Non-State Community Virtual Currencies

Abstract

Community currencies are means of payment issued other than by the State, for voluntary use side by side with State-issued (that is, national) currency, either in a particular geographical area or by a group of users. This chapter deals with them as their media have been transforming from paper to digital. Discussing legal aspects of digital community currencies as monetary objects, this chapter combines an analysis general to the law of community currencies, as applied to community currencies regardless of the media in which they are embodied, with an analysis of the general law governing digital currencies as applied to community currencies. Questions relating to the meaning of 'money' and 'community' are at the crossroad of law, economics, and sociology: hence the collaboration between a lawyer and a sociologist.

Keywords: Digital currencies, Community currencies, Law, Money, Community