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Everyone on the Electoral Register in Scotland – around 97 per cent of the population – would have an account opened with BancaAlba and would receive a citizens’ dividend of S£250. The NEF said this would add around S£15 million to the money supply every year.

Duncan McCann, a researcher in economy and finance at NEF, said the idea stemmed from its work with “diverse economy ecosystems”, which differed from the “huge monoculture” that most countries used.

However, he said that system was broken and “inherently unstable”.

NEF had been working with smaller systems such as the Brixton pound and the Bristol pound, as well as with business-to-business and environmental currencies.

McCann told The National: “Over the past 25 years we’ve built up this experience of looking at smaller, community-based currencies. But there’s a gap between the very small community currencies and these large legal tender currencies which are the dominant form.

“What we’re proposing for Scotland is taking the learning that we’ve got from the past 25 years and applying it to a larger scale so we can start to see those macro-benefits. During the independence referendum the debate around currency was at best confused and at worse full of disinformation and the UK Government saying ‘Scotland could never use the pound’, which was absolutely not true.

“We had a number of supporters and trustees of our organisation asking us to become involved, but unfortunately that came too late to impact the referendum.”

He said NEF was asked to look at what could be done within the devolved powers Scotland already had. The group’s proposal, therefore, required no further devolution of powers.

McCann suggested it was something “that could be done today”, although he preferred a lead-in time of up to two years to “set it up properly”.

He added: “Legal tender currency is effective because you’re effectively forced to use it. Community currencies don’t have this coercive ability so they have to incentivise and encourage people.

“What we’re proposing is a hybrid of those because we are saying the Scottish Government would accept this for some local taxes they control and things like that.”

McCann added that there would have to be a substantial network of businesses on board who would accept the currency, which used a “unique public, not-for-profit, free-at-point-of-use payment system”.

He saw SMEs as a prime target as they were often disadvantaged by the cost of card transactions, and popular groups in Scotland such as Scotmid.

“The idea is you would be able to use it online to purchase things ‘virtually’ and in person.

“Scotland is in a unique position to take full advantage of current trends in digital financial innovation. A new currency and payment system like ScotPound would operate alongside pounds sterling, supporting small and medium businesses and putting money in the pockets of those currently excluded by the financial sector.”

Professor Nigel Dodd, from the London School of Economics, added: “Given that the currency question played a major role in the Scottish referendum debate last year, I have no doubt that the proposals for a ScotPound will inform future discussions in Scotland. NEF’s proposals are extremely clear and convincing.”

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “The Scottish Government welcomes initiatives that support socially inclusive innovation in the economy. However, we believe sterling remains the best option for Scotland’s currency.”