1. The History of Money

The future of money is unfolding at a dizzying pace, with the arrival of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum and new concepts like decentralised finance representing the sort of financial innovation we can expect to see over the coming decades. But in order to understand this latest iteration of the future of money, it is instructive to gaze all the way back through recorded history to identify the ideas, trends, and developments that gave shape to today’s digital era. In this chapter, we explore some of the definitive practices that shaped trade, banking, commerce, and finance over the centuries, from the importance of bartering to some of the primitive forms of value and exchange over the years. We also take a look at major ancient civilisations like the Chinese, Greeks, and Romans to identify the impact that those societies had on the development of money, before exploring some of the religious and philosophical connections with finance. From the roots of the first forms of money to the release of the Bitcoin whitepaper, this chapter will provide a clear overview of every significant development in the history of money to this point in time.