Short monetary systems: take a risk, create money

Purpose - The purpose of this editorial is to examine fiat currencies and common tenders (trade‐based money) from a risk perspective. The editorial encourages risk managers to consider the distributive benefits of a multiplicity of currencies and urges them to examine common tenders both old, such as the Swiss WIR, and novel, such as capacity exchange monies, as risk management tools. Design/methodology/approach - The editorial is based on research conducted for the City of London Corporation in 2011 into capacity, trade and credit which examined new architectures for commerce and money. Findings - The editorial linksFreiwirtschaftmovement ideas with some characteristics of common tenders. Further, it considers whether some simple regulatory approaches might make such common tenders more useful. Originality/value - Of note, the author suggests that a modern alternative to government regulation might be an audited ISO accreditation standard for “good currency” or “good common tender”.