The article is devoted to a systematic analysis of known concepts and descriptions of business communities ecosystems in foreign and domestic scientific literature. The problems of this term and the completeness of its definitions were studied by five questions that the conceptual model should answer. Comparison of biological and economic ecosystems has shown that their functioning is based on closed chains of exchange (flows) of material and financial resources. The conclusion of the article concludes that in the ecosystem of any business community with closed financial flows can implicitly functions the local payment system, which can be institutionalized.