Túmin
Community currency from Veracruz, Mexico, created in 2010 in the Totonacapan town of Espinal. One túmin equals one peso and circulates as paper vouchers among a network of small producers and merchants who accept it as partial payment for goods and services, keeping value in the local economy. Coordinated by autonomous regional assemblies of the Red Unidos por el Túmin, the network has spread to some 20 Mexican states, publishes its own magazine, and gathers annually — the 10th Túmin Fair took place in Papantla in July 2026.
A 16-year-old indigenous-rooted community currency that trades monetary sovereignty (peso parity, informal governance) for radical inclusivity and cultural durability; strongest on humanity-first grounds, capped by fiat unit of account and volunteer fragility.
M69 Score
Scored against the Money2069 Manifesto — see methodology. Higher = more aligned.
Detailed Rating Breakdown
Issuance Model3x3.0
Debt-free paper vouchers issued in fixed allotments to members who commit to accept them for real goods and services; issuance is member-gated and assembly-run rather than permissionless, quantities are discretionary in small batches, and there is no systematic contraction mechanism.
Spending Power Stability2x2.0
One túmin equals one Mexican peso by social convention, so spending power tracks the peso including its inflation; parity has held since 2010 but there is no mechanism, benchmark, or measurement beyond community trust, and the system only works inside the member network.
Fiat Independence & Interoperability2x3.0
The unit of account is fully borrowed from the peso, but the currency is unbacked social money with zero fiat reserves and no banking dependency; the model itself replicates as new regional networks, most recently a Cuautla–Tepoztlán corridor in Morelos in 2026.
Traction2x3.0
Sixteen years of continuous operation with over a thousand member producers and merchants across some 20 states; prices inside the network mix túmin and pesos; adoption is fully organic with no subsidies, and cultural identity (Totonac roots, annual fairs, the KGOSNI magazine) is exceptionally strong for its size.
Sovereignty3.0
Bearer paper with cash-like privacy and self-custody that survived a federal investigation over alleged peso substitution; offsetting that, the network is entirely within Mexican jurisdiction, socially rather than technically enforced, and historically tied to a small founding group.
Governance3.0
Assembly-based governance across seven autonomous regional branches with documented founding principles (the ABC del Túmin); processes are participatory but informal, with no public record-keeping and no separation between monetary and operational decisions.
Resilience3.0
Survived legal attack, COVID, and sixteen years on volunteer energy; radically simple, technology-agnostic paper that anyone can reprint from documentation — but funding is self-described as own-resources volunteer work and there are no formal stress mechanisms.
Inclusivity4.0
Open to anyone who joins and offers goods or services, at near-zero cost, designed for and used by rural and indigenous communities excluded from banking; equal allotments with no seigniorage and no state ID requirement.