1 Nov 2025
EP 21. Redesigning Money and Moving Away from GDP growth as Paths to a Regenerative World (Stephen DeMeulenaere)
We’ve been told a story that human society evolved from primitive barter to superior modern money.
That linear story flattens thousands of years of value exchanged through reciprocity, mutual aid, and gift economies. Systems that nourished people and ecological relationships.
Modern (fiat) money and its associated systems have a valuable role to play but it has become a de-stabalising force in our culture, one that is at the root of all our planetary challenges today. Redesigning money is a core pathway away from GDP growth to a more regenerative, Light Forest World.
Today, we’re joined by Stephen DeMeulenaere, who has spent over 35 years helping communities design financial tools that strengthen local economies, support small businesses, and build resilience in times of crisis.
Stephen lives in Bali and is the co-author (with Scott Morris) of a recent book Pathways to Regeneration: Hope and Resilience Through Anticipatory Design (https://www.allo.capital/resources/pathways-to-regeneration)
His life’s focus has been on using local currencies, digital payments, and regenerative economic models to help communities thrive—whether in rural villages, urban neighborhoods, or entire regions. He has worked with community currencies, emergency currencies, and credit unions during the Asian Monetary Crisis in Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Indonesia, and East Timor after their independence. He led Indonesia’s first non-profit stablecoin and continues to bridge the worlds of community currencies and blockchain technology, collaborating with commons-centric communities to ground crypto in real-world regeneration.chain technology, collaborating with commons-centric communities, to ground crypto in real world regeneration.
In this walk through the forest, Stephen takes us down many paths:
The history of money, economy, and anthropology to explain how our current system is on the verge of collapse.
A range of approaches from his book, drawing on leading thinkers, such as Kate Raworth and John Fullerton, and EF Schumacher, to redesign currency and economies.
His first-hand experience working with communities in Thailand and Indonesia designing community currencies in the late 90s
A sharp assessment of the potential of blockchain to enable decentralised forms of currencies, and the practical challenges working with crypto space and the technology and rooting them in local communities.
Chapters
02:16 Introduction to Stephen DeMeulenaere
04:39 The Problematic Design of Economic Systems
08:49 Extractive Economies and GDP Critique
14:37 Anticipatory Design Framework
19:10 Understanding Currency and Community Currencies
33:49 Practical Applications of Community Currencies
36:41 Designing Local Economies: Lessons from Indonesia
39:34 The Role of Credit Unions in Community Economies
40:40 Rethinking Money: From Barter to Relationships
44:09 Crisis as a Catalyst for Monetary Innovation
45:00 Community Resilience in Times of Crisis
47:32 Exploring Forms of Capital in Local Communities
49:29 Blockchain and Community Currencies: A New Frontier
52:38 Bridging Community Currencies and Blockchain
01:04:31 The Future of Community Currencies and Blockchain Integration
01:07:56 Building Trust in Governance
01:11:13 The Role of Blockchain in Community Governance
01:15:24 Local Communities and Collaborative Economies
01:20:03 Future Pathways and Financial Crises
01:30:32 Taking Action and Building Resilience
Visit https://lightforestworld.substack.com/for book references & connect with Stephen.
