How it works
Nobody keeps the notebook.
A savings circle is a few people who put in the same share every round and take the whole pot in turn. It has always run on trust and one person’s notebook. Round keeps the trust and loses the notebook.
Six things, in the order they happen.
Everything the contract does, and nothing it does not.
- 1
Open a circle
Name it, set the share and the rhythm, and how many seats. You take the first seat. Your people join with a jar, in order, and you start the clock when it is full.
- 2
Shares stream
Each share streams out of each jar by the second, a hundredth of a cent at a time, into the round’s pot. There is no payment day to miss. Top up whenever.
- 3
The pot tips
When the round’s time is up, the pot goes to whoever’s turn it is, the second it closes, in one payment. Nobody holds it in between. One percent goes to whoever runs the circle.
- 4
Short is on the record
If a jar runs dry, the pot goes out a little light, and the gap is on that person’s record, for this circle and the next one they ask to join.
- 5
Vouch for a friend
Put money behind someone. It streams for them only when their jar is empty, and what is not used comes back to you at the end.
- 6
Buy a turn
Need the pot sooner? Anyone with a later turn can name a price; pay it and you trade places. That is the whole market.
Why Arc
A share of fifty dollars a week is a hundredth of a cent a second, and it only streams if a payment that small costs less to settle than it is worth. On Arc it does, and the pot pays out in under a second when the round closes, so nobody holds the money and nobody keeps the notebook.
What is an example
The six circles on the home page are examples and say so: made-up people, example money, the same arithmetic the contract runs. With the circle’s contract on the registry and a wallet, Open a circle opens a real one, your people join with real jars, and everything on it is read from the chain.
Fair questions.
Is this real?
The six circles on the home page are examples and say so: made-up people on the arithmetic the contract runs. With the circle’s contract on Arc and a wallet, “Open a circle” opens a real one, your people join with real jars, and every pot is paid on chain.
Why not just a WhatsApp group and a treasurer?
Because the treasurer holds the money, keeps the notebook, chases the late ones, and is the one everyone blames. Here nobody holds the pot, the notebook keeps itself, and the record chases nobody: it just remembers.
What if someone stops paying?
Their jar runs dry and the pot goes out a little light that round. The gap is on their record. A friend can vouch for them. Nobody else’s money is at risk beyond that round’s pot, and the circle keeps going.
Can I get the pot sooner?
Ask. Anyone with an earlier turn can put a price on it; pay it and you trade places. The person who can wait is paid for waiting.
What does the platform take?
One percent of each pot, when it is paid. Jars, vouches and swaps cost nothing beyond Arc’s fee.
What if I need to leave?
Before the clock starts, leave and take your jar. After it starts, your seat is a promise to the others; stream your shares, and take back what is left in your jar when the circle ends.
What is a savings circle?
Esusu, tanda, chit, stokvel, hui, chama: a group that puts in the same share every round, and takes the whole pot in turn. Hundreds of millions of people save this way. This is the same thing, without the notebook.
A circle like this, with your name on it
For your family, your street, your staff. Name your price, or free.