The first local sale paid by G$ was made by Salvador in Spain when he sold an old bicycle

At GoodDollar, community means everything to us. Thanks to your wits and range of skills, our community members are using GoodDollar to fuel a growing circular economy in G$, ignite local community projects, and engage in spirited debate on how to best make it happen.  We credit the very first of these real use-cases to #GoodPerson Salvador Perez in Valencia Spain, when he sold his bicycle for 5 G$. An old friend of GoodDollar since our beta wallet days, Salvador speaks with us to unveil the whole story.

How did you first hear about GoodDollar?

A few years ago a co-worker told me about Mannabase  – a universal basic income proposition built on blockchain technology. I had just finished my doctoral thesis focused on the collective financing of social impact projects, and while doing research, I came across blockchain technology more and more.

I continued my research around the use of blockchain technology and universal basic income. I wrote papers about other similar initiatives developing (Swiftemand, Circle, UBU), and later, GoodDollar. What especially caught my attention was that GoodDollar was promoted by eToro. Extremely curious, I signed up for the beta before the public launch. As I learned more and more over time, I fell in love with the project.

What excites you most about GoodDollar?

Without a doubt, the power GoodDollar has is as a tool. I look at GoodDollar as a tool for innovation; to build and transform the unjust and harmful economic system under whose shadow we live. The question is, “what do we transform this system into”? The answer for me is clear: a network of complementary eco-systems built by society itself. That’s what excites me about GoodDollar.

The key here is that users begin to act as a community, to feel like a community, to think collectively and think in the long-term. GoodDollar is the tool for all of this.

You were the first person ever to give value to the G$ coin when you sold a bicycle for 5 G$. Can you tell me about your logic and how you made this happen?

I live in Albal, a small town in València, Spain and here we have a (small) group of people with a shared value system and way of living. We’re all GoodDollar users, and we’ve started using GoodDollar to reflect, understand and test how to implement an alternative economic system of living.

The bicycle sale was the result of one of these reflections, between the buyer and myself. For me, it was an asset that I did not use or need anymore. It was just occupying space in my storage room. For the buyer, the bicycle increased his mobility, which is something he values. Since there was no G$ value reference for anyone at the time, we had a thoughtful dialogue about how to price the bicycle and reached an agreement based on what that exchange meant for each of us.

You also started selling organic vegetables with G$.

Here we have a community that harvests food, based on the principles of regenerative agriculture. Anyone is welcome to join us and learn these techniques. When a community member (mostly everyone already uses GoodDollar) collects food for their personal consumption, he/she contributes some amount of G$. This doesn’t actually pay for the food itself but contributes to the maintenance of the production space.

So, in both cases, you’ve created new value for already-existing products. This is the start of a circular economy. What have you learned from this exercise?

Both sales here force us to reflect on and re-think what the process of transmitting value is. It is still something very subjective. We reach value agreements based on the social, environmental, and financial value that is transferred between buyer and seller and vice versa. The challenge is to reflect this sum of values in an asset that accumulates them and allows them to be transferred later. And that is the GoodDollar.

What are the key challenges for GoodDollar to be successful, and how can the community help resolve them?

Undoubtedly, the biggest challenge is to reach a critical mass of citizens who contribute confidently to the GoodDollar ecosystem. This will spur emerging local communities that promote local projects with the same shared vision, mission, and most importantly, intention.

I also believe the project needs to allow suppliers to join. One active community member, TravCrypto, launched the first marketplace for users to offer services priced in G$. This is a very good first step. Looking ahead, it is necessary to take this marketplace to the streets and spark local commerce. To achieve this, the community must generate its own tools.

Above all, what we need most is empathy. Empathy to understand the real needs of other people who live in poverty and who need immediate alternatives. This will be key in building community projects.  

There is a segment of users that don’t understand or trust the GoodDollar ecosystem, and of course, speculating.

We – the community – are standing on the first step of a ladder that we ourselves are building. At the top, it will allow us to enter a different ecosystem that we still do not quite understand. But we’ve learned a lot thus far, and collectively, we will build it. It’s a slow path; GoodDollar launched just three months ago and a change of this kind takes much more time.

What would you tell other people who want to be part of GoodDollar?

GoodDollar is not the goal, GoodDollar is the tool. Each and one of us is important in the project and together we are essential. It’s time to sign-up and claim our daily G$. We have to hit the streets, share the project with our social circles, and start building alternatives to our current traditional economic system.

I do not believe that GoodDollar is an emergency solution for urgent personal situations. I think you need to look long-term, and along the way, little by little, you can bring changes that improve quality of living. Success is not in the destination you want to reach, but in the path that must be built for it.

Are you our next #GoodPerson? We want to know! Send us an email at community@gooddollar.org to nominate yourself or a friend.

How To Get Involved

• Sign up to begin to claim G$
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