The Cairn, the local currency of the Grenoble region

"The cairn is that heap of stone that you find on the side of mountain paths.
It is placed to mark a particular place, to show a way or to guide towards the summits. It invites everyone to add his stone to the building. ”

1 € = 1C

Context

By using a Local and Complementary Currency (LCC) in your daily purchases, you participate in a collective approach which:

• stimulates the relocation of our economy,
• promotes responsible, ethical and ecological consumption,
• supports the development of local know-how,
• supports local shops and jobs,
• strengthens the links between the actors of a territory,
• encourages short circuits,
• fights, at its level, against speculation.

An LCC is a payment instrument that circulates in a defined territory and within a network of selected actors (local shops and services, artisans, producers, associations and local SMEs), without the possibility of savings or speculation.

An LCC facilitates the development of short circuits, boosts the local economy and supports a solidarity economy that respects the environment.

Project

The Cairn is the local currency that circulates in the southern half of Isère. The Cairn association was created in 2015 thanks to the will of a group of citizens to launch a local currency on the Grenoble area. The currency actually entered into circulation in the fall of 2017.

Cairn territory

The Cairn can be used on the territory delimited by the Grenoble Territorial Coherence Scheme (SCoT) as well as on the Isère parts of the Chartreuse, Vercors, Trièves, Oisans du Valbonnais, Beaumont and Matheysin plateau massifs.

Results: Today, the Cairn is established in 160 stores, institutions and services that are committed to relocating the economy, fighting speculation, encouraging energy transition, social utility and currency control by local people. 

In April 2018, over 50,000 Cairns were in circulation, more than 1,200 people had joined the association, including 160 professionals.

“just like in agriculture, the water used to irrigate generates local production, the local currency created during a productive activity generates other productive activities when it is spent (while the sale of irrigated agricultural products is most often national, even international). The local currency is in a way a custodian of productive activities: it guarantees that production and spending take place in the same territory ”

extract from the Report on the Study Mission on complementary local currencies and local exchange systems, of April 2015, p.9.

Project leaders

The “Cairn, Local and Citizen Currency” association is organized around the following bodies:

• the Orientation Committee
• the Steering Committee
• Working groups
• Democratic Vitality Groups
• Monitoring committees
• Local Groups

The Little Extra

The [e]-Cairn is the dematerialized version of the local currency of the Grenoble area. It works via an online account from which you can make transfers or pay a merchant. It is also possible to pay in [e]-Cairn by sms, a good way to facilitate exchanges in local currency !

Why launch [e] -Cairn?

• Offer smooth exchanges between professionals
• Facilitate payment in Cairn for everyone, wherever you live
• Allow payment with cents (not possible with notes)
• Give new professionals the opportunity to join the network (professionals who do not accept paper money)
• Offer new opportunities to professionals
• Increase the circulation of the Cairn on the territory.

Written by Claire Caillaud, LFC volunteer - May 2019. 

Last modification : 13 May 2020.