Le Lien
Le Lien is the local currency of the Saint-Etienne basin in France. One lien equals one euro. The nonprofit association MLCC42 issues paper notes and runs digital accounts with online payment. A collective of citizens and businesses started the project in 2012, and the first notes circulated in 2016. More than 100 businesses in the Loire and Haute-Loire accept it.
Saint-Etienne's territorial euro-parity currency: debt-free fully-backed issuance, democratic association governance, ten years of circulation with a digital layer since 2019 and 100+ merchants, but full fiat dependence and modest scale hold it to the weakly-aligned band of its class; operator communication has been quiet since 2023 while merchant-side activity continues into 2026.
M69 Score
Scored against the Money2069 Manifesto — see methodology. Higher = more aligned.
Detailed Rating Breakdown
Issuance Model3x4.0
Liens are issued only against euros exchanged by members, debt-free and fully backed, with redemption contracting supply. Association-permissioned issuance with no algorithmic link to real economic activity.
Spending Power Stability2x3.0
Hard 1:1 euro parity backed by full reserves; stability is borrowed from the euro, with no independent mechanism and single-territory access.
Fiat Independence & Interoperability2x1.0
Euro unit of account, euro reserves, euro parity; fully fiat-dependent by design, standard for the territorial euro-parity MLC class.
Traction2x3.0
Over 100 accepting businesses across Loire and Haute-Loire and roughly 400 users; paper notes since 2016 plus digital accounts and online payment since 2019. Merchant acceptance tags in OpenStreetMap edited through June 2026 and site pages edited June 2026 show current activity, though the association's blog has been quiet since mid-2023.
Sovereignty2.0
Single-jurisdiction nonprofit with custodial reserve and account infrastructure; a general assembly or regulatory action could wind it down. Paper notes preserve payment privacy, digital accounts do not.
Governance3.0
Democratic member governance in the MLCC42 association; all members can take part in defining usage rules per its statutes. Documented but policy-enforced, deliberation not public.
Resilience3.0
Ten years of continuous circulation across a paper-to-digital transition and an investment step into a member photovoltaic project; simple mechanism, but small-team and grant-dependent (ADEME among past supporters).
Inclusivity3.0
Open low-cost membership, cash option needs no device; digital accounts need only an email. Territorial by design, with benefits kept local; no mechanism against concentration beyond spending-only use.