Along with being one of the nicer guys you’ll meet, Francis Cahill is a man with an idea he believes in. An increasing number of Nevada County businesses are buying into his vision… Nevada County’s own currency.

TradeMarket, Francis’ local non-profit organization, has published a currency called the “Trade” and has begun dispersing it to its members. The members then spend it in trade for each other’s products and services.

TradeMarket is modeled on the successful ‘Ithaca Hour’ local currency in Ithaca, New York but with important improvements. Francis explains it this way: “Instead of being based on time, the Trade is based on a unit of account – 1 being set initially to the value of a 14oz cup of coffee or $1.75. This frees users to negotiate price by their sense of the product or services value which is a more objective measure then time expended in production.” The folks who are adopting it think that local currency is the best tool available for local sustainability. It creates the possibility for a new level of harmonious community inter-relationships—people trading face to face, getting to know each other and directly supporting and encouraging each other. In other words, if you buy locally, you support your neighbors. Trades encourage local commerce.

One of TradeMarket’s members, Dr, Kyle Christensen commented: “The whole genius behind TradeMarket’s Trade currency is that it’s based on local people’s skills and work ethic instead of the empty vaults at Fort Knox. I have more faith in this approach.”

You can learn more by navigating to http://www.ncgvtrademarket.org or calling TradeMarket at 632–0672.