How did the idea of currency come into existence? Why do we assign money value? Today we talk about a brief history of how modern currency came about.

“If tomorrow we all decided money was worth nothing, it would be worth nothing.”

In this episode:

• Early bartering for goods and services [1:00]

• Complexity of determining equal worth becomes unsustainable for bartering [6:00]

• Money exists based on our shared agreement on its value [9:00]

• Money is an exchange of value and is required for complex markets to work correctly [15:00]

• The birth of coins through precious metals stamped with the seal of the king [18:00]

• Las Vegas payouts in chips and why they have value [24:00]

• The Gold Standard [29:00]

• Basic principles: it’s convertible, we trust its shared value [32:00]

• Is money the root of all evil? [36:30]

• Free market decides value [41:00]

• Value of Bitcoin is based on what? [43:00]

• Gambling: how do they make money? [46:00]

• Getting paid and paying in cash [52:00]