Community-Based Commitment Pooling
Contextual Quote
"Currency was introduced all around the world as a violent control mechanism. Mutual credit confuses credit as a financial product and the opposite of debt. If you have read the paper on Commitment Pooling I think you'll see my path away from currency or credit as a thing and instead seeing spaces like commitment pools."
- Telegram @willruddick
Description
Will Ruddick:
"if communities, businesses and groups across the US were to create formalized commitments denominated in USD and have them curated and placed in pools (that enable exchange) with relative value indices - there would be a diverse their portfolio of curated assets people can exchange (providing liquidity). This form of liquidity investment would be a way to do 2 things:
- 1 Scaffolding (supporting from the bottom up) a failing USD (or other National Currencies used as units of account ). Consider a scenario where the local currency is fluctuating: by creating a commitment pool with assets denominated in both national currency, communities can retain purchasing power and ensure continued access to essential goods, thus scaffolding the national economy.
- 2 Cultivating an economic commons and exchange system that is immune to USD (or other National Currency) scarcity or collapse.
Join the movement towards a more inclusive and resilient economic system by exploring and contributing to community-based commitment pools."
(https://willruddick.substack.com/p/from-scalar-to-vector-units-of-account?)
Characteristics
"The Commitment Pooling Protocol is structured around four core interfaces:
- Curation of Assets: This is the foundation, enabling the collection and organization of various commitments within a community, transforming individual promises into a communal asset pool.
- Limiter: It sets boundaries within the pool, ensuring that the commitments remain balanced and manageable, preventing overexposure to individual risks.
- Price Index: A Relative Value Index establishes the worth of different commitments within the pool, facilitating fair and equitable exchanges among participants.
- Exchange Logic: This governs the interactions within the pool, detailing how commitments can be exchanged, fostering a dynamic ecosystem of mutual support.
These interfaces lay the groundwork for a myriad of economic activities, from local trading systems, to production financing and transitionary polycentric global networks, all while maintaining the essence of community and mutual support. This protocol empowers communities to create a more inclusive and resilient economic future, echoing the collaborative spirit of traditional practices."
(https://grassecon.org/commitment-pooling?)
More information
- Video with Simulation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TLly1aEkyE
Document
* Article / Report: Commitment Pooling - An Economic Protocol Inspired by Ancestral Wisdom. By William O. Ruddick - Founder of Grassroots Economics Foundation, 2024
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"This prospective report introduces the pooling of commitments, as a mechanism for curating and fairly exchanging resources within communities. This approach hinges on the idea that commitments can be effectively pooled to create a more equitable and collaborative economic system, and echoes traditional mutual service practices. To operationalize this concept, the paper presents a protocol being piloted by Grassroots Economics; the Commitment Pooling Protocol is designed to aggregate commitments while facilitating the management and fair exchange of resources. The study describes the background, development, and potential impact of this approach, demonstrating how it can support autonomous, decentralized, non-monetary, and polycentric systems of Commitment Pooling. The emphasis is on fostering community well-being, aligning economic practices with the ethos of mutual service, and collective agency. Through practical use cases and analysis, the paper showcases the versatility of this protocol in various socio-economic contexts, highlighting its potential in supporting a more inclusive and resilient economic future."