The Honest Answers, Not the Sales Pitch.

Why should Inte.Team run this, not someone else?

Because the two hardest parts of a project like this — fixing the hardware and building the software — are exactly what Inte.Team already does, not something being learned on the job. Decades of experience fixing electronics, over a decade building web and software solutions, and 300+ five-star reviews built along the way.

It's not a new idea reacting to the moment, either. Inte.Team didn't just spot the problem — it's been working on solutions to it for over 5 years. The self-hosted infrastructure EE runs on already exists — the same Proxmox/Docker servers running Inte.Team's other systems — and EE's own architecture, built from scratch by Inte.Team rather than bought in or templated, is being finalised now. Membership, the funding mechanism, is already live today, not a future promise. And Inte.Team is spending its own money to deliver EE next, not asking anyone else to fund the first step.

What happens if Inte.Team — or you personally — can't continue?

Two safeguards exist already, and a third is planned. Founder Piotr Ficner has already brought on an admin team to share the day-to-day workload — this isn't one person holding everything together. The web development team behind EE's software is an independent team in its own right, able to run the technical side without depending on any one person, founder included.

Longer term, the plan is to spin EE out into its own separate legal entity, distinct from Inte.Team, so its future isn't tied to Inte.Team's. And once funding allows, that entity is meant to establish 3H (Helping Hands Hub): community hubs, run independently, where membership funds go toward helping local people cooperate and learn from each other — never toward Inte.Team profit. Keeping EE's structure separate and transparent is what makes that promise enforceable, not just stated.

What does Inte.Team get out of this?

Like any business, Inte.Team was built to make a profit — we won't pretend otherwise. But profit isn't why EE exists. Piotr Ficner has lived in Scotland for 18 years, having moved here from Poland, and has watched local, independent services shrink over that time: people trusting local shops and tradespeople less, buying new instead of repairing, and — without meaning to — pulling more money out of the local economy every time they do.

We believe people deserve a clear path for their future, and support when life gets too busy to sort out alone. We believe local services deserve real trust from the people around them, and shouldn't have to struggle financially just to keep going — a business run by people who genuinely enjoy what they do, driven by that instead of survival, tends to serve its community better. EE is Inte.Team's attempt to build the conditions for that, here in Livingston, not just talk about it.

Why do you think you will survive, where Bristol Pound failed?

Bristol Pound ran for 11 years with working digital payments — it didn't fail from lack of skill. It failed because the cost and complexity of scaling into full e-money outpaced a revenue model that depended on grants and community funding. That's the real lesson, and it's the one worth taking seriously.

EcoEconomy's structural difference: it's built on top of Inte.Team, a profitable business that's operated for 13+ years already. EE isn't dependent on grants to survive — the build happens regardless of how fast the Founding 100 or hardware partnerships come together, it just moves faster with support. That doesn't make success guaranteed. It means the downside is bounded in a way Bristol Pound's wasn't.

Is ECO Credit legal / regulated?

We're designing EE to operate under the UK's Limited Network Exclusion — the same regulatory model historically used by schemes like the Bristol Pound, which allows a closed-loop local voucher/reward scheme to run without full FCA e-money licensing, as long as it stays within a clearly defined local merchant network.

Being straight with you: this legal positioning is well-researched but not yet confirmed by a solicitor — that review is a deliberate next step, not skipped. We won't state legal compliance as settled fact until it actually is. Full statutory detail — the exact regulations, thresholds, and what happens if we exceed them — is on the technical page.

What happens to my ECO if EE shuts down?

Every ECO Credit is backed 1:1 by a real GBP reserve or verified green energy generation — it isn't just a number on a screen. Any OorHQ Member can see EE's finances directly through Open Books, so this isn't something you have to take on trust alone.

We won't overstate this: EE is an early-stage local scheme, not a bank, and ECO balances aren't covered by government deposit protection (FSCS) the way a bank account is. That's true of every voucher-based local currency, not just this one — worth knowing plainly rather than assuming otherwise.

Is this a cryptocurrency?

No. There's no blockchain, no trading, and no speculation — 1 ECO is always worth £1, not a floating price you could gain or lose money on. ECO Credits only work within EE's defined local merchant network in West Lothian, closer to a community voucher scheme than a tradeable asset.

Why only Livingston? When do you expand?

Deliberately. We're proving this fully in one place — with complete processes behind everything we do — before opening anywhere else. That's not just caution: it's part of what keeps EE inside its current legal exclusion in the first place, not only a trust-building choice.

Expansion is Stage 4 on the roadmap — each new town gets its own isolated, locally-sovereign setup once Livingston has proven it works, not before.