We live in a time of overlapping crises — climate change, species loss, pollution, unemployment, inequality, runaway debt, and the constant threat of economic collapse. These are symptoms of an economic system that has reached its limits. Many blame capitalism, but its usual “alternative,” socialism, is just another branch of the same industrial, growth-driven tree.

The real problem may not be capitalism itself, but the industrial mindset — the idea that endless growth and consumption are necessary for human well-being. If that’s the case, then tweaking the system won’t work. What we need is a new “operating system” for society.

The Operating System of Society

Every human society, from hunter-gatherers to high-tech nations, runs on an exchange system — a way for people to share goods and services. This system decides who gets what, how production happens, and how we relate to one another. Today, that exchange system is money — specifically, debt-based money.

Debt-based money creates a built-in growth imperative. Because there’s always more debt than money in circulation, economies must constantly expand to repay loans. Producers have to keep selling more, and consumers are pushed to keep buying — even when they don’t need more stuff. This endless loop is what drives environmental destruction and social inequality.

Monetary reform alone won’t fix this. Changing interest rates or banking rules is like repainting a broken machine. The real solution is to replace the underlying exchange system itself — to design a new way for people to trade and cooperate without relying on debt-based money.

The Birth of the “New Money” Movement

Around the world, thousands of innovators have been experimenting with alternative exchange systems — often called complementary currencies or community currencies. These initiatives don’t aim to overthrow capitalism overnight; rather, they offer small, practical steps toward a fairer and more sustainable economy.

In 2002, a group of monetary activists in Cape Town, South Africa, decided to explore this idea by creating a Local Exchange Trading System (LETS). LETS was first developed in Canada in the 1980s and soon spread globally. The concept is simple: community members list what they can offer and what they need. Trades are recorded in a shared ledger, not with money but with points that measure value.

If Alice sells a bicycle to Ben, she earns, say, 100 points. Ben’s account goes down by 100. Alice can later “spend” those points with anyone else in the community — not necessarily Ben. Unlike barter, you don’t have to find someone who wants exactly what you have. The system tracks everyone’s giving and receiving over time. The goal is to keep balances near zero — meaning members give as much as they receive.

There’s no money supply, no interest, and no banks. Credit isn’t something you borrow from a financial institution; it’s trust extended by the community itself.

From LETS to CES: Taking Exchange Online

To make this concept more practical, the Community Exchange System (CES) was launched in 2003. It used the internet to automate what LETS had done manually. Members could post offers and wants online — like a local version of eBay — and record their trades instantly.

The first CES group started in Cape Town. It grew quickly as people in other regions wanted to join. Soon, several local groups were active, but they faced a new problem: how to trade across groups while keeping each one’s accounts balanced?

The solution was clever. CES introduced virtual users — accounts that exist in every group and act as bridges between them. If a member in Cape Town buys something from someone in Johannesburg, the transaction passes through these virtual users, ensuring both groups’ ledgers still balance to zero. It’s like having a network of small, interlinked economies — local, yet globally connected.

Within a few years, CES expanded beyond South Africa. Former LETS groups in New Zealand joined, followed by others across the world. Today, hundreds of CES exchange groups exist in over a hundred countries. Each one operates independently, but all are linked through a global clearing system that allows intergroup and even international trade.

How CES Works in Practice

Each local group has its own rules and defines its own unit of value — sometimes using the national currency as a reference, sometimes based on hours of work. Transactions are transparent: while personal trade details are private, anyone can view another member’s overall balance, helping to maintain trust and discourage freeloaders.

Group administration is also open to public view. There’s no central authority deciding who gets credit or how much money circulates. Instead, every participant has the power to record and verify transactions. In this sense, CES is truly democratic money — managed by the people who use it.

To handle its growing complexity, CES developed a “Clearing Central” server that keeps track of all active groups worldwide. When someone trades across borders, the system automatically checks where the buyer’s account is hosted, applies the appropriate conversion rate if needed, and sends the transaction information to the correct server. It’s a seamless process, much like how email works — decentralized yet interconnected.

A System that Reflects Real Economy

After more than twenty years, CES remains small compared to the global financial system, but it has proven that such exchange networks can function efficiently and reliably. They handle thousands of trades, support community contributions through small transaction levies, and allow instant international clearing without banks or intermediaries.

More importantly, CES and similar systems remove the destructive imperatives built into conventional money. Without interest, there’s no pressure for constant growth or debt expansion. Without speculation or derivatives, there’s no siphoning of wealth to the financial elite. And because control is decentralised, no government or corporation can manipulate the money supply to its advantage.

As global growth slows and resource limits tighten, the debt-based system looks increasingly unstable. Economies built on infinite expansion simply can’t survive in a finite world. Systems like CES offer a practical way forward — not by trying to force growth, but by reflecting real human activity and natural limits.

Beyond “Money”: Toward Community Wealth

One of CES’s greatest insights is that money is just information. It’s not a thing you have or don’t have; it’s a record of who has contributed and who is committed to providing. Once you grasp this, it becomes clear that communities can create their own exchange systems — their own “money” — whenever they wish. They don’t need permission from central banks or international markets.

This realization is profoundly liberating. It shifts economic power back to ordinary people and communities. Instead of waiting for governments or financial institutions to solve our problems, we can start building local economies that serve real needs and strengthen social bonds.

The internet makes this easier than ever. Online platforms like CES allow people to organize, trade, and share resources without relying on distant institutions. The tools already exist — what’s needed is imagination, participation, and trust.

What Comes After Capitalism?

So perhaps the real question isn’t what replaces capitalism, but what replaces our dependence on money as we know it. Capitalism, socialism, and all the systems in between still rely on debt-based money — the same operating system that drives growth, inequality, and ecological collapse. Changing the labels won’t change the outcome.

A post-capitalist world doesn’t have to mean chaos or scarcity. It could mean returning to a simpler truth: that value comes from people and their relationships, not from tokens or markets. Exchange systems like CES remind us that economies are not abstract machines but living networks of cooperation. When money becomes information instead of a commodity, the economy becomes human again.

A Glimpse of the Future

Imagine a world where every community can create its own economy, tailored to its values and resources. Where people earn credit by teaching, growing food, caring for others, repairing homes, or sharing tools. Where trade strengthens relationships instead of destroying them. Where the “currency” is trust, not debt.

This isn’t utopian fantasy — it’s already happening. CES and similar initiatives prove that people everywhere are ready to take back control of their economic lives. These systems may still be small, but so was the internet once.

The age of centralised money is fading, and with it, the illusion that we must serve the economy instead of the other way around. The next economy — the one that comes after capitalism — won’t be built in boardrooms or banks. It will be built in communities, by people trading, sharing, and creating together.

In the end, the question isn’t “What comes after capitalism?” but “What comes after money?” And the answer may already be in our hands.