• Victoria Antoinette @lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    tally sticks were debt tokens. people used them as money out of convenience, and would exchange them for cash if it was possible.

    • BradleyUffner@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      An easy way to tell if it’s “real” money or not is to see if goods are ever priced directly in it, where it isn’t just directly indexed to the exchange rate of an established currency.

      Hint: Even places that accept crypto payments don’t do this. The crypto price fluctuates based on the moment by moment exchange rate to the local currency.

      • Victoria Antoinette @lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        tally sticks denoted debt in Britain, and were used directly as money out of convenience, but they were themselves denoted in roman currency iirc.

        • Rekorse@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          5 months ago

          Can I ask what the point of arguing semantics here is?

          Maybe you have put in the effort to figure out all the avenues to use bitcoin to pay for things, but its not easy and you sound more like a drug addict scrounging for metal and bottles, and then wondering why noone else is interested in your hustle.

          Why do you care if people call bitcoin real or not anyways? For most people its not real, for you I guess it is, does that make sense?

          • Victoria Antoinette @lemmy.world
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            5 months ago

            if someone is making a semantic argument it’s those who won’t accept that Bitcoin is money as surely as any other form of money we have ever used.

            • Rekorse@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              5 months ago

              What’s the difference between something having monetary value and it being currency then?

              I dont see the difference between the bitcoin I could buy drugs with online, and the ps2 I trade my weed dealer 15 years ago for drugs.

              I dont understand what greater point there is to be had here besides, “well technically anything is currency”.

      • Victoria Antoinette @lemmy.world
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        5 months ago

        sumerians denoted everything in silver shekels but trade was done will all manner of commodities, including barley grains. your theory of money sounds like it comes from the Adam Smith cult.

        • hark@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          Are barley grains a currency? I’m not understanding your argument here. In a practical sense, cryptocurrencies are far too volatile to use as a currency and the “stable” coins are tied to things like the US dollar. Well, I should say allegedly tied because “stable” coins like tether haven’t been audited to actually prove it’s tied to the underlying.