Who uses VirtuBank, and how.

Six worked examples. None of the money is real; all of the bookkeeping is.

VirtuBank is one tool with one idea: a group invents a currency and runs a bank or rewards programme in it. What that looks like depends entirely on the group. Here is what it looks like for six of them, written as the app would actually be set up and used, rather than as a feature list.

Parents Stars for chores, spent on treats and game time.
Teachers Beaus for good work, and a store every second Friday.
Club organizers Strokes for washing boats, spent on the good double.
Small businesses A bakery tries a points programme before paying for one.
Youth groups Embers for badges, saved up towards summer camp.
Volunteer networks An hour of help is worth one Hour, whoever gives it.

Parents: chores, treats and game time

Two adults, three children aged seven to thirteen, one phone each for the older two.

The Okafors have tried sticker charts, a jar of marbles and a whiteboard. All three worked for about a fortnight. The problem was never the idea; it was the bookkeeping, and the arguments about whether somebody had really earned the marble. They open Okafor Family Bank and invent a currency called Stars: earned for chores and for the kind of behaviour the parents want more of, spent on treats and screen time. Stars never expire, so saving up for something big is possible.

Currency: Stars (★), no decimals. A custom currency, so nobody confuses it with pocket money.
Earning: A chore list with a price on each job: emptying the dishwasher (5), walking the dog (8), putting a younger sibling to bed without drama (10). Good behaviour that was not on the list gets a Star or two on the spot, with a note saying why.
Catalogue: Thirty minutes of game time (15), a treat from the top shelf (10), staying up half an hour later on Friday (25), choosing the film (20), a new game (400).
Staff: Both parents. One is the Founder; the other is in the Manager group. Grandma, who visits on Wednesdays, is in a group that can pay Stars but cannot change the prices.
Accounts: Each child gets a chequing account. The eldest also has a Saving up account type with 5% interest a year, compounding weekly, for the new game.

A fairly ordinary week:

Tobi empties the dishwasher, paid by Dad from the kitchenMonday+★5
Kene shares the last of the cake without being asked, paid by Mum with a noteTuesday+★2
Amara walks the dog, paid by GrandmaWednesday+★8
Tobi redeems thirty minutes of game timeWednesday−★15
Kene redeems a treat from the top shelfFriday−★10
Amara moves her week's Stars into Saving upSaturday★23 →
Interest on Amara's Saving up, posted by the scheduleSunday+★1

What the children see: their own balance, every Star with who gave it and why, the catalogue with what they can afford today, and on Amara's Saving up account a line that says how long until the new game at this rate. Game time is redeemed on the phone and handed over by a parent, so the request is "I've paid for thirty minutes", not "can I play?". The arguments stop because the record is on the phone, not in anyone's memory.

What the parents see: all three balances on one screen, the week's chores as a list of who did what, and a pay screen fast enough to use from the kitchen while the dishwasher is still being emptied. Changing the price of a chore, or adding a reward to the catalogue, takes a minute, and the children see it immediately. Grandma can pay but cannot inflate the economy.

Not yet: a rule that pays a weekly allowance automatically, and a chore that a child can mark as done for a parent to approve. Both are on the roadmap. For now a parent taps Pay.

Teachers: a classroom economy

One Grade 5 teacher, 27 students, one shared classroom tablet and a projector.

Ms. Beaulieu has run a paper classroom economy for years: a laminated chart, stickers, and a "store" every second Friday. The chart takes twenty minutes a week to reconcile and the stickers end up on the floor. She opens Room 12 Mint, invents a currency called Beaus with its own symbol, and marks it as a rewards programme so that points lapse at the end of each term and every term starts level.

Currency: Beaus (ß), no decimals, expiring 90 days after they are earned.
Accounts: One per student, created when they join with the class code she writes on the board.
Staff: Ms. Beaulieu, plus the student teacher in the Teller group: allowed to pay and charge, not to change the rules.
Catalogue: A list of things Beaus buy: a homework pass (40), choosing the read-aloud (25), the beanbag for a day (15), a pencil (5).

