Most platforms have one currency: dollars. You pay, you get something, the platform takes its cut.

Liana Banyan has three currencies. Each one does something different, and together they create an economy where doing more for your community literally makes everything cheaper.

Credits — The Simple One

Credits are the easiest to understand. One dollar equals one Credit. You buy them, you spend them. They work like money inside the platform.

The difference? When you spend Credits at Liana Banyan, 83.3% goes to the creator or worker. The platform keeps Cost + 20% — just enough to keep the lights on. Compare that to the 30-50% that other platforms take.

Credits are a one-way valve. You buy them with dollars, but you never cash them out to dollars. They stay in the cooperative economy, circulating between members.

Marks — The Effort Currency

Marks are where it gets interesting. You cannot buy Marks. You can only earn them by contributing to the cooperative — completing bounties, filling crew tables, running deliveries, designing cue cards, reviewing products, helping neighbors.

The more Marks you earn, the more the platform recognizes your contribution. Marks unlock access to better tools, lower prices through volume discounts, and voting weight in cooperative decisions.

Think of Marks as the cooperative keeping score of who shows up and does the work. Not who has the most money — who contributes the most effort.

Marks come in two flavors:

  • Backed Marks are collateralized by Joules and carry governance weight
  • Pledged Marks are escrowed for specific projects

Joules — The Forever Stamp

Joules are the rarest currency. They represent surplus value that the cooperative generates over time. When the platform does well, surplus flows into Joules.

Joules back the value of Marks. They are the cooperative’s stored energy — its proof that the work everyone did created something lasting.

You do not spend Joules directly. They work behind the scenes, giving Marks their weight and ensuring the cooperative economy has real substance behind it.

How They Work Together

Here is the simplest way to think about it:

  • Credits = what you spend (like money)
  • Marks = what you earn by contributing (like reputation + rewards)
  • Joules = what the cooperative saves (like participation)

A new member starts by spending Credits. As they contribute, they earn Marks. The more people contribute, the more Joules accumulate. The more Joules there are, the more valuable Marks become. The more valuable Marks are, the more incentive there is to contribute.

It is a flywheel. The academic term is “compounding cooperative velocity.” The plain-English version: the more we help each other, the better it gets for everyone.

One Rule That Changes Everything

All three currencies are worth the same amount. One Credit = one Mark = one Joule in face value.

But you cannot buy Marks or Joules with dollars. The only way to get them is through participation. This means the people who contribute the most have the most influence — not the people who spend the most money.

That is the whole point.

Want to start earning Marks? Check your Crew Call board for available bounties, or ask your Captain about local opportunities.