A LETSystem is a self-regulating community trading network that uses a local currency to facilitate the indirect exchange of goods and services between users.
Local currencies perform a similar function to cash or cheques.
Goods or services are paid for in part local money and part Sterling. LETSystems are not designed to facilitate bartering or skill-swapping. Local currencies have been common throughout economic history, emerging whenever needed to maintain a community's internal economy. Inevitable instabilites in economic and financial patterns, for instance, during the depression of the 1930's, prompt a variety of initiatives. The Social Credit movement was one well-intentioned but poorly designed example.