We talk a lot about protocols, platforms and governance on this forum. This thread is for something different: what’s actually happening in your communities.
Drop your stories here. They don’t have to be polished or long, and they don’t have to be about mutual credit specifically: timebanks, LETS, cooperatives, anything in the community exchange space. Just what’s happening on the ground where you are.
What federation looks like on the ground
Two federated CES groups in Northern Ireland (one based in a cooperative in Garvagh, the other in neighbouring Coleraine, about 15 minutes apart) held their first joint meetup last Saturday morning.
The groups are linked on the CES platform. Members see each other’s offers and wants, and trade across communities with transparent currency conversion (Waves ↔ Flows). The meetup generated a visible spike in cross-community trading, and several new members signed up on the spot, registering, making their first trades, and going home with produce and items the same morning.
The meetup was essentially a market with a table full of goods in the cooperative’s greenhouse, people browsing, chatting, picking things up. Preserves, crafts, art work, candles, household items, baked goods. The greenhouse itself was part of the offer: members were invited to pick tomatoes, peppers and kale straight from the plants and the surrounding veggie garden, recording it with community currency. There’s something grounding about trading produce in the place where it grows.
It was also a chance for the more established group to share the philosophy behind mutual credit with newer members, addressing the common fear of “being in debt”, explaining why that concept doesn’t apply in a exchange systems, and why balancing giving and receiving is what keeps the whole thing alive.
What’s worth reporting is what federation goes beyond one-to-one trading. When our two groups meet physically, members discover what’s happening in the other community: events, projects, spaces, skills. Each group gets access to a wider pool of offers and a wider sense of what’s possible. The two admin teams are now sharing tips on running their groups: communications, design, onboarding, IT.
Federation as a technical feature links accounts. Federation on the ground links communities.
Our two groups on the Community Exchange Network map - 15 minutes apart
When a festival joins the exchange: Swell 2026, Portrush
Here’s another story from the North Coast of Northern Ireland, this time about what happens when a local festival becomes a trader in your exchange.
North Coast Community Exchange is a mutual credit group running on CES. Our community currency is the wave: goods, skills and time are exchanged and recorded using waves. No money changes hands, and standings (balances) can go below zero.
Swell Portrush is a community arts and wellbeing festival. It joined our exchange as an organisation account, and this October it ran partly on waves. Some highlights:
The festival’s balance went well into debit, which is exactly what it should do. It made a lot of community effort visible, and that’s a good use of mutual credit. If you have a local festival or community event, inviting it in as a trader might be one of the best ways to show people what the exchange is for.
