The Evolution Of Money: From Barter-System To Cryptocurrency!Hello,
Welcome to this analysis about The Evolution Of Money. Till today money had a protracted history reaching back to times where there even did not exist electricity or industry like we now it these days. Since these beginnings money constantly reshaped and emerged new forms of money that theoretically can be applied still today however it is also a fact that it is important in which form the money circulates bringing innovation and prosperity to the civilization as there are money forms although logical from its form however contra-productive for the further developments.
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The Barter System (High Phase 98000 BC - 900 BC):
It is clear that in times where people did not have the ability to keep a sufficient store-of-value they had to adapt to circumstances and exchange what they had in order to receive things they need for everyday living, this form of money is called the "Barter-System". This system principally defines the exchange of goods and services against other goods and services. It was a typical hunter-gatherer-form of exchange between the individual occupations. For example, a fisherman had a lot of fish however no grain to exchange for and on the other side there was a farmer which had a lot of grain, however, no fish to eat, so these two come to an agreement to exchange the fish against the grain in order to fulfill both sides needs.
This system had a lot of substantial problems as it was not possible to store any value with the goods and services, besides it only functioned when the other side also searched for the offered product therefore there needed to be a double coincidence of wants otherwise an exchange was not fulfilled by both sides agreements. Besides that there was the issue with the indivisibility of goods, for example, one had one goat and needed one pot therefore it was only possible to exchange one goat against 10 pots and now the goat holder was stuck because he could not share the goat into 10 pieces to received his one pot as needed. Overall it was a complicated exchange system that definitely could have been improved.
Commodity Money (High Phase 6000 BC - 500 AD):
Since it was not possible to store values with the Barter-System as there were also many goods that fouled by the times this could also be improved by the right commodities that do not foul. In ancient Rome, the Romans moved on to keep salt as a store of value and exchange for goods and services. Salt is easily divisible, it can be stored for a long period of time and it was expensive and labor-intensive to produce therefore limited in quality, besides that it was widely consumed by everybody. Additionally to salt, many other forms of this commodity money emerged such as Cattle, Tobacco, Rice, Sugar, or Tea. All commodities which can be stored over a long period and exchange properly.
Together with these new gained advancements, it was a step in the right direction nevertheless there remained significant negative aspects in the commodity money these are various things such as some forms of cattle are very difficult to store because they need to be fed constantly and can not obtain a passive store, other forms like cowry shells are fragile and need to be transported carefully. Besides these storing problems, it was always difficult to transport over long routes as the commodities can take up so much room that it was simply so unpracticable to transport them over long distances. Also, there existed not universal acceptability so the two exchange partners needed to agree on the exchange of these commodities to come up with a deal.
Metal Money (600 BC till today)
Metal money was a true revolution in the money evolution and the story speaks for itself as it is still today widely accepted and a sufficient store of value with gold and silver holding its values. Against the commodity money, it was stable and had an inherent value as it is rare in nature as well as its supply is limited, the perfect characteristics for a natural store of value and also exchange value. As metals were already used for armors and tools and had already the value within these products this kept advancing with the first coins to be pressed in ancient Greece 600 BC after which the metallic money kept advancing into more sophisticated forms such as the IOUs and also tender coinage bringing a practicable way to pay for goods and services.
The Metallic Money shaped into different forms like the IOUs where Goldsmiths backed the gold and gave people a trust which they can exchange in order to receive goods and services, so the people came to the goldsmith and bought basically gold for which they received the document to pay with. The only problem with this system was that the Goldsmiths created fake IOUs and kept spending them. Besides this form, there was the legal coinage in Rome for example with gold coins issued by the empire however the problem, in this case, was that it got debased over time as the people mixed more cheap metal like copper with the gold coins to get a higher supply, today it wont function so easily as it can be proved nevertheless in this time it marked a serious issue.
Paper Money (1690 till today):
The emerging paper money in fact marked a true change in the whole money system as now it was not possible to issue by everybody, now it was issued by a central authority whereas these authorities firstly existed private also the mission came more and more into central bank area. The first printed money was created in 1690 in the form of a bill of credit to serve as a promissory note by the government on its own credit, these bill of credits were unsecured paper money and at this time in the 17th to 18th century, it was still possible to have private money with private companies creating own bills with the individual exchange qualities to get into the circulation.
Till today many currencies have established holding the money as it is issued by certain central banks such as the US-Dollar by the Federal-Reserve-System or the EURO by the European-Central-Bank. The problem here is that this money is printed by will and the central banks have the ability to just print more when the time is needed to do so like it was seen in the corona crisis where the money sum moved exponentially to new heights. Although Paper Money is still omnipresent and used as a store of value as well as exchange value to there are important faults that need to be improved to keep a healthy economic balance and obtain continued stable money.
Plastic Money (1946 till today):
In the 20Th Century, the printed central bank money moved now into the account money especially backed by the payment providers in the individual credit or debit cards. The first bank-issued cards originated in 1946 as a Brooklyn banker created the charge-it card, these were forwarded to the bank account and then the service or good was released. In post-war times further cards followed and till now there established credit-card providers which issue credit or debit cards also with giving their own credits to people that can be paid back.
Cryptocurrency (2008 till today):
This is the very last money form and the most innovative so far, like Bitcoins, like they invented, are limited in supply and can only be created through the mining process and proof of work they provide a sustainable interface within the blockchain which transactions are scalable and easy to use for peer-to-peer-transactions. It is not a wonder that the cryptocurrency market since the beginnings expanded more and more and several other projects emerged, there are still many projects given however the market will likely sort the not innovative ones out. Cryptocurrency marks the point in the history of money evolution where money advanced significantly from its initial barter exchange system to cryptocurrency. This is a major step and as for now, central banks are looking also into cryptocurrency and blockchain technology to implement their own central-bank-digital-currencies. There are really not many contra-aspects like in the previously stated money forms as cryptocurrency improved all the issues that previously came up and also innovated increasingly above these.
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In this manner, this was my analysis about the evolution of money which is important as the money keeps on shaping as we see it especially in these times with cryptocurrency, it is also not unlikely that these technologies will improve further, and there comes something new that is more applicable and innovative however till now cryptocurrency serves as the highest quality money forms when comparing to the other money forms. Especially it is the case that all money forms still coexist today however mainly not applicable.
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In this manner, thank you everybody for watching, support the idea with a like and follow or comment, have a good day, and all the best to you!
Information provided is only educational and should not be used to take action in the markets.
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