C2: County Currency, Explained

The one-minute explanation

Start with an ordinary county purchase. The county has accepted work or goods—such as road gravel—but its invoice is not due until a later date.

Instead of making the supplier wait for usable value, the county records the approved bill and credits the supplier with CC immediately.

The supplier may spend the CC with other participants. Eventually, a county property owner can acquire that CC and use it at face value to pay county property tax.

In plain English: C2 joins two things the county already does—paying its bills and collecting property tax—into a local payment loop.

First

The county owes a supplier

A $1,000 invoice has been approved and is due in 90 days.

Then

The supplier gets CC now

The county creates a ledger balance slightly above 1,000 CC to allow for the holding charge called demurrage.

Finally

CC returns through taxes

After circulating locally, a property owner can surrender CC to the county at par against a county property-tax bill.

The C2 circuit

The normal path runs from county spending, through local exchange, back to the county treasury. There is also a limited dollar exit for the original creditor.

The conversion branch is deliberately separate from the circulating balance. That separation is one of C2’s most important rules.

The county approves a real payable

A payable is a bill the county has accepted as valid. C2 is not supposed to be issued without one. The approved-payable list acts as a “white-list.”

The county creates CC

The county credits the named creditor’s ledger account. “Minting” here means creating a digital balance, not striking a physical coin.

The creditor can use it immediately

The creditor can hold the CC or transfer it to other participants instead of waiting until the original invoice due date.

CC circulates

Businesses, individuals, nonprofits, or other legal persons in the circuit can receive and send CC through a web or phone interface.

A property owner returns it to the county

The county treasurer accepts CC at par against county property tax. One CC cancels one dollar of that county tax obligation.

The original creditor has a separate choice at T

At the payable’s due date, only that creditor may present CC for dollars, and only up to the original invoice face value that remains available.

One system, two different rights

It is easy to misunderstand C2 unless these two rights are kept separate. The CC balance can move from person to person. The dollar-conversion option cannot.

Transferable

The CC balance

Lives on the ledger.
Can be sent among participants.
Can be used for county property tax.
Is subject to demurrage while held as a store of value.

Personal to one creditor

The dollar-conversion option

Belongs only to the original creditor named on the payable.
Opens at the payable’s due date, called T.
Requires the creditor to present CC.
Cannot exceed the invoice’s face amount, called F.
Does not pass to someone merely because that person received the CC.

Example: A hardware store that receives 200 CC from a road contractor receives the transferable CC. It does not automatically receive part of the contractor’s right to demand dollars from the county at the invoice due date.

Who does what?

C2 assigns different powers and duties to four main roles.

County and treasurer

Approve payables, issue CC, enforce the issuance cap, accept CC for property tax, and honor a valid creditor conversion at the due date.

Creditor

The individual or organization to whom the county owes the approved payable. Receives CC immediately and alone holds the related conversion option.

Participant

Any legal person using the circuit to hold, receive, or transfer CC. A participant bears the demurrage charge while holding a balance.

Property owner

Acquires CC from the circuit and surrenders it to the treasurer at par to settle county property tax.

Why “Demurrage”?

C2 uses demurrage: a fee for holding CC as a store of value.

A gold deposit requires protection against theft. Government protects property rights. Both have a cost. The demurrage fee for holding CC as a store of value accrues to the government’s general fund because it is no longer redeemable for payment of property tax.

To keep the original creditor whole if the creditor simply holds the CC until the invoice due date, the county initially issues a little more than the invoice face value. This is called a gross-up.

The gross-up rule

The demonstration specification gives the continuous-decay formula below. The ledger could also use an equivalent step-by-step calculation.

CC₀ = F × e^rT

F is the invoice face value, r is the yearly demurrage rate as a decimal, and T is the time until the invoice due date measured in years.

If the same rate then reduces the balance until T, the grossed-up amount returns to about F at the due date.

Who bears the charge? If the original creditor spends the grossed-up CC, later holders bear the demurrage while they hold it. The gross-up protects the original creditor only to the extent that the creditor still holds or later reacquires enough CC for conversion.

Why would anyone want CC?

The main source of demand is the county’s promise to accept CC at par for its own property tax.

Property owners already need something to settle the county levy. Under C2, they may obtain CC from people who received or earned it. This gives other participants a reason to accept CC: they can pass it onward to someone with a county property-tax bill.

“At par” has a limited meaning. The specification sets one CC equal to one USD for issuance, county property-tax tender, and the original creditor’s conversion option. It does not by itself guarantee that every private buyer and seller would value one CC at exactly one dollar in every trade.

Feature	C2 / CC	Ordinary U.S. dollars	Ordinary county payable
Created by	The county, against an approved payable, on a ledger	The U.S. monetary and banking system	The county’s purchase and accounting process
Usable immediately?	Yes, after issuance to the creditor	Yes	Usually no; it is a claim due for later payment
Can circulate?	Yes, among circuit participants	Yes, broadly	Not normally used as everyday payment
County property tax	Accepted at par by the issuing county	Accepted	Not ordinarily tendered as tax payment
Holding charge	Yes; demurrage is the store-of-value fee, accruing to the general fund	Not built into the unit itself	No circulating balance to charge
Dollar conversion	Only the original creditor, at T, up to F	Already dollars	County pays according to the payable’s terms
After demurrage	That CC is no longer redeemable for property tax	Dollars remain dollars	Governed by the payable’s terms

Rules that limit issuance

The demonstration design does not let the county create unlimited CC whenever it wishes.

