Social Trade Organisation

Our Motivation

STRO is one of the few organisations in the world that develops alternatives for the current monetary and economic system. We do this because the monetary system as we know it today creates poverty and environmental problems. In the past twenty years we have been implementing projects and pilots in different parts of the world to develop new circular and sustainable ways of working with money. The keystone in this is our award-winning payment software Cyclos.

The purpose and motivation of the Social TRade Organisation is:
“To develop and promote sustainable economic models for a world full of development opportunities, high quality of life, cultural.
And environmental diversity, based on sustainable production and consumption.”
Innovative monetary methods can help to lessen poverty and underdevelopment, both in the North and in the South.

Our History

STRO was established in 1970 with a strong focus on environmental issues and the impact of the monetary structure. In the 1980s STRO advocated proposals that were very innovative for their time such as replacing taxes on labor by eco-taxing and carbon dioxide emission rights. Over the last 20 years, STRO has focused its research and interventions in the monetary arena, driven by the evidence that money is a key determinant in the organization of all aspects of modern society. From 1995 onward, STRO’s Research and Development focused on the introduction of more effective and environmentally friendly currencies. Many tests were executed in Latin America and in parallel Cyclos software was developed, From 2014, all the necessary tools and know-how were available and STRO concentrated its efforts on realizing showcases and extending the network of traditional Cyclos users as a stepping stone to the introduction of STRO’s monetary innovations.