The United Nations Credit (UNC) is the standard unit of exchange across the solar system, formally established by Article III of the UN Charter of 2101 and backed by pooled Helium-3 stockpiles held jointly by the Soviet Union, the People’s Republic of China, and the United Nations itself.
The He-3 pooling arrangement among the three parties was initiated in late 2099 as a preparatory measure ahead of the supply shock expected as belt mining moved from slow build into a full rush. The Charter formalized this arrangement into a currency with full UN backing, replacing the ad hoc consortium structure with a permanent institutional framework.
Under Article III(2), local and regional settlement instruments already in lawful operation — including the Ceres-issued SP (shuǐpiào, 水票) — were not superseded and may continue to operate under their existing administration, provided they remain convertible to UNC at a published rate. The Council retains authority to recognize, restrict, or formally incorporate any such local instrument.
At belt distances, UNC transfers routed through Earth-based clearing routinely took a season to settle, creating practical pressure for local commodity-backed instruments like SP — a tension the Charter’s preservation clause was designed to accommodate rather than resolve.
A companion reserve instrument, the Antimatter Bond developed jointly with Hesperus Initiative, finally launched in 2142 — thirty-two years behind schedule and short by two-thirds of its originally projected backing.
In October 2165 the UN announced the Jovian He-3 programme — suspended extraction platforms in Jupiter’s atmosphere, first unit scheduled for 2170 — the first phase of securing the reserve’s source itself rather than relying on lunar regolith and purchased stockpiles shipped across contested lanes. The programme is administered by a trilateral directorate (UN, Soviet Union, China) established in 2164 under Article III, funded from the Antimatter Bond surplus until licensed-volume revenue makes it self-sustaining.