$1 of Coop-IC = $1 of Treasury IC at federal launch.

Coop-IC is the universal accounting unit at the center of the cooperative. One credit unit, every yield source. Today it's issued by the cooperative itself, backed by audited supply, insured at issuance, and built to the same standards the future federal Treasury IC program will adopt — so every $1 of Coop-IC converts at par convertibility 1:1 par when the federal program lives. Treasury IC convertibility is a roadmap commitment, not a current operational feature, and is not required for Coop-IC's base-case value.

A Tennessee battery assembler earning Coop-IC on verified domestic output

One Coop-IC unit traced from factory floor to consumer wallet

1. 1
   The Manufacturer

   A Tennessee battery assembler ships a verified $1,000 lot of domestic-made cells. The shipment is audited under the cooperative's published methodology — same audit standard contemplated for the future federal program.

   Money: Verified yield event: $1,000 of domestic manufacturing output.

2. 2
   The Cooperative (GCA)

   At the next monthly issuance window, the cooperative converts the audited yield into 1,000 Coop-IC at the published rate. The audit report and conversion rate are public.

   Money: Coop-IC issued: 1,000 units, USD-denominated at par.

3. 3
   The tokenization partner

   The cooperative's institutional tokenization partner mints the 1,000 Coop-IC as digital tokens. Each token gets a tamper-evident chain-of-custody record written under post-quantum cryptographic attestation.

   Money: On-ledger supply: 1,000 unique tokens, traceable end-to-end.

4. 4
   A participating brand

   A consumer-goods brand acquires 200 of those Coop-IC and attaches them to specific product SKUs via the GS1 AI 8112 open barcode standard. Each Coop-IC now rides on a specific product on a specific shelf.

   Money: 200 Coop-IC encoded into product barcodes; 800 remain in float.

5. 5
   A consumer at checkout

   A shopper scans a Coop-IC-bearing product at a major retailer. The retailer is on the SKU-level rail, so the wallet routes the credit through the SKU-level adjudication clearinghouse, which validates against the cooperative ledger in real time.

   Money: Coop-IC drawn from float: $1.00 against the basket. Retailer paid full retail price.

6. 6
   Settlement

   Settlement clears in dollars through standard payment rails (traditional ACH at launch; programmable rails as those mature). No crypto-native consumer requirement; the shopper sees a normal receipt. The cooperative's institutional custodian holds the float at institutional grade.

   Money: Retailer settles: full retail. Cooperative custody: net $1.00 Coop-IC redeemed.

7. 7
   The manufacturer (year-end)

   At year-end, the cooperative's trust board allocates patronage based on each member's verified activity. The Tennessee assembler earns Manufacturer-class patronage in proportion to its verified output. Dividend paid in Coop-IC or cash per the member's election.

   Money: Patronage dividend: assembler's pro-rata share of the year's Manufacturer-class surplus, returned under Subchapter T rules.

Synthetic class-language scenario. Class proxies for illustration; not a named partner or beneficiary.

The Coop-IC lifecycle in one table

Seven stages, each with one operator, one audit point, and one location. The audit trail follows the credit at every step.

Three audited yield sources, one credit unit

The cooperative only issues a Coop-IC when something real and verifiable has happened. Three yield classes converge into the same credit at issuance:

Two complementary checkout rails. Most US retailers covered.

Coop-IC validation at point of sale routes through two distinct, complementary rails. The cooperative does not pick between them — it operates on both simultaneously, with the wallet routing per-transaction to whichever rail the retailer is on. Together they cover most US points of sale without forcing any single integration model on participating retailers.

Insurance is embedded, not added

Every Coop-IC comes with a parametric insurance policy built in. We pay for it out of a small slice of the credit's value, so there's no separate bill. If something goes wrong with the underlying yield, the insurance covers the gap automatically. That's why credit-rating agencies can rate Coop-IC and banks can accept it as collateral — the insurance is already done. This is the same HAE (Hard Asset Equivalent) pattern used in the Project Constellation framework for treating audited intangible yield as bankable collateral on a balance sheet.

One credit, owned by the people who use it

Coop-IC is issued by a multi-stakeholder cooperative — owned and governed by its patrons (the nine member classes — shoppers, stores, brands, factories, three levels of government, civic groups, and importers), not by outside shareholders. Cooperative surplus is returned to patrons in proportion to their patronage activity each year, under the established Subchapter T tax regime for cooperatives. The structural neutrality of a cooperative standards body is exactly what Treasury's political reception of a future federal program will need.