Abstract
In the disclosed time-banking system, a credit (a pledged hour, issued as thanks between two named persons) has one redemption form: a synchronous meeting both parties attend, in person or by live audio or video call, with shared attention face to face or side by side on a shared task. Recorded messages may carry an invitation but cannot redeem a credit, so absentee service cannot be expressed. Both parties confirm delivery, corroborated by device proximity or the live session; an in-person exchange of public-key fingerprints, as at a key-signing party, is described as one candidate corroboration path that may admit a redemption but never create or price value. Redemption costs both parties the same span of time, and the quality of attention is never scored. The credit holder chooses the activity from a curated catalogue and the issuer may refuse any request; shared volunteer work qualifies only when both perform it and a third party benefits. Credits accrue below a threshold, activate on crossing it, and expire one month later without recovery; on expiry the issuer may direct an anonymous gift from a common pool to a nearby verified stranger. Thanks for a completed hour are given in money, unprompted and independent of duration, and tips from viewers of a shared recording route by default to the time-giver; no time-to-money exchange rate is expressible on its surfaces. Limits: the system is unbuilt, synchronous meetings exclude some people, a proximity proof attests contact, not duration, and no meeting's outcome is guaranteed.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Ly, Thon, "The Currency That Cannot Be Spent Alone: Co-Presence-Gated Redemption and the Chronicle↔Treasury Unification Circuit — Time-Banking Credits Redeemable Only at a Synchronous, Mutually Attested Meeting of Both Parties", Technical Disclosure Commons, (September 29, 2026)
https://www.tdcommons.org/dpubs_series/11905