Here in Italy there is a startup, active mainly in the island of Sardinia, called Sardex. They provide credit to local businesses with a virtual currency called Sardex = 1 euro. It is not peer-to-peer but it works with the local community.
The main idea is that local businesses can trade between them using Sardex as a barter system. I buy cheese from your factory and sell it in my supermarket, I get -300 and you +300 in our accounts. You could buy milk from a farmer with your Sardex and the farmer could shop in my supermarket. This creates a local cycle and the business owners can discover each other via a newsletter that Sardex communicates.
In the end of the year, if my account is negative I have to pay Sardex the difference in euro. To enter the circuit they charge a fee and the amount of credit you get, depends on your company’s revenue. Some business owners were talking about paying part of their employees salaries in Sardex if they desired.
The main selling point of Sardex is that they provide liquidity, 0% credit (you pay back what you borrowed, not more) and local product discovery that usually means higher quality and/or cheaper price.
In the case of Nu bits this could be implemented by granting custodian local companies that will adopt a similar business model with Sardex.
They would function as local exchanges, credit providers, and do the needed marketing to increase adoption.
This scenario is not without issues though. What happens when a creditor bankrupts? What are the legal liabilities of the custodian local company towards the Nu network (or the shareholders)? What about the legal framework (AML/KYC)?
Just food for thought…
