The lion’s share for everyone
The new currency for Zurich
The Leu in Zurich’s industry
No matter whether you run a restaurant, a hairdressing salon or a yoga studio in Zurich – if you as a business owner adopt Leu, you are playing a decisive role in letting the new Zurich local currency thrive and thus enabling a monetary system with equal opportunities.
You can find out more about what Leu is exactly and how it works on the welcome page. Here you can find out about the advantages of accepting Leu in your business and how you process your customers’ payments.
Unique positioning
We at the Encointer Association and all members of the Leu community want to use Leu to build a monetary system with equal opportunities in Zurich and strengthen the local economy. If you accept Leu in your business, you demonstrate that you share our values.
With this unique positioning, you will attract new customers, as people who regularly receive Leus as a complementary basic income will become aware of you.
Advertising for your business
We will attract attention by including details of your business on this website and by linking to your website.
You will also receive a sticker to place on the entrance door to your business stating that you accept Leus.
In addition, we are offering a special bonus to businesses that are still in the early stages of Leu: You get the opportunity to apply for a meeting spot in front of your shop where community members regularly receive Leus as a complementary basic income as part of the Leu ceremonies.
Exclusivity at the beginning
In the initial phase of Leu, we at the Encointer Association make sure to recruit complementary rather than competing businesses. This way you can profit from exclusivity in your sector. We also want to encourage a circular economy: Our goal is for you to spend the Leus that you earn in another business.
Note, however, that at no time can we prevent competing businesses from accepting Leus. There is no admission process to join this project, every business in Zurich is free to decide if they want to accept Leus.
Resale of the earned money
As mentioned above, you can spend the earned Leus to buy products or services you need yourself or to pay your employees. You can also sell them to private individuals in exchange for Swiss francs.
In order for interested people to see which businesses offer Leus for sale, this information is added to the description of the business in question on this website.
Exchange rate
The exchange rate of the Leu is determined by supply and demand and can therefore change over time. Initially, we recommend accepting the Leu at 1:1 to the Swiss franc. Conversely, if you resell Leus to private individuals, we recommend working with a promotional discount of 10%. This would make the exchange rate CHF 0.90 per Leu.
If at any time you find that you can regularly sell your Leus entirely, you are free to increase the selling price. We only ask that you disclose such price changes transparently.
You can also adjust the acceptance exchange rate. If you want to attract more people who pay in Leus, you can set your prices lower in Leus than in Swiss francs.
Technical requirements
To accept Leus, your business needs at least one mobile phone with the “Encointer Wallet” app installed. The payment process is the same as if you received Leus from a private individual: You or your employees select “Receive” on the start screen in the app, enter the price of the service or product being sold and have the customer scan the QR code displayed via their “Encointer Wallet” app.
Alternatively or in addition, you can place a display with a QR code at the checkout that customers can scan directly. You can order the stand-up display in the uniform Leu design from us in the A5 portrait format.
Processing a payment with Leu takes no longer than 12 seconds. By comparison, a cash transaction can take between 20 and 25 seconds. So payments with Leu are not only fast but also convenient.
Currently, there are no plans to integrate Leu into payment terminals.
Fees
Although we operate Leu on a non-profit basis, for technical reasons fees will still be charged for each Leu transaction, which will be paid automatically by the person sending Leus. The amount of the fees has not yet been defined; however, it will be significantly lower than with commercially available digital payment systems.
Value added tax
The usual VAT in Swiss francs must be paid on the amounts that customers pay in Leus.