🧵 A Brief History of Money – According to a Bitcoin Wiseass and Self-Proclaimed Monetary Philosopher 🍺💸
1/ 📜 Ledger
The earliest forms of money were basically just informal promises – like social IOUs for favors or good deeds, either remembered or locally written down. This worked in tight-knit groups where trust and reputation mattered. But it didn’t scale to larger communities.
2/ 🪙 Tokens
When trust breaks down, physical objects step in. Rare, labor-intensive, and often decorative items – shells, pearls, stone disks, metal rings. Their value was usually more symbolic than purely material.
3/ 🥇 Precious Metals
As civilizations and trade grew, people needed a universal medium of exchange. Enter gold and silver – rare, durable, divisible, and easy to verify. The first coins were born, and so were the first attempts at debasement – rulers started “cutting” the metal content when they needed more cash for ⚔️ and 🏰.
4/ 💰 Gold-Backed Currencies
As trade went global, lugging around metal coins got old. Enter paper currencies backed by gold – “Let’s just pretend this piece of paper is as good as the gold it stands for.” This worked… until bankers started printing more notes than they had gold in their vaults.
5/ 📝 Centralized Ledgers
Physical tokens hit their limits in the age of globalization and instant communication. So we came full circle, back to ledgers, but this time controlled by governments and their banks. Currencies go digital, transactions get logged in closed, easily manipulated databases.
6/ 💵 Fiat Money
In the aftermath of World War I, governments began to loosen their ties to gold – it was just too restrictive for central planners with a soft spot for printing money. What started as a sneaky trick of counterfeiters turned into the backbone of a whole new economic theory. The result? Some of the worst inflations and currency crises in history.
7/ 🟠 An Incorruptible Global Ledger
An open ledger that no one can tamper with or game. A return to the roots, but without the need for any trust. Neutral money – a nightmare for those who profit from the old, rigged system.
1/ 📜 Ledger
The earliest forms of money were basically just informal promises – like social IOUs for favors or good deeds, either remembered or locally written down. This worked in tight-knit groups where trust and reputation mattered. But it didn’t scale to larger communities.
2/ 🪙 Tokens
When trust breaks down, physical objects step in. Rare, labor-intensive, and often decorative items – shells, pearls, stone disks, metal rings. Their value was usually more symbolic than purely material.
3/ 🥇 Precious Metals
As civilizations and trade grew, people needed a universal medium of exchange. Enter gold and silver – rare, durable, divisible, and easy to verify. The first coins were born, and so were the first attempts at debasement – rulers started “cutting” the metal content when they needed more cash for ⚔️ and 🏰.
4/ 💰 Gold-Backed Currencies
As trade went global, lugging around metal coins got old. Enter paper currencies backed by gold – “Let’s just pretend this piece of paper is as good as the gold it stands for.” This worked… until bankers started printing more notes than they had gold in their vaults.
5/ 📝 Centralized Ledgers
Physical tokens hit their limits in the age of globalization and instant communication. So we came full circle, back to ledgers, but this time controlled by governments and their banks. Currencies go digital, transactions get logged in closed, easily manipulated databases.
6/ 💵 Fiat Money
In the aftermath of World War I, governments began to loosen their ties to gold – it was just too restrictive for central planners with a soft spot for printing money. What started as a sneaky trick of counterfeiters turned into the backbone of a whole new economic theory. The result? Some of the worst inflations and currency crises in history.
7/ 🟠 An Incorruptible Global Ledger
An open ledger that no one can tamper with or game. A return to the roots, but without the need for any trust. Neutral money – a nightmare for those who profit from the old, rigged system.