Circulation of a digital community currency.

ABSTRACT: Circulation is the characteristic feature of successful currency systems, from community currencies to cryptocurrencies to national currencies. In this paper, we propose a network analysis approach especially suited for studying circulation given a system's digital transaction records. Sarafu is a digital community currency that was active in Kenya over a period that saw considerable economic disruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We represent its circulation as a network of monetary flow among the 40,000 Sarafu users. Network flow analysis reveals that circulation was highly modular, geographically localized, and occurring among users with diverse livelihoods. Across localized sub-populations, network cycle analysis supports the intuitive notion that circulation requires cycles. Moreove

SUBMITTER: Mattsson CES 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10088680 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature