Over time, the perception of the value that society places on money has changed. This, in part, occurs because society becomes more complex. When goods began to be exchanged in order to buy certain products, bartering was a fundamental part.
Instead, with the appearance of cryptocurrencies , these are emerging to be the most used currency internationally. You have probably heard about them in the news, or a friend has told you that he has bought Ripple , Dogecoin or Bitcoin. This new world of digital currencies is becoming more and more fashionable and there is a lot of expectation about it.
The future of money is uncertain, but there are theories that say that over the years, banks or governments will not decide how much money is issued to the market, but that there will be a fixed amount or demand itself will dictate it.
What happens today?
Progress in different areas of society has been increasing its speed since the last century. This advance has brought us to this moment, in which we find ourselves with some uncertainty about the process of accepting a new type of currency.
And although digital transactions have freed us from the weight of cash for several decades, cryptocurrencies are completely digital, without physical representations. To understand its progress, and the path that cryptocurrencies must travel, it is necessary to observe the development of the concept of money.
Precious objects
Barter accompanied society for thousands of years, and the first coins were actually products considered valuable by all members of a specific city or town. In this article you can know what is the origin of money .
For example, we can mention salt or cocoa. Subsequently, different civilizations developed metal coins. The use of these was generalized through the conquests and demonstrating their usefulness and value.
Little by little, each society developed a trustworthy monetary system. Not only was the precious metal used as a substitute for valuables, but society agreed that that amount of metal had the same value for everyone.
From metal to paper
In the late 18th century, the need slowly arose to represent amounts of money in more practical methods. This begins to happen, when a huge number of coins could not be moved, or it was impracticable to issue an excessive number of promissory notes.
After this problem, the answer that gave rise to the current banknotes arose. The banks issued these papers with a certain value in order to be exchanged for coins in some other city. And, agreeing to their value, people began to exchange them with each other because of the confidence that the bank would deliver the coins to them.
From paper to the digital age
The beginning of the change from traditional money to digital money has been gradual.
First, gold ceases to be the axis of the international monetary system, and subsequently there ceases to be a gold backing for each currency. This allows governments to issue coins without backing.
Afterwards, the so-called bank books are digitized and monetary value can be transferred digitally. Cryptocurrencies go a step further, generating currencies that do not depend on any government, that can be exchanged without the need for banks to intervene, and in some of them, a limited number of monetary units is established.
Now, it is the world society that has the power to put its trust in these new currencies and make their use more widespread. Who knows if tomorrow they will be the predominant currencies.