Editing Local exchange trading system (section)

== History ==
Michael Linton may have originated the term "local exchange trading system" in 1983, for a time running the [[Comox Valley, British Columbia|Comox Valley]] LETSystems in [[Courtenay, British Columbia]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://wiki.ashevillelets.org/wiki/What_is_LETS%3F |title=What is LETS? | publisher=AshevilleLETS |access-date=9 December 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110725015808/http://wiki.ashevillelets.org/wiki/What_is_LETS%3F |archive-date=25 July 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> The system he designed was intended as an [[complementary currency|adjunct to the national currency]], rather than a replacement for it.<ref name="LETS1">Linton, Michael (August, 1994). [http://archive.lets.net/gmlet/design/dm1%5E3.html The LETSystem Design Manual. Landsman Community Services Paper No. 1.3 Version No 1.3]</ref> He called the currency "green dollars" and it was mostly used by a local dentist, but dwindled when he moved away. Linton started at least four more versions, with varying degrees of success, such as the "Community Way Dollars" in 2008. The system's turnover in the first two years amounted to green $500,000. There were 5 LETS in Great Britain in 1992. In 1995 this number increased to 350 with 30,000 membership and 2 million turnover.<ref name="The Moral Economy of Parallel Curre">{{cite journal |last1=Peacock |first1=Mark S. |title=The Moral Economy of Parallel Currencies |journal=American Journal of Economics and Sociology |date=2006 |volume=65 |issue=5 |pages=1059–1083 |doi=10.1111/j.1536-7150.2006.00491.x |language=en |issn=1536-7150}}</ref> In 2018 the [[University of Victoria]] undertook to research his archives as a demonstration of how people react to new ideas that are outside the norms of society. Linton thought that he had failed to communicate his idea adequately.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.comoxvalleyrecord.com/news/decades-of-documents-michael-linton-passes-on-lets-legacy/|publisher=Comox Valley Record|title= Decades of documents: Michael Linton passes on LETS legacy: University of Victoria to study Comox Valley born Local Exchange Trading System|first=Jolene |last=Rudisuela|date=30 September 2018|access-date=31 March 2019}}</ref>
LETS is a new type of money which makes it easy to pursue new [[Livelihood]] without the previous wholesale transformation of [[Capitalism]]. It is thus regarded as an alternative currency movement, and as a form of political protest.<ref name="Explorations in heterotopia: Local">{{cite journal |last1=North |first1=Peter |title=Explorations in heterotopia: Local Exchange Trading Schemes (LETS) and the micropolitics of money and livelihood |journal=Environment and Planning D: Society and Space |date=1999 |volume=17 |issue=1 |pages=69–86 |doi=10.1068/d170069 |bibcode=1999EnPlD..17...69N |s2cid=145652872 |issn=0263-7758}}</ref>
After flourishing in the 1990s, the LETS movement waned. Interest in [[local currency]] moved on to other designs such as [[time-based currency]] and dollar-backed local voucher schemes.{{Citation needed|date=March 2019}}

===Internet networks===
On the whole, the movement was slow to adapt to the internet and to the possibility of networking together. Reluctance to engage with technology, a belief in decentralisation/localisation and lack of funds all contributed to this.{{Citation needed|date=March 2019}}

Examples of LETS networks based on free software are the [[Cape Town]]-based [[Community Exchange System]] (CES), which {{as of|lc=yes|March 2019}} links to the [[Geneva]]-based Community Forge<ref>[http://communityforge.net/ CommunityForge]</ref> and [[Spain|Spanish]]  IntegralCES.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://integralces.net/ |title=Home |publisher=IntegralCES |date= |accessdate=2022-03-16}}</ref><ref name=CESstats/>

Internet Exchange Trading System was established in 1998 as an idea to spread local exchange tradings systems online and establish a service exchange online platform. It didn't reach critical mass of users and the idea was later abandoned.<ref>{{cite web|date=1999-11-22|title=Internet Exchange Trading System|url=http://iets.hypermart.net/|access-date=2021-07-30|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/19991122035726/http://iets.hypermart.net/|archive-date=22 November 1999}}</ref>