BeanCoin Currency Casts Lifeline to Closed New Orleans Bars

  • Crowdfunded project to pump cash flow to struggling businesses
  • City ordered all bars shut for peak season on virus concern
BeanCoin postersPhotographer: Bryan Tarnowski/Bloomberg
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New Orleans drinking holes are facing financial disaster as city leaders shut them down for Mardi Gras -- their busiest time of the year -- but a homegrown currency is offering a lifeline.

A local group called the Krewe of Red Beans launched a crowdfunded “currency” program this week that’ll funnel cash to bars so they can stay afloat amid the citywide shutdown. The cash-fronting mechanism is cheekily named BeanCoin but it’s not a cryptocurrency, since it’s not a digital currency and its value doesn’t fluctuate.