Thanks you for your positive assessment of mutual credit. Mutual credit clearing is the process that will eventually make money as we have known it obsolete.

It is important to distinguish informal applications from formal large scale multilateral trading networks. In either case:
The sum total of all the credits and debits is zero,
The promise of value (Potential Value) is created when credit is issued,
Cooperation and collaboration is more important than competition (It is mutual).

However, if the full potential is to be realized, the optimal amount of credit (neither too little nor too much) must be based on the value of the goods and services that each member makes available for sale within the mutual credit network. It does not arise automatically, but is approached based on the history of sales and purchases. The credit allocation algorithm needs to balance the need for liquidity against the risk of defaults.

Heretofore, functional trade exchanges have used a centralized ledger of members’ balances but new technologies are arising that may make it possible to decentralize the ledger.