07 Overview

The ReSource Protocol and Network is only the first iteration of a suite of tools built to allow anyone to deploy an instance of the protocol with ease. We believe in leveraging existing technologies, emphasizing interoperability, and making specific design decisions to ensure the overall ecosystem's health.

Our intention is to provide a launchpad for network operators to deploy decentralized mutual credit networks without the hassle of fully understanding the mechanics of mutual credit, underwriting, credit risk analysis, and overall network dynamics that are required to allow economic systems to exist.

Our goal is to make it as seamless as possible to construct and operate a mutual credit network. The way we envision the process is by providing templates or “plugins" to the protocol that suffice for each operator's particular objectives

Mutual credit systems can be seen more as a dynamic relationship between multiple accounts where a distributed ledger is utilized to keep track of all sent and received transactions within a closed system - simply a distributed IOU. The ideal state of the network at any point in time should be close to zero as the monetary medium is created at the exact moment the transaction succeeds.

Blockchain and distributed technologies are uniquely suited to solve this problem. In order to develop a standard for on-chain mutual credit, we needed to address a few non-trivial problems that deviate away from those of a traditional mutual credit/barter-trade system.