Following 45 years of resource mismanagement under Thatcherism, Stoke is just one of many local economies regarded as “left behind.” The Stoke Model is demonstrating that intangible waste from within these economies can be tokenised to unlock stored value and build genuine community wealth.
The Potteries Pound is a community benefit token that rewards volunteers and activists, who are often considered “economically inactive,” for investing their time in their community. Their sweat equity is valued and accounted for to create tokenised knowledge.
By choosing to participate in acts of good citizenship, these volunteers eliminate the waste of their time, talents, and potential as humans, making a meaningful difference economically, socially, and environmentally. This knowledge unlocks the stored value of their productive capacity, and with it, their imaginations to do more, to get more, and to be more.
We call it “Community Social Value.” Community Social Value is measured and accounted for in units of Potteries Pound. It is valuable because the means of production (time, talents, and human potential) would have otherwise been wasted. The process of employment that unlocks stored value has zero input costs.
In the nineteenth century, barriers to the flow of capital across borders fell dramatically, and flows of capital became enormous. Behind this were huge improvements in communications and the security for investors created by the gold standard, British capital markets, and British power.
The Potteries Pound has the potential to transparently measure the performance of each and every “left behind” economy as it strives to eliminate waste and become more socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable. This isn’t “de-growth”; this is “re-growth.”
This is payments-media where the monetary medium is the monetary message: “don’t be a waster.” A payments-media where monetary tokens of community benefit unlock social value to build community and traded in a marketplace where the social and commercial monetary standards are governed by The People of the Potteries.
Turning waste into an economic incentive costs nothing, and everyone benefits. A new capital market is being developed to clear this value before it perishes. This knowledge and know-how is now the collective intellectual property of The People of the Potteries. But it could also be yours.
To create your own version of The Potteries Pound for your “left behind” community, get in touch: https://thestokemodel.com/ as we would love to hear from you.