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Implementing the World Dollar / Earth Credit System

A practical path from pilot to global scale

0) Quick refresher

  • World Dollars (WD): normal consumer/market money.
  • Earth Credits (EC): non-speculative operating currency for essentials and planetary stewardship. Issued by a Global Public Trust (GPT), required by firms for permits/expansion/profit extraction, and earnable back through verified contributions (sustainability, wellbeing, social value).

Phase I — Sandboxes (0–18 months)

Goal: prove utility without breaking anything.

  1. Accounting-first launch (no legal tender change):
    • EC starts as a compliance/accounting unit, not “money.”
    • Early adopters: large cities/regions, public utilities, health systems, and 10–20 multinational anchor firms (energy, logistics, retail, cloud).
  2. Initial demand hook:
    • Participating jurisdictions require a small % of select permits, concessions, and concessions fees to be settled in EC (e.g., 2–5%).
    • Anchor firms commit to hold a minimum EC Reserve Ratio (e.g., EC = 1–3% of annual profits) to access fast-track approvals, zoning priority, or tax rebates.
  3. Initial supply & earning pathways:
    • GPT mints EC only against verified outcomes via approved MRV providers (Measurement, Reporting, Verification):
      • Grid decarbonization kWh, water saved/desalinated, food-security meals delivered (URMAP), clinically validated health improvements, proven homeless-to-housed transitions, biodiversity restoration units, etc.
    • Cities/utilities earn EC by delivering these outcomes; firms earn EC by funding/operating projects.
  4. Tech rails:
    • Permissioned public ledger with programmable compliance (policy constraints at the token level), hardware-secured institutional wallets, consumer wallets with SSI (self-sovereign identity) for privacy-preserving eligibility proofs.
    • Oracles + MRV registry, auditable from day one.
    • Bridge contracts to major fiat rails (ACH/SEPA) and to CBDCs/stablecoins in test cohorts.
  5. Price policy:
    • EC is non-floating in Phase I: priced by an administered “policy NAV” (e.g., 1 EC = $10 WD) to eliminate speculation and keep unit economics predictable.

KPIs to graduate: verified outcome $/unit delivered, fraud rate <0.2%, time-to-issue <10 days from proof, % of permits settled in EC, citizen satisfaction on essential services.

Phase II — Procurement Flywheel (12–36 months)

Goal: create real economy pull.

  1. Public procurement in EC:
    • Jurisdictions commit that 5–15% of essential-services procurement (energy efficiency retrofits, public meals, primary care, water projects) is payable in EC.
    • This guarantees downstream demand for suppliers who can earn EC by delivering outcomes.
  2. Corporate adoption bundle:
    • “EC Advantage Program”: expedited permitting, public land access, and procurement scoring bonuses for vendors with EC-positive portfolios.
    • Introduce EC Offtake Agreements (multi-year), so developers can finance projects against future EC flows.
  3. Consumer touchpoints (opt-in, non-coercive):
    • Essentials co-pay in EC (e.g., 10% of a clinic’s primary-care bundle, or utility lifeline tiers).
    • URMAP meals: restaurants receive a small EC component per verified nutritious meal.
  4. Liquidity & treasury operations:
    • Authorized Market Makers run EC ↔ WD auctions within a corridor (e.g., $9.75–$10.25).
    • GPT operates a Stability Reserve funded by a tiny spread on EC conversions and a share of corporate EC obligations.
  5. Assurance & audits:
    • Continuous public dashboards; quarterly independent audits of issuance, MRV methods, and project baselines; slashing/blacklisting for bad actors.

Phase III — Policy Integration (2–5 years)

Goal: make EC the operating system for essentials and externalities.

  1. Regulatory codification:
    • Statutes recognizing EC as a compliance settlement instrument for defined domains (environmental permits, impact-linked tax credits, public-health contracts).
    • Safe-harbor accounting rules (IFRS/GAAP) to carry EC as Compliance Assets/Liabilities.
  2. Scaled corporate obligations:
    • Convert voluntary EC reserve ratios into graded obligations by sector and footprint (e.g., Scope 1–3 intensity → EC requirement curve).
    • Allow partial substitution with EC-backed outcomes (fund a housing/health project to earn EC instead of buying them on market).
  3. Interoperability:
    • Harmonize with carbon/REC/offset registries by mapping units into the EC MRV taxonomy; prevent double counting with cryptographic attestations.
    • CBDC/stablecoin gateways for settlement finality and cross-border programmability.
  4. Consumer protections:
    • Hard cap on EC exposure for households (e.g., wallets default to receive/hold/use up to a modest limit).
    • “No speculation” rule for retail (EC cannot be margin-traded or used as collateral).

