Swiss business owners created a completely independent complementary currency called the WIR Franc during the Great Depression specifically to survive the catastrophic collapse of the global banking system.

A closer look

Swiss business owners created a completely independent complementary currency called the WIR Franc during the Great Depression specifically to survive the catastrophic collapse of the global banking system. This private network allowed local merchants, plumbers, and hoteliers to trade goods and services with each other using imaginary credits when actual physical cash completely evaporated from the national economy. The system was so incredibly successful at maintaining economic stability that it still exists today, processing billions of dollars in parallel transactions that standard commercial banks cannot touch or regulate. It is perfectly on brand for the famously neutral and financially secretive Swiss to solve a massive global liquidity crisis by simply inventing their own private money club and refusing to let anyone else play with it