1

Approved payable

Every issuance begins with a county bill that has already been accepted as valid.

2

Property-tax cap

Outstanding CC may not exceed collectible county property tax.

3

Limited conversion

The total conversion quota follows approved invoice face values and consumes CC already inside the cap.

4

Demurrage

A gold deposit requires protection against theft. Government protects property rights. Both have a cost. The holding fee for CC as a store of value accrues to the general fund; that CC is no longer redeemable for property tax.

5

Circulation and tax tender

CC that continues in circulation is subject to demurrage unless tendered for property tax. Demurraged CC is no longer redeemable for that tax; the fee accrues to the general fund.

6

Ledger records

Issuance, transfers, tax tender, demurrage, and conversion quotas are recorded digitally.

What changes for the county?

C2 changes the timing and path of settlement. It should not be understood as creating free goods or free government revenue.

What the design aims to make possible

A supplier receives spendable value before the normal invoice due date.
County-originated purchasing power may circulate among local participants.
If the original creditor does not convert at T, the county does not make that dollar payment at T.
The demurrage fee for holding CC as a store of value accrues to the government’s general fund.

What still must be kept in view

When CC later pays property tax, the county receives less tax in dollars.
Private participants may value CC differently from its official tax value.
CC charged as demurrage is no longer redeemable for payment of property tax.
Administration, auditing, security, and public access have real costs.

The specification calls dollars not paid to the creditor at time T “maximum tax dollars saved.” Some CC may later return as property-tax payment; CC charged as demurrage is no longer redeemable for property tax and that fee accrues to the general fund.

Questions an actual rollout would have to answer

The public C2 document is a demonstration specification. A real county program would need detailed law, policy, accounting, and operating rules.

Public finance and fairness

Which county payables qualify?
How is the issuance cap measured and independently audited?
What happens if expected property-tax collections fall?
How are demurrage and conversion shown in the county budget?
Who gains or loses from the timing rules?

Operations and public protection

How are accounts verified and fraudulent transfers reversed?
What privacy rules govern the transaction ledger?
How can people without smartphones or bank accounts participate?
What disclosures must a recipient see before accepting CC?
What legal process resolves disputes or software failures?

Frequently asked questions

Is C2 a cryptocurrency?

Not in the usual sense. The demonstration specification calls for a configured Cyclos ledger with web or phone access. It does not require a public blockchain, mining, or a freely floating cryptographic token.

Is CC a physical coin or paper note?

No. The specification says CC exists on a ledger. “Mint” is the project’s word for crediting newly issued units to an account.

Can every CC holder demand dollars from the county?

No. Only the original creditor named on the approved payable has the conversion option, and only at the due date and up to the remaining invoice face value.

Can CC pay any government tax?

The demonstration specification covers property tax owed to the issuing county. It does not say CC pays federal taxes, state taxes, or another county’s taxes.

Why would a property owner acquire CC?

Because the county treasurer accepts it at one CC per dollar of county property tax. A property owner may therefore be a natural final user of CC before it returns to the treasury.

Does one CC always have a market price of one dollar?

The county accounts for it at par in the specific operations named in the design. Private participants may still negotiate different exchange terms, especially when demurrage, convenience, and local demand matter.

What happens to CC used for property tax or dollar conversion?

Conversion explicitly retires the CC that is presented. CC used for property tax returns to the county or system as a property-tax settlement and is no longer circulating among participants.

Why is there a demurrage fee?

A gold deposit requires protection against theft. Government protects property rights. Both have a cost. The demurrage fee for holding CC as a store of value accrues to the government’s general fund because it is no longer redeemable for payment of property tax.

Plain-language glossary

C2: The proposed County Currency system.
CC: One unit of County Currency recorded on the ledger.
Payable: A valid bill or other obligation the county has approved for payment.
Creditor: The person or organization to whom the county owes the payable.
Legal person: An individual or organization that the law recognizes as able to hold rights, property, and obligations.
Ledger: The digital record of accounts, balances, transfers, tax payments, charges, and conversions.
Mint: To create and credit CC on the ledger against an approved county payable.
Face value (F): The dollar amount of the original approved payable.
Due date (T): The date when the original payable comes due and the named creditor’s conversion window opens.
At par: Counted one-for-one: one CC is counted as one USD for the operations specified by C2.
Demurrage: The fee for holding CC as a store of value. A gold deposit requires protection against theft; government protects property rights; both have a cost. The fee accrues to the government’s general fund because that CC is no longer redeemable for payment of property tax.
Gross-up: Issuing more CC than the invoice face so that demurrage can reduce it toward the face amount by T.
Conversion option: The original creditor’s limited right to exchange presented CC for dollars at T, up to F.
Levy: The county property-tax charge owed by a property owner.
Tax tender: Surrendering CC to the county treasurer to settle county property tax.
Maximum tax dollars saved: Dollars the county does not disburse at T because the original creditor does not convert. CC remaining in circulation is subject to demurrage unless tendered for property tax.

Sources and scope

This page is an independent plain-language explanation of the public C2 demonstration design. Its primary sources are the C2: County Currency specification dated August 31, 2026 and the project’s role-based instructional pages.

The source document describes a demonstration prototype, not proof that a particular county has enacted, funded, or legally authorized a live currency program. Explanatory comments about cash flow, market value, implementation, and public safeguards are identified in ordinary language rather than presented as guarantees made by the specification.