Michael Croghan's Community Model

Survival of the Most Cooperative

“The Birth of the Crodit (non-competitive) Currency System”

A competitive currency, is one in which you are advantaged to hold onto (save), and selectively spend due to an artificial scarcity. Controlled by a select few, which assess your “survivability” to return the money you’ve been given. You go to a bank, like Wells Fargo, state your case why you need $25,000.00 USD, and evidence that you’ll be successful in battle, and be able to give back this newly issued money, along with a “tribute” (interest). Ave Imperator, morituri te salutant!

A non-competitive currency, is one in which you are advantaged to NOT hold onto (spend), aggressively spend, and issue new money to those who will spend (circulate) it. Everyone is a bank, everyone can create/issue money.

The first questions I’m always asked are, “Mike, tell me how you make money with this, who’s the target audience, what’s the angle?”. It’s a good set of questions, they’re the natural questions any smart entrepreneur, or individual with any reasonable common sense would ask. The notion is mind bending. It is the literal antithesis to the currency system as we know it. Decentralized banking, everyone is a banker, everyone can issue money, just like a centralized bank can. Instead of caring about the receiver being able to pay back, we care about the receiver’s ability to spend, and judgement to “issue” new money to others, who will have the same spending habits.

The next question that should be asked is, “Mike, how do you measure people’s ability to spend?”. I take the “FICO score” criteria, and flip it upside down, to come up with criteria for a “CO-OP score”. The higher your CO-OP score, the more likely you are CO-OPerative with your father, your mother, your children, your brothers/sisters, your friends, your neighbors, strangers on the street, or across the globe. Familiarity & accepted transaction history is low risk, unfamiliarity & lack of accepted transaction history is high risk. Spending/Decommisioning (existing money) is low risk, Accumulating/Saving is high risk. Regular participation history is low risk, irregular participation is high risk. It’s the score that represents the likelihood one, regularly, and willingly helps those they meet & transact with.

The really exciting thing is, it can be implemented in an area where energy is completely lacking. Pen & paper. As they say, the greater the risk, the greater the reward. “Transactions” made offline, and outside of the average time period those you regularly “transact” with operate offline, would be the most risky. Our natural response to people doing the right thing for each other, or back stabbing each other is all that’s really needed. If one’s CO-OP score (crodit score!) widget is lost, who cares. One could choose to reset their CO-OP score, who cares. People you regularly transact with know you, and won’t care too much if your score resets; afterall, the only way to receive crodits, is from someone else giving them to you. They make that judgement. It’s an evolution to the barter system.

Since one can only issue money to others, one would have to be issued money to participate. Pure offline mode, you could choose, or not choose to take your agreed upon transactions to anyone who would be willing to make the judgement that you, and all parties involved, spent in good faith between each other. It’s a pure barter system, which you have a non-scarce, liquid trade unit … the Crodit (CROs).