This Canadian man started a local currency just by cutting national bills in half

How do you make a new local currency that isn't easily counterfeited? Take a secure national currency and cut the bills in half, apparently. That's what residents of Gaspesie, a region in northern Quebec, Canada, are doing, Fast Company reports.

Martin Zibeau wanted a way to keep money circulating in Gaspesie among small businesses, but he didn't want to design bills that could easily be photocopied. His solution, a currency called the demi that some local shops are now accepting, couldn't be more straightforward. By cutting a Canadian $20 bill in half, Zibeau gets $10, and by cutting a $10 bill in half, he gets $5.

Zibeau started spreading the demi by introducing it to his friends. Perhaps unsurprisingly, many folks in town seem a little wary of cutting perfectly good bills in half.

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"99.9 percent of the people who first hear about it go, 'What the hell is that?'" he told Fast Company. "They react very strongly, very emotionally, 'Why would you do something like that?'"