Michel Rauchs
Researcher. Educator. Advisor.
[Money: The Silent Engine of Society]
[We live in a time of interconnected crises—economic, social, ecological—that share systemic roots. And our monetary system lies at the very foundation of this.]
Money is not just a means of exchange. It’s a shared language, a claim on real value, and a script that governs how we relate to each other. It not only shapes values, behaviours, and incentives, but also economies, societies, and institutions—mostly invisibly.
But money is not a law of nature. As a fundamentally human and social institution, it can be (re)designed. And by doing so consciously, we can reshape the systems that depend on it—and ultimately the way we live together and provision for ourselves.
My work starts from this premise: that to change the world, we must change how we issue, allocate, and account for money. And that the tools already exist — some ancient, some emerging — to begin doing so from the ground up. My work focuses on reimagining monetary and financial infrastructures to serve communities rather than extract from them. I explore practical alternatives — from mutual credit and liquidity-saving mechanisms to distributed accounting systems — that enable bottom-up, decentralised, and federated forms of economic cooperation.
Lasting transformation won’t come from above. It starts with people and places, building the foundations of a resilient economy from the ground up.]
Current Interests and Projects
Currency and credit systems that serve actual communities
Liquidity-savings mechanisms (such as credit clearing, mutual credit, and private currency vouchers) that reduce the need for bank money and credit.
Alternative mechanisms for investment and savings (such as use-credit obligations) that enable long-term financing of community projects without equity or debt.
Digital assets and distributed ledgers
Distributed accounting infrastructures for alternative credit systems based on cryptographic assurance
The Commons
Raising awareness of the Commons as a viable, bottom-up alternative to address the looming meta-crisis (economic, social, environmental).
Research, design, and help communities launch Commons-based economic architectures.
I am an editor of the Growing Commons Substack and engaged with the Commons Lab.
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Work & Projects
From research reports to courses to digital tools and advisory. And some more?
Media & Talks
Conferences, workshops, media appearances, work features, and more.
Blog
I sometimes do write as well about a range of topics that interest me. I intend to do this much more regularly, so feel free to subscribe.