Phase IV — Globalization (5–10 years)

Goal: a cohesive, multi-jurisdictional EC zone.

  1. Federated governance:
    • GPT evolves into a treaty-backed federation of regional trusts with shared issuance rules, MRV standards, and dispute arbitration.
    • Weighted voting (by population, verified outcomes delivered, and contribution to Stability Reserve) to avoid capture.
  2. Managed float:
    • Gradually loosen the corridor to a managed float anchored to a basket of essentials (energy, water, nutrition, primary care outcomes) to preserve purchasing power over essentials globally.
  3. Development finance channel:
    • EC-denominated bonds for large cross-border projects (solar aqueducts, desal backbones, grid interties); MDBs and sovereigns take first-loss tranches; insurance markets underwrite performance risk using MRV data.

How EC Is Issued (and Kept Honest)

  • Rule: EC can only be minted against verified, additional, and durable outcomes on an approved menu (e.g., 1 EC per 100 kWh peak-shaved, 1 EC per 20 verified URMAP meals, 1 EC per 10 outpatient primary-care visits meeting quality metrics, etc.).
  • MRV stack: open standards, tamper-evident devices, random audits, community verifiers, and cryptographic proofs; public traceability from wallet → project → dataset.
  • Revocation/clawback: if outcomes fail durability checks, associated EC are flagged; holders must replace them or pay a WD penalty.

On/Off-Ramps and Convertibility

  • Institutions: banks, fintechs, and utilities licensed as EC Agents handle KYC/AML, consumer protections, and conversion.
  • Conversion rules: firms can convert WD→EC via auctions (subject to caps); EC→WD allowed for operating needs within policy limits; citizens mostly earn → spend EC inside essentials channels, minimizing churn.

Legal/Regulatory Framing (to reduce friction)

  • Launch EC as a compliance/settlement instrument, not legal tender; treat it like RECs/allowances with stronger MRV and anti-speculation design.
  • Clarify tax treatment: EC earned by delivering outcomes is program revenue; EC obligations are compliance expenses; conversions produce ordinary gains/losses.

Risk Map & Mitigations

  • Speculation risk: administered price + non-collateralizable EC + retail caps.
  • Greenwashing: strict additionality, transparency, and third-party audits; slashing + public blacklists.
  • Regulatory capture: federated governance, rotating boards, transparency mandates, whistleblower bounties.
  • FX/liquidity shocks: Stability Reserve, corridor auctions, emergency issuance pauses.
  • Equity concerns: “Essential floor” guarantees and locality quotas to ensure EC flows to underserved regions first.

The Scaling Flywheel

  1. Policy demand (permits/procurement in EC) →
  2. Project finance (offtakes + bankable EC flows) →
  3. Verified outcomes (mint EC) →
  4. Corporate compliance (obligations redeem EC) →
  5. Stability Reserve grows (lower risk, tighter spreads) → back to more policy demand.

Example 24-Month Pilot Template (concrete)

  • Participants: 2 states, 6 cities, 3 utilities, 12 hospital systems, 8 anchor firms, 1,000 restaurants (URMAP).
  • Commitments:
    • 5% of relevant permits and 10% of public health/food-security procurement pay partially in EC.
    • Anchor firms adopt EC Reserve Ratio = 1% of profits.
  • Targets:
    • 200M meals/year via URMAP; 1.5 TWh peak-shave; 50k “exits” from functional homelessness; 10% reduction in avoidable ER visits.
  • Expected EC flow: ~$2–3B EC issued/redeemed with corridor stability within ±2.5%.
  • Exit criteria: fraud <0.2%, outcome delivery cost at or below WD benchmarks, public satisfaction >75%, independent audit pass.

One-Page Message for Policymakers/CEOs

  • Start small, treat EC like impact-grade operating currency for essentials.
  • Create demand first (permits/procurement), issue only against verified outcomes, keep price boring, make rails auditable, give firms a compliance path that funds real projects, and protect citizens from speculation.
  • When the flywheel spins, scale jurisdiction by jurisdiction into a federated global standard.

Proposed hierarchy:

  1. Municipal pilot (50-100k people, 2-3 years): URMAP meals + EC allocation + local business participation
  2. Regional expansion (5-10M people, 3-5 years): Multi-city network, state/provincial integration
  3. National implementation (50-300M people, 5-10 years): Federal backing, international trade in EC
  4. Multi-national federation (500M-2B people, 10-20 years): Treaty-backed system, global standards

Ace

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