton’s shops and market and build pride in Brixton. On the environmental front, the B£ supports local businesses in sourcing more goods and services locally, reducing their carbon footprint.

Calgary dollars

The famous Calgary dollars established in 1995 as a paper currency is now using Cyclos for all digital transactions.

Catalonia

Three Catalan cities, supported by the Catalan cooperative movement, prepare local payment systems in order to make the circulation of money more effective. Using special Cyclos features the payment network provides local SME’s more clients and more and better options for credit.

Circuit Nederland

“Circuit Nederland” (Circuit Netherlands) is a platform of approximately 10 Dutch local currency groups, such as the Utrechtse Euro, United Economy and Vix in Alkmaar. Participants mostly trade within their own community, but can also trade with members of other communities.

RolloN Normandy, Heol Brest, SoNantes

Together with our partners Cylaos ICT and SoMoney creditmunicipal Nantes developed their own Cyclos front-end. This beautifully designed front-end is being used by multiple cities and regional currencies in France. For more information please visit: https://annuaire.normandie-rollon.fr/ and https://sonantes.fr/.

And more local currencies in France and Belgium

Many local NGO’s encourage people to think about where their money is going and commit to spending a proportion of it locally. It helps to maintain the diversity and uniqueness of local shops and market and build local and trusted networks. Our partner Cylaos ICT has helped many initiatives in France to successfully use Cyclos: Sol Violette (Toulouse) , Gonette (Lyon) , Abeille (Lot & Garonne), Bou’Sol (Boulogne), Val’Heureux and Le Voltî (Belgium)

Sardinia

The Autonomous Region of Sardinia partnered with the fast growing business community currency Sardex, to fight unemployment of youngsters in the community using Cyclos technologies. The Sardex model has been copied throughout Italy. Click here for more information.