Quipu is a digital marketplace for the informal economy. With the Quipu app, users create business profiles to buy and sell goods and services without cash using local tokens called quipus. The quipus are an exchange currency not meant for accumulation but instead as a compliment to cash and are valid at all businesses on the marketplace. Because the currency circulates internally and is issued by those who use it, there will always be enough quipus in a local economy to meet the needs of the community so users can save cash and maintain commerce even when liquid cash is scarce.
By bringing the billions of cash-based, micro-transactions online with the touch of a smartphone, Quipu generates a massive ledger of transaction data we leverage to inform business decisions, improve supply chains, and prove creditworthiness enabling our users, for the first time, access to equitable financial services like loans.
We’re connecting anyone who has anything to sell on an online marketplace with a digital payments system where none else exists. With Quipu, informal workers can make their offerings accessible and enable people the money liquidity needed to afford their everyday necessities.