“Our made up internet imaginary money is better than the governments’ made up Internet imaginary money. Both of them are only backed by the shared fiction of the humans believing that they have value” ─ Richard Heart in the documentary “The Highest of Stakes”
Coins, banknotes, credit cards, rows of numbers written in your bank account… have you ever wondered what money really is? It is nothing more than a medium of value that enables the exchange of goods and services, informs on the price of products and provides a means of storing wealth. Money is a unit of account that is a socially accepted standard by which things are valued and by which payments are made. Money and currency according to some definitions are not identical concepts. Money is an intangible concept, while currency is a physical medium that merely expresses the concept of money. Money has undergone a huge evolution: from barter involving bullion or furs, through the first coins, to banknotes and credit cards. Let us take a closer look at the history of money and banking, from antiquity to modern times.