LEU Zurich New

Active
Live since 2022 and Encointer's longest-running community currency; as of the 2026 Encointer communities page it has 'low traction but is maintained by supporters'. Community income currently 44 LEU per 10-day cycle; ~7 local businesses accept it.

LEU is a local digital currency with a community basic income for the city of Zurich, run by the Encointer Association and launched in 2022 as the first fully operational Encointer community currency. Anyone who turns up at a 'gathering' — a meetup of about ten people at a randomly chosen place and time every ten days — receives ⵐLEU 44 within 48 hours, with LEU informally valued at par with the Swiss franc and accepted by a handful of shops and bars in Zurich districts 4 and 5.

Funding
Non-state
https://old.leu.zuerich/en/
Blockchain

Encointer parachain on Kusama

Social identity

Proof of personhood by physical attendance: randomly located/timed gatherings of ~10 people who mutually attest each other by scanning QR codes; no state ID required.

Social mining

Newly issued LEU is distributed equally to every attesting participant each cycle; demurrage keeps supply proportional to population.

Token economics

ⵐLEU 44 per participant per 10-day cycle; 1 LEU ≈ CHF 1 (1 LEU could be bought for CHF 1 at the Sphères bar).

Governance

Encointer Association, a volunteer-run Zurich association

Key people

Alain Brenzikofer (Encointer founder, 2020)

Locations
Zurich, Switzerland
Links
LEU – the new currency for Zurich
Charting the development of Encointer's longest established community currency
Encointer — Our Communities
Notes

- Runs on the Encointer platform (listed separately); LEU is the Zurich community program itself.
- Main site has moved to an 'old.' hostname, consistent with the reported low traction.