On the second floor of Pittsburgh City Hall, the heavy double doors at the end of the hallway were shut tight.

This was originally the VIP conference room, used to receive high-ranking officials from Washington and the state.

But two weeks ago, an urgent list of requirements from Philadelphia had been placed on Ethan Hawke’s desk.

The list called for industrial-grade servers, a dedicated fiber optic line, and a full suite of anti-eavesdropping security measures.

This was at the request of Evelyn Saint Cloud.

Ethan didn’t hesitate. He mobilized the City Hall’s logistics department overnight.

Workers removed the original round table and took down the decorative paintings. They replaced them with several massive, connected long tables and installed dense cable raceways along the walls.

「Three weeks later, at nine in the morning」

The team sent by Evelyn Saint Cloud took over the room.

The group wore dark suits, their gazes cold and detached.

Leo sat at the head of the long table. To his left was Ethan; to his right, a gaunt man.

Arthur Goldman.

The sixty-year-old Jewish man stared at the laptop screen in front of him, his fingers tapping noisily on the keyboard.

Seeing Leo settle into his seat at the head of the table, Arthur stopped and closed his laptop.

"We can begin."

He stood up and walked to the whiteboard.

"Mr. Mayor, our goal is clear."

"You have five hundred million US Dollars. You hope to use this money to leverage the supply chains of seven cities, including Erie and Scranton, to generate two billion US Dollars or even more in economic liquidity."

Leo nodded.

"That’s right."

"From a financial engineering standpoint, this isn’t difficult," Arthur said, picking up a black marker. "Technically, we’re ready. All the necessary technology is readily available."

"The challenge lies with the law."

Arthur wrote three letters on the whiteboard: FBI.

"If you were to directly issue a currency for circulation in the seven cities—let’s call it the Pittsburgh Dollar or the Rust Coin—then by tomorrow morning, FBI agents would be kicking down this door to arrest you for counterfeiting currency and illegal banking."

"Federal law strictly prohibits local governments from minting currency. That’s the bottom line. Any attempt to challenge the sovereignty of the US Dollar will be met with the harshest response."

Arthur looked at Leo.

"So, our first lesson is what to name this thing."

He wrote two names on the whiteboard.

"We’ll call this system the Regional Industrial Note Platform."

"We’ll call this fund pool the Pennsylvania Industry Alliance Trust."

Arthur tapped the whiteboard hard with the tip of his marker.

"In legal documents, there’s a legitimate name for the payment vouchers that will circulate between the steel mills in Erie and the cement plants in Scranton."

He wrote a lengthy phrase.

Accounts Receivable Equity Certificate.

Leo looked at the words.

It had no aesthetic appeal whatsoever.

The average person’s brain would instinctively filter out a phrase like that.

Roosevelt, however, was full of praise for the name.

"Brilliant."

"If you want to start a revolution, you must learn to disguise it. If you shout that you’re going to issue a new currency, you’re a rebel. But if you say you’re conducting the digital circulation of accounts receivable, then you’re a financial innovator."

"Back then, I wanted to support the United Kingdom, but I couldn’t say we were going to war, nor could I say we were sending weapons. The isolationists in Congress would have impeached me."

"So I invented the Lease Bill."

"In reality, that was just sending destroyers and tanks to the battlefield."

"Using the most boring commercial and legal jargon to hide the most radical revolutionary essence. Arthur is a master of this art."

Leo looked at Arthur.

"Alright, we’ve settled on a name," Leo said. "But it’s just a piece of paper—or a string of code on a server. Why would the steel mills in Erie accept it? How can they trust that it can be exchanged for cold, hard cash?"

This was the core issue.

Trust.

The essence of currency is credit.

The US Dollar is money because the Federal Reserve says it’s money, and because it’s backed by the United States Government’s aircraft carriers and tax revenue.

Why would any shrewd factory owner accept a voucher issued by Pittsburgh City Hall?

Arthur had anticipated this.

He drew a pyramid on the whiteboard.

"The monetary anchor."

Arthur pointed to the base of the pyramid.

"The first anchor is the five hundred million US Dollars in cash you have on hand."

"We will inject this five hundred million US Dollars into the trust as primary reserves. We’ll set a redemption ratio, say, 50%. This means that for every two dollars’ worth of vouchers we issue, there will be one dollar of cash in the vault, ready at a moment’s notice."

"This is hard credit. A 50% cash coverage ratio is already far safer than what most commercial banks have."

Ethan, listening at the side, quickly did the math. "So, that means we can issue a maximum of one billion US Dollars in vouchers?"

"Theoretically, yes," Arthur replied. "But that’s not enough. If a bank run occurs, or if everyone decides to cash out their vouchers for US Dollars, the system will still collapse."

"We need a second anchor point."

Arthur drew a horizontal line across the middle of the pyramid.

"These vouchers won’t just be for cashing out. Their more important function will be for making purchases."

"The steel mills in Erie can use the vouchers to buy coal from Scranton. The coal mines in Scranton can use them to pay the shipping fees to the Pittsburgh logistics center."

"We can use administrative agreements to lock in the supply chains of these seven cities. In this closed loop, the vouchers are the only accepted currency. If you want to do business within this circle, you have to use them."