One way to describe Holistic Systems Cooperative is as a “value bank.”
This idea feels quite novel to me. After all, we know what a money bank is. Most people know what a “time bank” is. So what’s a value bank?
What do we mean by value?
First off, When we say “value,” I mean any kind of resource or capital that can be exchanged & helps meet someone’s needs or wants. Our current economic system looks at value as the goods or services that you can get someone to pay you money for, but beyond that viewpoint, value is wide open and encompasses all of the types of capital and exchanges that help boost our lives and livelihoods.
Money banks
Now let’s look at what a value bank is not. It’s not a money bank. In this type of bank, I have my own account that’s separate from everyone else’s and that I must protect. I also have almost no control over how that money bank and the system behind it works. Yes, I can earn interest by keeping my money in a bank, but the level of interest I earn is dependent on the amount of money I already have. All that said, what a money bank holds for me (my money) allows incredible flexibility and ease of usage.
Time banks
A value bank is also not a time bank. In case you don’t know, a time bank was a method of exchange that came to life in the 1980s based on exchanging and banking units of time with others. Using this method opens up the space for almost all kinds of value. I can help you with gardening, teaching, or simply spend time with you and I earn my “time currency.” It opens up an inclusivity that money banks lack.
While I love the idea, I think that in our current stage of humanity, it’s only so effective. Because as much as I believe that each person’s hour is worth as much as the next, it’s difficult for that kind of exchange to gain traction and scale these days. In addition, I think time banking leaves a lot of value on the table. We still only have our own separate accounts.
Value banks!
Now we get to a value bank, which as you may have guessed, is extraordinarily exciting to me!! A value bank is the same basic concept as the other two, except that instead of money or time, you’re depositing and withdrawing VALUE!!
A value bank takes the expansiveness of the time bank and the ease and flexibility of currency usage and combines them, all while adding a key feature, which is the shared value account. In this bank, I can deposit a kickbutt accounting template, and withdraw a consulting session. I can deposit a new client referral, and withdraw a live guided meditation session.
Here I have my own account, but I also have access to the shared account which is made up of the entire resource pool of everyone in the bank! Sure, I can’t drop an hour of my time in the community account and have 24 people access it at once. But I can drop in the kickbutt accounting template and it’s there for anyone to withdraw. And that’s where the “interest” starts to accrue over time. That’s the synergy that happens in the collaborative value pool.
The other primary aspect of a value bank is the use of a fluid type of currency for the exchanging of all this value. Barter is great, but money works for a reason.
This is where new technologies come into play, to bring this concept into the realm of possibility. Because now we can “tokenize” value and exchange it between each other in a quick, flexible, and easy manner. Using blockchain and smart contracts is a cutting edge way to facilitate the large amounts of withdrawals and deposits needed to make this effective.
Understanding Value
Ok… so now you might be asking – how do we decide on the value of what we withdraw and deposit? That’s the fun part! We get to play in how we exchange with each other and how we assign value to our offerings. A value bank is a new kind of bank that we co-create, a type of re-enculturation moving away from transactional value exchange to relational value exchange. That’s right, we all co-own this bank and have a say in how it operates. It’s not the bank we were born into, it’s the one we make.
If this kind of exploration sounds exciting to you, come join the fun! We’re currently playing in value exchange at Holistic Systems Cooperative and synergizing our collective deposits.
