Tree · El Espinal, Veracruz, Mexico
Túmin
A community currency from the Totonacapan that lets neighbours trade when pesos run short.
Since 2010Works across the regionTotonacapan
- community currency
- solidarity economy
- barter
- peer to peer
Túmin began in El Espinal, Veracruz, in 2010 as a complementary local currency worth one peso. Around 80 local businesses and service providers accept it, from bakeries and butchers to plumbers and clinics, so people can pay part of a purchase in túmines when cash is scarce.
Promoted by Juan Castro Soto and Álvaro López Lobato with the Universidad Veracruzana Intercultural, Ciides and the Red Unidos por los Derechos Humanos. About 50,000 túmines circulate as paper notes; press reports say the idea has spread to groups in other Mexican states.