Janesville business and civic leaders met several times over the weekend of March 4 and 5, 1933 to discuss the state banking moratorium. They settled upon a scrip plan run by the Janesville Merchants Clearing Exchange. The Exchange was set up in the Merchants and Savings Bank of Janesville.

The Exchange issued scrip against payroll checks from local businesses. The checks would be held until the moratorium ended. Scrip was printed in denominations of $.10, $.25, $.50, $1.00 and $5.00 by the Artcraft Printing Company in Janesville.

The Exchange opened on March 8, 1933 and issued $6,070.65 the first day. A total of $20,500.00 was printed of which $20,400.00 was issued. The Exchange stopped issuing scrip on March 13 in anticipation of the banks re-opening on March 14. Redemption began the same day and by March 17 less than $2,000.00 was outstanding.

Re-prints of the Janesville scrip were made in the 1960s. Re-prints can be identified because they lack an embossed city seal which is present on the original notes.

Chet Krause had Janesville Merchants Clearing Exchange scrip in denominations of $.75, $2.00 and $10.00. None of these denominations was mentioned in contemporary documentation of the scrip. More information is necessary to determine whether these were made in 1933 or spurious denominations made in the 1960s.