Gwangju Sangsaeng Card
Prepaid and debit card local currency issued by the city of Gwangju, South Korea. Residents load Korean won onto the card and spend it at small businesses across the city's five districts. The city adds 10% cashback on up to 500,000 won of spending per month, and card spending earns a 30% income tax deduction. Department stores, large marts and businesses with annual revenue over 3 billion won are excluded so the money stays with local merchants.
Metro-scale Korean municipal voucher card: strong local adoption and merchant coverage, but city-issued, won-pegged and subsidy-driven, so monetary sovereignty is minimal.
M69 Score
Scored against the Money2069 Manifesto — see methodology. Higher = more aligned.
Detailed Rating Breakdown
Issuance Model3x2.0
Single issuer (the city government); supply set by annual municipal budget decisions, not economic activity. Redemption to won exists, so supply can contract.
Spending Power Stability2x2.0
Pegged 1:1 to the Korean won, so it imports won inflation; no independent stability mechanism. Stable only in nominal card-balance terms.
Fiat Independence & Interoperability2x1.0
Denominated in won, funded by fiat budget subsidy, runs on Kwangju Bank card rails. No independence from fiat at any layer.
Traction2x4.0
Active citywide since 2019 across all five districts; acceptance spans every registered card merchant under the 3 billion won revenue cap, which is tens of thousands of businesses. The official rate page was updated June 2026 and Kwangju Bank ran a 20% cashback campaign in January and February 2026. Never a unit of account; adoption is discount-driven.
Sovereignty1.0
City government controls issuance and can end the program in a budget cycle; card rails are bank-operated; KYC via bank issuance.
Governance2.0
Decisions are made by the city administration and council through the normal budget process; public but not participatory beyond that.
Resilience2.0
Survived budget fights and national subsidy swings that killed other Korean local currencies, but existence depends on annual incentive funding.
Inclusivity3.0
Anyone 14 or older can get the card; low cost; excludes non-residents in practice and requires bank card issuance.