Barter's been around longer than money. Each party in the trade has something the other party wants. No middleman. For scarcer, non-local trades, maybe there's

Barter's been around longer than money. Each party in the trade has something the other party wants. No middleman. For scarcer, non-local trades, maybe there's a long-distance bartering protocol waiting to be invented. Tell what you have and what you want, and wait. Optimizing trade chains might minimize shipping/handling (but take longer). Expect bankers not to like this.