# Does your city have its own currency?



## spongeg (May 1, 2006)

I remember watching a show on PBS once about this small city or town in one New york state that developed its own currency - it was available and usable only within the city limits

I believe it was this town - ithaca hours - is what they call the currency http://www.ithacahours.com/

basically stores would accept it for purchases as well as restaurants stores and even some people who did work around your home would accept it as pay as well as I think city hall took it as payment for fines or such and a bank was set up for it and you could go and exchange the money for US $ when you needed 

anyway here is a bit of an old article (1998) about some cities that have done the same kind of thing...



> Giving Money Local Color; A Small Connecticut Town Issues Its Own Currency To Urge Hometown Spending
> 
> DISPLAYING ABSTRACT - Article on growing number of communities in US and Canada issuing their own currency in effort to spur local spending; in more than 60 municipalities, groups of citizens, some with broad political agendas to increase local activism, have begun printing and issuing their own currency; system in Willimantic, Conn, (rest of article archived)


which makes me wonder how many cities are out there that have their own "currency"


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

HK does and it's the HK dollar HK$7 = US$1. HK being an SAR of China has its own system of government, own currency, own services.


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## Taller Better (Aug 27, 2005)

^^ Hong Kong is rather a special case, though..


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

Taller said:


> ^^ Hong Kong is rather a special case, though..


Yes it's a special case but HK is still a city and it's only in HK where you can use the HK$.

Macao is one exception where the HK$ is used. Also being an SAR, it has it's currency as well, the pataca.

The only difference is, you can use the HK$ in Macao but you can't use the pataca in HK.


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## ggaaxx (Nov 10, 2006)

Before the handover back to China, Pataca could be used in the nearby mainland area too. Don't know about now though?:? BTW Macao = Macau


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

WANCH said:


> Yes it's a special case but HK is still a city and it's only in HK where you can use the HK$.
> 
> Macao is one exception where the HK$ is used. Also being an SAR, it has it's currency as well, the pataca.
> 
> The only difference is, you can use the HK$ in Macao but you can't use the pataca in HK.


Macau's pataca is still the preferred currency, but it is easily convertible. Locals still use their own currency but they are receptive to tourists using Hong Kong Dollars. However, they may return patacas to you as change. The exchange rate is pretty much 1:1 anyway. Shenzhen used to prefer accepting Hong Kong Dollars, but now that the yuan has appreciated beyond the 1:1 mark, Hong Kong Dollars are no longer the preferred currency in the city.


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## kevinb (Jan 30, 2006)

ggaaxx said:


> BTW Macao = Macau


Both spellings are correct.


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## Andrew (Sep 11, 2002)

I was able to spend my remaining HK dollars in Shenzhen. Most places accepted them, although they might have given me a less than favourable exchange rate. lol


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

Andrew said:


> I was able to spend my remaining HK dollars in Shenzhen. Most places accepted them, although they might have given me a less than favourable exchange rate. lol


The yuan recently surpassed the HKD in value, so Shenzhen merchants don't prefer getting HKD now. They'll impose a surcharge of a couple of dimes to a few bucks for every hundred dollars paid. In the past they would list the prices and expect people to pay that amount in HKD. Effectively it was HKD pricing in the mainland shops.


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## FMR-STL (Dec 1, 2006)

I'll take a US Dollar anyday..! Quarters, Dimes, Nickels and Pennies.! It pays the bills...!


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## Sen (Nov 13, 2004)

The title of the thread is "Does yourcity have its own currency" not "which currency you will take".


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

As for the HKD, the green HK$10 are becoming rare. It's not the government issued bills that are being circulated.

Another thing, why is it that only HSBC, BoC and Standard Chartered the only banks allowed to circulate in HK?


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

WANCH said:


> As for the HKD, the green HK$10 are becoming rare. It's not the government issued bills that are being circulated.
> 
> Another thing, why is it that only HSBC, BoC and Standard Chartered the only banks allowed to circulate in HK?


The green HKD$10 note stopped circulating years ago, but they are still available on the market. The colour scheme has changed to purple.

The government only allows 3 banks to issue the note currency. This arrangement is fairly unique as the central bank (HKMA) doesn't print the notes.


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## EricIsHim (Jun 16, 2003)

HSBC and Standard Chartered are the very first two banks in Hong Kong, I guess that's why they are printing money now and then. I don't know how BoC got to start printing money in the 90s, but it could be a political reason behind it before the handover as BoC is a China Bank making Beijing feels better.

The purple $10-note is printed by the HKMA actually, it's not a bank note.


