Bank of the Commons, the new banking era

FairCoop is one of the co-founders of Bank of the Commons (BotC), a revolutionary open cooperative initiative whose aim is to bring some fresh air into the dark world of banking and finances and to offer support to cooperative projects and social currencies all over the world, both at a global and a local level. BotC brings them the latest technologies in banking and payment systems, inside an environment where they can stay loyal to their values.

The official systems are continuously adopting new banking and payment technologies to make their services easier and easier to use, but they aren’t really implementing this advances for the common good. Bank of the Commons’ aim is to put these latest technologies at the service of solidary economy projects to help them grow and consolidate. But it goes even further: the blockchain revolution makes it possible to decentralize banking and make it more transparent, so BotC is using it to obtain much desired sovereignty in finances, participatory budgeting and money creation, adopting FairCoin as a strategic global social currency. This means to change the basis, not only the shape.

By combining the open assembly methodology (that has characterized movements like 15M, Occupy and the integral cooperatives) with professional work in areas such as economics, accounting, programming, management, legal issues and communication, BotC practices a participatory and efficient way of management.

The result is:

• A self-managed bank, without bankers. Every member of the cooperative has a say in the decision making.
• Multicurrency operating options (FairCoin, social currencies and fiat money), with a wallet allowing all of them to use according to necessities, giving great possibilities to alternative currency systems.
• Aimed to invest in cooperativists movements, solving the old problem of the lack of investments in this sector.
• Ruled by ethical principles.

Bank of the Commons was launched in a Beta stage on the 7th of June, 2017, offering its first services to its members. Legally, it will adopt the form of a European cooperative society, offering then its full range of services.

Now, you can already be part of this innovative social project in three different ways:

• Becoming an investor member
• Registering as a full member (individual or collective)
• Registering as a limited member (this will be available within the next months)

You can see the differences among the different kind of memberships in the FAQ of the BotC web, where you will also find any further information you may need.

We want to invite you to visit it and be part of this nice revolution that will make the solidary economy stronger for the sake of a better world.

Join us in this adventure and contribute to shape together the world we have in our hearts.