In this episode of Bitcoin Study Sessions, Grant and Lucas discuss Lynn Alden's book "Broken Money," focusing on the introduction and the first two chapters, which cover the foundation of money as a ledger and the evolution of commodities as money.
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Summary:
The discussion begins with an overview of the broken monetary systems across the globe, including Lebanon, Nigeria, Egypt, Turkey, Argentina, Brazil, Europe, and Japan. All of which are facing similar economic problems due to the inflating of the existing currencies. Even in the United States, there is significant inflation, and the Federal Reserve's actions have worldwide impacts. Alden's book emphasizes the role of new technology in disrupting global financial orders, arguing that money is essentially a ledger.
The discussion moves to chapter one, which defines money as a ledger. A ledger is a summary of transactions that keeps track of ownership. Even pre-writing, ledgers existed as systems of credit and oral traditions of swapped favors, enhancing social standing within communities. These social ledgers relied on trust and reputation within known social networks and were limited in use to this scope. The need for money arises when interactions occur with unknown individuals, leading to the problem of barter, which requires a double coincidence of wants. Money solves this by providing an item always in demand. Early forms of money, like shells and beads, were durable, portable, universally desirable, and scarce. These serve as a decentralized ledger, updated by physical possession, and maintained by the laws of nature.
Chapter two delves into the evolution of commodities as money, stating that good money makes economic interactions more efficient. Money provides a common medium of exchange and a store of value. To function effectively, commodity money should be divisible, portable, durable, fungible, verifiable, scarce, and have utility. Scarcity, defined by the stock-to-flow ratio, is crucial for money. A high stock-to-flow ratio indicates scarcity, which is essential to prevent rapid inflation. Because of the characteristics of commodity money, there's a monetary premium that is placed on top of commodity money, and because of this it will typically be hyper optimized until the system is destroyed.
The hosts discuss the impact of technology on commodity money. Shell money was effective for thousands of years but became unworkable with the Industrial Revolution due to technology increases. Similarly, furs, livestock, salt, and tobacco became unsustainable as money due to technological advancements that increased their production and devalued them. The Pacific island of Yap's use of large stones as currency was also disrupted when Westerners used better technology to quarry and transport the stones more efficiently. The chapter concludes with a brief mention of Diablo 2, where the Stone of Jordan became a commodity money, but then was rendered useless when it was able to be hacked and mass produced.
Our next discussion will cover chapters 3 & 4.