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## EricIsHim (Jun 16, 2003)

hkskyline said:


> The yuan recently surpassed the HKD in value, so Shenzhen merchants don't prefer getting HKD now. They'll impose a surcharge of a couple of dimes to a few bucks for every hundred dollars paid. In the past they would list the prices and expect people to pay that amount in HKD. Effectively it was HKD pricing in the mainland shops.


100 yuan = HKD 95
hno: hno: hno: 
where it used to be HKD 100 = 95 yuan


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## Manila-X (Jul 28, 2005)

One thing, since HK is part of the PRC, should the yuan be used as a method of payment in both HK and Macao?


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

WANCH said:


> One thing, since HK is part of the PRC, should the yuan be used as a method of payment in both HK and Macao?


If you have visited some major chain stores in the tourist areas in the past year or so, you would have noticed that they now accept yuan cash for payment. However, since the yuan is not an internationally convertible currency, there is reluctance in HK and Macau to accept it on a wider scale.


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## Justme (Sep 11, 2002)

These are quite common in Germany. 16 city regions in Germany have their own "currency". There was a recent story on the BBC about the German city of Magdeburg and it's own currency http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6333063.stm

I guess it's not so uncommon around the world.


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## Captain Obvious (Sep 13, 2002)

^ Just for reference, the Ithaca "hours" thing is a bit overblown. It's not a very popular thing - for example, only 5 restaurants in the entire city accept them.

Ithaca is a small left-wing college town with a pathalogical obsession with buying local products. The Ithaca hours thing was just an extension of the "buy local" nonsense that's become quite faddish within the organic food community. It's like "disney dollars" but for aging hippies.


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## AndySocks (Dec 8, 2005)

Captain Obvious said:


> Ithaca is a small left-wing college town with a pathalogical obsession with buying local products.


Truth.

North Dumpling Island, NY has its own currency, since the guy who invented the segway is a nutcase, and he owns it. It's right off the coast of Connecticut, but it's part of NYS for whatever bizarre reason.


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

WANCH said:


> To me it's more pride as a HKer and HK being an *SAR*. SAR mean having it's own system of government, services, currency, etc.


Here are the relevant provisions in Hong Kong's *Basic Law* :

_Article 109

The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall provide an appropriate economic and legal environment for the maintenance of the status of Hong Kong as an international financial centre.

Article 110

The monetary and financial systems of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall be prescribed by law.

The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall, on its own, formulate monetary and financial policies, safeguard the free operation of financial business and financial markets, and regulate and supervise them in accordance with law.

Article 111

The Hong Kong dollar, as the legal tender in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, shall continue to circulate.

The authority to issue Hong Kong currency shall be vested in the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The issue of Hong Kong currency must be backed by a 100 per cent reserve fund. The system regarding the issue of Hong Kong currency and the reserve fund system shall be prescribed by law.

The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region may authorize designated banks to issue or continue to issue Hong Kong currency under statutory authority, after satisfying itself that any issue of currency will be soundly based and that the arrangements for such issue are consistent with the object of maintaining the stability of the currency.

Article 112

No foreign exchange control policies shall be applied in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. The Hong Kong dollar shall be freely convertible. Markets for foreign exchange, gold, securities, futures and the like shall continue.

The Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region shall safeguard the free flow of capital within, into and out of the Region.
_
Notice that the Hong Kong Dollar is not designated as the *sole legal tender* in Hong Kong, so that opens up the debate as to whether other currencies can be accepted locally in a wider scale. Right now, the debate is to allow more usages of the yuan locally in Hong Kong.

Also, the government may even consider linking the HK Dollar to the yuan (de-peg from the USD$), which effectively is the same as eliminating it. That idea was floated in the press recently as the yuan exceeded the HKD$ in value.


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## charlieqin (Feb 12, 2007)

Justme said:


> These are quite common in Germany. 16 city regions in Germany have their own "currency". There was a recent story on the BBC about the German city of Magdeburg and it's own currency http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6333063.stm
> 
> I guess it's not so uncommon around the world.



I suggest that the whole world uses just one credit card which pays bills of anything from anywhere! We the mankind have been tired enough. We need to work and live in a simple way!!!

Charles Qin
Beijing,China


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## Wearwe (Aug 27, 2015)

I live in the City of Bristol (U.K.) and we have the Bristolian Pound but it's rarely used :nuts:


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## Bob the Labourer (Sep 30, 2015)

The town over did/does; Brixton.

They had Vincent Van Gogh on their first issue of the B£20 note.

They say living in Brixton got to Van Gogh and that he arrived in Brixton a happy young man.

They've since replaced him with Bowie on the B£20, their highest denomination.

Brixton Pounds, can only be exchanged for GBP £ Pound Sterling and can be bought and exchanged for goods and services locally and this bank in Lambeth is supporting it; I think.


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