About ∈dges

To get onboarded, come to an ∈dges meeting or fill out the form!

Why

Picture a non-hierarchical group of people hanging out and collaborating. Now picture that group of people paying each other for time and work. In one sense, this will make them better able to collaborate on substantial projects, but in another sense, it will erode their identity as a “community”.

This, we believe, is because conventional money (fiat, crypto, gold, ETFs, etc) is a “global” rather than “local” measure of value. Precisely because money’s value is easily recognized outside the community, holding money encourages people to think less about the community’s wants and needs. Accumulating money reduces not only individuals’ dependence on community, but also their commitment to it.

This is a problem for intentional communities that want to take on ambitious projects. They are between a rock and a hard place: If they don’t use money internally, they have trouble scaling collaboration, but if they do use it, they lose their identity as communities.

We are interested in developing community currency systems that find the optima in this dilemma.

What

Complementary currencies that are intentionally more valuable inside a community than outside it mitigate money’s community-eroding, “centrifugal” quality. That’s what we’re hoping to build.

∈dges is a social experiment in creating a non-crypto, trust-based complementary currency system. If it works, it could help the Edge Esmeralda community collaborate and scale without losing coherence and commitment. ∈dges also might be worth something, although that value will be differentially realizable within the Edge Esmeralda community. We’ve built a simple app and laid out a series of incentives that we hope will create a flywheel of collaboration.

This only works with a game community – so we hope you’ll join us!

How

A critical ingredient in ∈dges is trust. Accordingly, the “central bank” is a simple trust pool. If you’d like to become a “member” of the system, you’ll need to (a) have an Edge Esmeralda Zupass ticket, and (b) deposit a token amount of real money in a pool that any other member can unilaterally withdraw from. (Come to one of our events at Edge Esmeralda to get set up.) So from the very beginning, we’re relying on our social ties and counting on each other to act in good faith.

Second, if you want to send ∈dges to non-members, you can – but you have to pay an “exit tax”. This forms a kind of membrane around the currency system, encouraging us to think about how to serve local rather than global needs.

Third, ∈dges should be used mainly to compensate and/or recognize contributions of time and effort – not exchanges for durable assets. Durable assets are a kind of “global money” since they can be easily resold outside the community; buying them is therefore a kind of “exit”. The purpose of each transaction is recorded in an honor-system ledger that only members can see.

Thus, to accept ∈dges, or to offer services in exchange for ∈dges, means something. It signals trust in the potential of the community and desire for integration into it. To be rich in ∈dges means that you’ve done things for others around here; it’s a more meaningful signal than wealth in global money, which easily crosses and punctures social contexts.

To get onboarded, come to one of our meetings! For more details, see the Rules page.