One of STRO´s principal lines of work is that of augmenting the amount of money that circulates within communities. To this end, different local exchange systems have been developed and tested in a variety of contexts.

Among the local exchange systems developed and implemented by STRO are:

C3

Commercial Credit Circuit
C3 is a methodology through which companies, workers and people in general can make use of a virtual exchange system online. In a C3, companies use their own Internal Liquidity to make transactions. This Liquidity is backed up by money or financial guarantees. In this way, financial guarantees (including Credit Insurance) become a form of commercial liquidity, increasing the possibility of companies penetrating financial institutions.

LBC

Loan Backed Currency
The LBC is a method that issues a local exchange unit that circulates within a community. This exchange unit is issued as micro-credit and backed up by the commercial capacities of whoever receives the credit.

CBC

Commodity Backed Currency
CBC is a methodology through which an organization (such as an associative business, a consumption cooperative or a producers cooperative) pays its suppliers, workers and members with its own exchange unit backed up by that same organization’s stock list or productive capacity.

Time Bank

The Time Bank is a mutual credit system; a loan from all to all with a centralized administrative unit that registers transactions. The difference of this system is that the unit used is not equivalent to national money, but to one hour of work. In addition, participants are not formal companies; they are individuals.

Click on the comparative chart to see the different methodologies put into practice by STRO in Central America.