Whole class, for a quiet transition after recessMonday+ß5 each
Priya, for explaining long division to her tableWednesday+ß10
Store day: Marcus redeems a homework passFriday−ß40
Priya gives ß5 to Jonah, who was short for the beanbagFridayß5 →
Unspent Beaus from September lapse, oldest first, posted by the sweepTerm endexpired

What students see: their balance on the tablet, a line saying how many Beaus are about to lapse and when, and the catalogue with what they can afford today. Because the oldest points lapse first, a student who spends regularly never loses anything; only hoarding is penalized, which is the behaviour she wanted to discourage.

What the teacher sees: every student in a list with a balance, a pay screen that takes thirty seconds for the whole class, a report of who earned what this term, and the ledger as a teaching object in its own right: on the projector, a real double-entry record of a transfer is a better lesson in bookkeeping than any worksheet.

Not yet: automatic tiers, so "Gold" students who earn a bonus rate have to be moved into the tier by hand. Bulk import of a class list from a spreadsheet is also still to come; today students join with the code.

Club organizers: merits and rewards

A rowing club: a volunteer committee of six, about 90 members, a boathouse full of unglamorous jobs.

The things that keep Riverside Rowing Club running are the things nobody wants to do: washing boats, driving the trailer, running the Saturday coffee stand. The committee opens a rewards programme in a currency called Strokes and awards them for exactly those jobs, then lists what Strokes buy.

Currency: Strokes, no decimals, expiring at the end of each season so that last year's volunteers don't coast.
Staff: The committee. The captain and treasurer are administrators; coaches are in a group that can pay but not change prices; the social secretary can edit the catalogue and nothing else.
Catalogue: A session in the good double (120), a club hoodie (300), a guest pass for a friend (80), first pick of regatta seats (200).
Joining: Private. Members get an invitation link by email; the club code is not public.

Boat wash crew, five people, paid by the captain from the boathouseSat 07:00+30 each
Coffee stand volunteersSat 09:30+40 each
Trailer to the regatta, both waysSunday+100
Dana redeems a session in the doubleTuesday−120
Sam transfers 50 to a junior who missed the standTuesday50 →

What members see: what they have, what it buys, and who did what this month, which quietly changes who turns up for the boat wash. Transfers between members are allowed, so a parent who helps can pass Strokes to their child.

What the committee sees: the full record, sorted by member or by job, which doubles as the volunteer-hours report the club's grant application asks for every year. Permissions mean the social secretary cannot accidentally pay anyone, and the coaches cannot accidentally reprice the hoodie.

Not yet: automatic bonuses, such as "ten boat washes earns an extra 50". For now the captain pays the bonus by hand when the report shows it is due.

Small businesses: a loyalty trial before the real thing

A two-location bakery deciding whether a points programme is worth paying for.

Loyalty platforms quote monthly fees and want a year's commitment, and the owner of Hearth & Rye does not know whether her customers would use one. She runs the programme as a simulation first: forty regulars who agree to try it, points on a phone, nothing connected to the till.

Currency: Crumbs, one per dollar spent, expiring after 180 days.
Staff: The owner and the two shift leads, who can pay points at the counter and see balances. The accountant has read-only access to reports.
Catalogue: A loaf (120), a coffee (45), a cake for a birthday (600).
Tiers: Regulars who pass 1,000 Crumbs are moved to a Sourdough tier by the owner, and the catalogue shows them a lower price on loaves.

Shift lead pays Crumbs when a regular mentions the programme at the counterDaily+12, +8, +23…
First redemption: a free coffeeWeek 3−45
Owner moves three customers into SourdoughWeek 6tier
Crumbs earned in week 1 and never spent lapseMonth 6expired

What customers see: a balance, what it buys, and when points will lapse, which is the nudge that brings them back. Nothing is installed from an app store if they would rather not; the web app works on any phone.

What the owner sees: after three months, a real answer. Redemption rate, how many of the forty came back more often, whether the expiry window was too short, and what the programme would have cost in free coffee. That is the number she takes to the loyalty vendor, or the reason she decides not to.

