The Brixton Pound (B£) is money that sticks to Brixton. It’s designed to support Brixton businesses and encourage local trade and production. It’s a complementary currency, working alongside (not replacing) pounds sterling, for use by independent local shops and traders. The B£ is the UK’s first local currency in an urban area and the fourth transition town to have its own currency, following the Totnes Pound in Devon, Lewes Pound in Sussex and Stroud Pound in Gloucestershire.
Chiemgauer is the name of a regional local currency started in 2003 in Prien am Chiemsee, Bavaria, Germany. It is named after the Chiemgau, a region around the Chiemsee.
The Chiemgauer program is intended to promote local commerce. The Chiemgauer operates with a fixed exchange rate: 1 Chiemgauer = €1.
Bills of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20, and 50 Chiemgauer are issued. To maintain an individual bill’s validity, a “scrip” corresponding to 2% of the banknote value must be paid every three months. (This system, called demurrage, is a form of currency circulation tax)
Complementary currencies are agreements within a community to accept something else than national currencies as a means of payment. They are sometimes called community currencies, local currencies or “common tender.”
Not all these common tender currencies are local, however, and some have purposes other than community building. Because they are designed to function in parallel with conventional money.