4 ms·

Currencies dont really work at the "may the best one win" level, especially with so much political power behind it. You have a dominant one which stays dominant

Currencies dont really work at the "may the best one win" level, especially with so much political power behind it. You have a dominant one which stays dominant till it implodes. Then people fall back to the next best thing. You dont need to be attractive, it just has to work.

danShumway 5y ago
If your strategy is "we will be the only currency remaining after every other fiat is gone, and then people will use our currency even though they hate it because they have no other option", then I have bad news for you about the future of Bitcoin. If your perspective is that Bitcoin isn't going to be a ubiquitous alternative to the USD for general purchases until after the government collapses and no longer has the political power to prop up the dollar, then I have bad news for you about your currency's usefulness as an anti-authoritarian weapon/tool.
throw0101a 5y ago
How global currencies work past, present, and future by Eichengreen has a good history of currencies (from a European perspective). There were a few times when there were multiple currencies being used, and the ones used were the ones related to the countries who had the largest trade networks / 'colonies'. Of course credit was used a lot as well over long distances so folks didn't have to lug things around (Debt: the first 5,000 years by Graeber). Various cities vied between each other for the most transactions and business; Capitals of capital by Cassis has a modern era history. Before that, gold and silver were often used as lowest common denominators internationally. See The power of gold: the history of an obsession by Bernstein for that. However metals weren't used everywhere: e.g., China used paper currencies for many years, and giant rocks where used in Micronesia: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rai_stones https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rai_stones Money: the true story of a made-up thing by Goldstein has a good pop-history overview. Power often didn't come into play for currency choice, and neither did things "implode" as opposed to a gradual shifting in preference amongst currency users.
- cf141q5325 5y ago
  You start with an actual store of value that gets degraded over time through the people holding power over it (think mints). The coin starts with a high silver or gold content and with ever economic woe the ruler finds themselves in a new coin gets minted with some copper and tin added. Or just prints more. Power comes into play as to dictating what currency people are forced to use. That the old coins had to be handed back in or dictating the adaptation. They implode when there is nothing backing it what so ever. At its core its Greshams law at work, with currencies or with other store of values. If i am not mistaken Graeber has quite a few examples of this mechanism.

danShumway 5y ago

If your strategy is "we will be the only currency remaining after every other fiat is gone, and then people will use our currency even though they hate it because they have no other option", then I have bad news for you about the future of Bitcoin. If your perspective is that Bitcoin isn't going to be a ubiquitous alternative to the USD for general purchases until after the government collapses and no longer has the political power to prop up the dollar, then I have bad news for you about your currency's usefulness as an anti-authoritarian weapon/tool.

throw0101a 5y ago

How global currencies work past, present, and future by Eichengreen has a good history of currencies (from a European perspective). There were a few times when there were multiple currencies being used, and the ones used were the ones related to the countries who had the largest trade networks / 'colonies'. Of course credit was used a lot as well over long distances so folks didn't have to lug things around (Debt: the first 5,000 years by Graeber). Various cities vied between each other for the most transactions and business; Capitals of capital by Cassis has a modern era history. Before that, gold and silver were often used as lowest common denominators internationally. See The power of gold: the history of an obsession by Bernstein for that. However metals weren't used everywhere: e.g., China used paper currencies for many years, and giant rocks where used in Micronesia: * https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rai_stones https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rai_stones Money: the true story of a made-up thing by Goldstein has a good pop-history overview. Power often didn't come into play for currency choice, and neither did things "implode" as opposed to a gradual shifting in preference amongst currency users.

cf141q5325 5y ago
You start with an actual store of value that gets degraded over time through the people holding power over it (think mints). The coin starts with a high silver or gold content and with ever economic woe the ruler finds themselves in a new coin gets minted with some copper and tin added. Or just prints more. Power comes into play as to dictating what currency people are forced to use. That the old coins had to be handed back in or dictating the adaptation. They implode when there is nothing backing it what so ever. At its core its Greshams law at work, with currencies or with other store of values. If i am not mistaken Graeber has quite a few examples of this mechanism.