Sardex: A digital business-to-business currency

The case presents Sardex, a local complementary currency in the Mediterranean island of Sardinia designed to alleviate the economic hardships brought by the economic crisis of 2008.The reader gets an insight into the economic contexts of these currencies, the functioning of one of its most common designs (mutual credit systems or LETS), as well as the work of embedding these local currencies into networks of social and economic relationships. The reader is then presented with the question of how to strengthen such initiatives through either involvement of local public agencies or development of inter-community trade. The case ends at the moment the Sardex management team has to decide on the currency's future strategy.