Rethinking Money: The First Human Money App Is Available as a Prototype!

Economy, Sovereignty

What if you could create your own money? No crypto hype, no speculation – but a value backed by your own skills, your time, and your products. With the first test version of the Human Money App, we are making exactly that possible.

In our current financial system, we are often only passive observers. We wait for banks to create money, algorithms to grant credit, and a permanent internet infrastructure to process our payments. Anyone who has skills that others need already possesses value — yet our monetary system offers no way to use this value directly. Money should not be an immutable institution, but a social agreement that we can shape ourselves.

With the release of the first prototype of the Human Money App – a project of the association Menschlich Miteinander – we are providing a tool that turns us from a plaything of the economy into an active creator. It is about genuine economic self-determination.

Not ‘Better than…’, but the Missing Puzzle Piece

When we talk about modern monetary systems, we quickly end up in the debate: traditional fiat money versus cryptocurrencies. But Human Money is not about ‘better or worse’. It is about the realization that both systems leave a crucial gap.

Every human action, every creative idea, and every new project always begins on a small scale, locally and directly on-site. But to use traditional money or cryptocurrencies, we must overcome artificial barriers to entry — be it through upfront capital or enormous energy expenditures. Moreover, global systems are designed for anonymous trade over long distances where people do not trust each other (’trustless’).

Human Money starts at the exact opposite end: it formalizes already existing trust in the local area. If you want to get things moving with your neighbors or local partners, you don’t need a global blockchain or a bank loan. You only need your skills and a tool to efficiently coordinate your mutual promises of performance. For anonymous long-distance trade, established currencies absolutely have their place — Human Money is the decentralized addition for the space in between, where the economy becomes human again.

How does it work in practice?

The life cycle of a Human Money voucher is surprisingly simple: You create a profile on your device. Then, you define a voucher — for example, for ‘One hour of gardening’ or a specific regional standard. Friends or acquaintances can digitally co-sign this voucher as guarantors, which gives it trust in your network. You can now send and receive this voucher as a means of payment. Since the knowledge of the value lives within the file itself, the voucher can change hands via USB flash drive, email, Bluetooth, or SD card.

The concept is based on the Minuto Cash idea (www.minuto.wiki), which has functioned for years in various communities as a decentralized paper currency. The app brings this proven principle to the digital world for the first time.

Imagine: Lisa is a carpenter and creates a voucher for 5 hours of carpentry work. She uses it to pay for her share of the harvest at a regional organic farm. The farm, in turn, uses this voucher to pay the bicycle mechanic Tom, who repaired the farm’s cargo bike. Finally, Tom needs a new shelf for his workshop and redeems the voucher back with Lisa. The loop closes across three stations without a single euro ever having to flow.

How Human Money Protects the Local Area

Through this radical focus on the local area, mathematical and social dynamics arise that do not exist in other digital currencies:

  • Immediately capable of action — without starting capital: You don’t need to bring money to participate. Your backing is your lifetime, your talent, and your word. This makes communities immediately capable of acting — independent of the macroeconomic climate in the financial markets.
  • Hyperlocal — no drain of value: Since every voucher is bound to the promise of its creator, the value structurally flows back to them. A systemic drain of capital, where large corporations or anonymous ‘whales’ drain a community’s liquidity, is logically impossible.
  • Protection against concentration of wealth: Human Money vouchers are tools of exchange, not objects of speculation. They cannot be accumulated to manipulate markets because their value lies in the real redemption of the promised work or commodity. This prevents the unhealthy concentration of digital wealth.
  • Security through social consensus: If someone tries to double-spend a voucher, the system automatically generates a cryptographic proof — comparable to a fingerprint that the fraudster unknowingly leaves during both transactions, uniquely identifying them. The consequence is self-inflicted social exclusion from the trust network — the strongest preventive measure of all.

The Current Prototype Status: What Already Works

Today, we are releasing an early version for trying out, understanding, and testing. The following is already fully functional:

  • Core features: Create profiles, create vouchers, send and receive. For Minuto, the guarantor functionality can be tested.
  • Data privacy: All transactions and file transfers are encrypted by default. There is a stealth mode for maximum privacy.
  • Multilingualism: The app is available in 5 languages (DE, EN, ES, FR, IT).
  • Cross-platform: Runs locally on Windows, macOS, and Linux.

To get started immediately and risk-free, we have integrated the ‘FreeTaler’ as a test standard. Minuto can also be tested in its basic functions (it is recommended to create only test Minutos initially).

Honest Status & Invitation to the Community

This is an early prototype. The app is currently not intended for the exchange of high real values, but rather serves to test the concept in a small circle. Currently, it is a pure desktop application (mobile for smartphones is planned) and a simple interface to import completely custom standards is still in progress. An additional preventive online fraud check is technically prepared and can be implemented with growing interest, but is not yet live. In the future, this will enable the payment convenience we know from today’s systems.

This is not an investment product and not a financial application. The app and this principle are open-source tools (MIT license). It serves as a powerful coordination mechanism that is usable in principle not only for small communities but also for entire municipalities, professional regional currencies, and in the future, for large economic cycles. (See also: What is possible with Human Money )

Join In – Your Next Step:

  • Download the app: Get the test version via GitHub Releases.
  • Try it out: Create a profile and send your first FreeTalers to friends.
  • Give feedback: Share your experiences or report bugs via GitHub Issues or directly here via the contact form.

Let us reshape the tools of exchange together — for more personal responsibility and living diversity.