The Example of Salt Spring Island, Vancouver Salt Spring Island, off Vancouver, has a population of 10,000. On the 15 September 2001, Salt Spring Island Dollars were launched at the Island's largest annual gathering, the Farmers Institute's Fall Fair. They are the brainchild of the Sustainable Salt Spring Island Coalition which, in the fall of 2000, had been looking at ways to establish a local currency which would avoid the problems of the "alternative" currencies, such as Toronto Dollars, LETS and Hours systems.
They discovered the main problem was that none of the present alternative currencies were 100% redeemable into their national currency, and so many people were unwilling to use them if they couldn't "pay the bills."
However, the Salt Spring Island Coalition reckoned that if the currency could generate a profit then it could go into circulation through a one-to-one exchange with the Canadian dollar. It could be backed 100% by the national currency. To their knowledge this had never been achieved by any local currency, anywhere in the world.
Interesting (& long) read about how Salt Spring Island saved it's local enconomy.
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