> But if you really want to call this a currency, you have to convince a government to use it as an official currency Since when does a currency have to come f

> But if you really want to call this a currency, you have to convince a government to use it as an official currency Since when does a currency have to come from a government? People used representative money in forms of IOUs before those were formally issued by governments. Sure, we've moved to government-issued fiat since, because it solved a coordination problem (how do you ensure the value of money doesn't unpredictably change), but that's just one possible solution now.