Each one of us is defined by our very own story. What makes us the person we are today, is the cumulative result of what lessons we have learned in the past. Similar to a human context, the evolution of Cryptocurrency also has a story to tell.
So, here I am trying my best, to decode it for you.
The story dates back to the beginning of human civilization, it’s the time when we used the barter system as a means of exchange. It was also the time when debits and Credits were kept in our heads as a mental ledger.
If trade were to happen between different states, there has to be an exchange of some scalable commodity. To cater to this demand commodity Monies came into existence.
There were many commodities but to qualify as commodity money there were 5 characteristics. It should be scarce, recognizable, divisible, fungible, and portable.
The 5 characteristics, for a commodity to be used as an exchange, in older times is very much relevant today to the cryptocurrency also. These characteristics are as follows:
1. Scarcity, all the cryptocurrencies are limited to a certain amount. For example Only a countable amount of 21 million Bitcoins exist today.
2. Recognizable, you cannot feel or touch a digital currency but you can keep it safe in your hard drive.
3. Divisible, trading of any cryptocurrency might or might not take place in its absolute numeric value. For example, you can buy a .05 amount of Ether.
4. Fungible. Although there is no intrinsic value associated with the digital currency it can be pegged to any fiat currency. For example, you can sell all your dogecoin in exchange for a dollar
5. Portable, what better than digital portable money.
History might not repeat itself, but it sure rhymes in a much more loud way.
0 Comments