White Paper

What It Is

The Greshm System is a USD-based payment system that issues new money to its users in the form of a basic income. Basic income lessens the extent to which consumer income depends on the unpredictable performance of the labor market and the strength of the volatile private financial sector.

The Greshm System maintains a fractional reserve of USD to back the USD-denominated balances recorded in Greshm user accounts. Users may spend their Greshm balances at any time, but before they withdraw any money, they must hold it in their accounts for a period of time (e.g. 30 days). This rule encourages users to spend money within the system rather than drain the system’s USD reserves.

The Greshm System gets its name from Gresham’s law, which is the economic principle that “bad money drives out good.” For example, when the US stopped minting silver quarters, people hoarded the more valuable silver quarters, preferentially spending the new less valuable quarters. The new quarters then quickly replaced the silver quarters in active circulation.

The Greshm System rolls out by gradually activating people’s basic incomes. Thanks to Gresham’s Law, Greshm users will preferentially spend their Greshm balances before they spend their outside money.