🎉 The Local Currency Challenge — Spend Local !
From 17 July to 15 September, show us how you use a local or complementary currency for ONE full day
and get a chance to win:
💶 300€ in the currency of your choice
📸 + 100€ bonus for the most liked photo on Instagram
How to participate?
- Make a purchase in a local/community currency
- Take a photo (or more) 📷
- Post it with #challengeMLC (or register via our form)
🗺️ Open to all in the French-speaking world, including travelers!
Up to 3 entries per person (same or different currencies)
Check the General Participation Conditions (French) See moreFind your way in Wallonia
Belgium has seen the rise of several complementary currencies over the past decade, each aiming to relocalize economic exchange, strengthen social ties, and support ecological transitions. From urban initiatives to rural networks, these currencies embody diverse strategies and governance models.
Among them, Le Val’heureux (Liège) and L’Épi Lorrain (Gaume & Lorraine belge) stand out for their independent, citizen-led governance and sustained activity. Both have maintained circulation and local engagement despite funding constraints and broader institutional challenges.
The broader ecosystem has faced difficult times in recent years. Several projects have paused or faded due to limited public support, complex administration, or volunteer fatigue to name a few. Nevertheless, the experience accumulated — and the lessons learned — continue to nourish new conversations around territorial resilience, monetary autonomy, and commons-based finance.
Today, a new generation of actors is rethinking local money in Belgium — seeking more collaborative, technologically adapted, and policy-aligned models to face 21st-century challenge.
And don't forget to visit La Zinne and/or BrusselsPay if you visit Brussels
France... Home to innovations
France is home to one of the most active complementary currency ecosystems in the world. With over 80 local currencies launched since the early 2010s, the country has become a laboratory for economic relocalization, ecological transition, and citizen reappropriation of money.
Pioneering initiatives like L’Eusko (Basque Country), La Gonette (Lyon), Moneko (Nantes), and La Cigogne (Sud-Alsace) have demonstrated that a local currency can go far — building dense networks of users, gaining municipal partnerships.
But the path has not been without obstacles. Sustaining a currency is a marathon: many initiatives struggle with limited resources, burnout, or scaling barriers. Some have paused or disappeared — a natural cycle in any grassroots ecosystem that lives on that to the hard work of practitioners, currency coordinators and volunteers.
💡 Yet the core insight remains: money can be a tool for transformation. And France’s diverse experiences provide a rich ground for reflection, redesign, and revival. A new wave of actors, tools, and visions is already emerging — more digital, more collaborative, more connected to public policies and ecological goals.
Planning a summer escape in Switzerland or Canada?
Whether you're strolling through Geneva’s local markets, discovering Montréal’s community cafés, or visiting regions like Charlevoix, Outaouais, or Quebec City, there’s a good chance you’ll encounter a local or ecological currency initiative.
🍁 In Canada, look out for the Chouenne in Charlevoix, or solidarity tokens used by cooperative markets and community exchanges.
🇨🇭 In Switzerland, Geneva and other cantons are home to networks like Le Léman, a local currency used across borders (France–Switzerland) that promotes sustainable commerce.
📸 Good news: these count too!
If you make a purchase in one of these currencies during your travels, just snap a photo and post it with the hashtag #challengeMLC on Instagram — or register via our alternative entry form if you're not on social media.
Your holiday can help promote economic alternatives and support local actors abroad.
It’s a challenge, a celebration, and a contribution — all in one.
All done?
Now is the time to take your chance!
Submit
To participate in the Summer 2025 Local Currency Challenge, you can either post on Instagram or fill in the form below