Not yet, and not planned: any connection to a till, a card terminal or real money. VirtuBank is a simulator. If the trial works, the real programme is built elsewhere, with these numbers in hand.

Youth groups: badges, camps and kit

A Scout troop of 24, four leaders, a camp in June that nobody has paid for yet.

1st Lakeshore Scouts uses a currency called Embers for two things at once: recognizing effort week to week, and teaching the troop to save towards something. Embers are earned for attendance, badge work and helping younger scouts, and the big-ticket item in the catalogue is a place at summer camp.

Currency: Embers, no decimals, kept as stored value so a scout can save all year.
Accounts: Every scout has a chequing account and a Camp fund account type with 3% interest, compounding monthly, so saving early visibly pays.
Staff: Four leaders. Patrol leaders, who are scouts themselves, are in a group that can pay up to the weekly attendance amount and nothing more.
Catalogue: Camp place (1,200), a neckerchief woggle (60), choosing the next wide game (150).

Attendance, paid by patrol leaders at the doorThursday+20 each
Navigation badge signed off, paid by a leaderThursday+100
Eli moves his week's Embers into his Camp fundThursday120 →
Interest on Camp funds, posted by the scheduleMonth end+3
Eli redeems a camp placeJune−1,200

What scouts see: how far they are from camp, in a number that goes up a little every month even when they do nothing, and faster when they do. The Camp fund screen shows a worked example of the interest rule so a twelve-year-old can check the maths.

What leaders see: attendance as a side effect of paying for it, badge progress in the ledger, and which scouts are on track for camp by March rather than finding out in June. Giving patrol leaders a capped pay permission is a small, real responsibility, which is rather the point of Scouts.

Not yet: a spending limit on a permission is approximated today by putting patrol leaders in a group that can pay and trusting the ledger to show any excess. Per-transaction caps are on the roadmap.

Volunteer networks: a time bank

A neighbourhood mutual-aid group of about 60 households, run by three coordinators.

A time bank is the oldest kind of invented currency: an hour of anyone's time is worth one credit, whatever the task. The Elmwood Hours group used a spreadsheet and a lot of goodwill; the spreadsheet fell out of date and the goodwill wore thin over who had done what. They open a bank, not a rewards programme, because the whole idea is that credits never expire.

Currency: Hours, with two decimals so a 45-minute job can be 0.75.
Staff: Three coordinators, all administrators. Nobody else needs to be staff, because members pay each other directly.
How credits move: Almost entirely by member-to-member transfer: the person who received help pays the person who gave it. Coordinators only step in to seed new members with a starting balance.
Joining: Private, by invitation, after a coordinator has met the household.

Starting balance, paid by a coordinatorNew member+2.00
Rosa drives Mr. Chen to a hospital appointment and waitsMonday2.50 → Rosa
Mr. Chen fixes the Nguyens' fenceWednesday1.50 → Mr. Chen
The Nguyens babysit for RosaSaturday3.00 → the Nguyens

What members see: their balance, who they have helped and who has helped them, and the directory to pick a recipient from. Because every transfer is balanced, the group's total is always zero plus whatever the coordinators seeded, which is how a time bank is supposed to work and what the spreadsheet could never guarantee.

What coordinators see: who is giving a great deal and receiving little, which is the person about to burn out, and who has a large balance and might need encouraging to ask for help. The report is the conversation starter the group never had the data for.

Not yet: transfers between two different organizations, for two time banks that want to honour each other's hours. The brief calls for it, off by default; it is not built.

What every one of these has in common

Nothing is real money, and the app says so on the way in. Balances cannot be cashed out, and there is nothing to connect to a bank.
Every movement is a balanced ledger entry, so a balance and its history can never disagree, and anyone can audit what happened.
Who may do what is a set of switches, grouped so a teller cannot change prices and a social secretary cannot pay anyone. The founder holds every switch.
One login, many groups. A parent who also coaches swims between the family bank and the club with a profile switcher; nobody needs two accounts.
It is free, and funded by donations.

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