MONEY

![img_0.5469543617304069.jpg](https://images.ecency.com/DQmWrLvfnDFM82ce858RnVSt8J8RfeG8EVZNdBcKr53r3pV/img_0.5469543617304069.jpg) [unsplash](https://unsplash.com/s/photos/money) For a fact, and through ages, money makes the world go around, it's known that money is the ruth of all evil, but it is always also the root of joy and fufillment. It has existed from the beginning of man. It's a fact that money originated from natural factors and not artificial or economic factors. >from tribute as well as from trade, from blood-money and bride-money as well as from barter, from ceremonial and religious rites as well as from commerce, from ostentatious ornamentation as well as from acting as the common drudge between economic men. As for me I really like money, not love though😄. I come from a long generation of money seekers and lovers hence my surname "EZEGO" which means "THE KING OF MONEY" in my local dialect igbo in the eastern part of Nigeria. Growing up, the mere thought of using money fascinated me a lot, I just couldn't wait to get a grasp of mine. In this article, we will be discussing about money!. It's past and future.

MEANING OF MONEY

Let's look at different definitions of money according to different people and groups. > Money is a medium of exchange; it allows people to obtain what they need to live. It's that simple, but yet it pulls a lot of weight. Trade by barter was one significant way people of old exchanged goods and services amongst each others unlike now where we have notes, coins and even crypto currency . ![img_0.2651093503895712.jpg](https://images.ecency.com/DQmUa5LDh1Lhrwjte29fQJSCSaUvxW9TZLVwSzqJ7HJd1jD/img_0.2651093503895712.jpg) [unsplash](https://unsplash.com/s/photos/money) > Money is an economic unit that functions as a generally recognized medium of exchange for transactional purposes in an economy. Money provides the service of reducing transaction cost, namely the double coincidence of wants. Money originates in the form of a commodity, having a physical property to be adopted by market participants as a medium of exchange. Money can be: market-determined, officially issued legal tender or fiat moneys, money substitutes and fiduciary media, and electronic cryptocurrencies. This is the economic definition of money. Money must be recognised generally as an acceptable medium of fair exchange around the world, money solves the never ending stream of wants and problems in man's life. From the beginning of time money has always had value like gold and precious stones, it had to have value because it was said to represent something special or precious for people. ![img_0.5492210376405554.jpg](https://images.ecency.com/DQmcntm45mg8LkRxq1DWpG6zYR1Afx5dXPcqfkSVLPP7eFq/img_0.5492210376405554.jpg) [source](https://unsplash.com/s/photos/gold-bars) >Above all, a money is a unit of account - a socially accepted standard unit with which things are priced.

COMMODITY MONEY

This simply means a type of good that serves as money. For example in the early 18th century American colonists used corn to trade. This type of money had the general characteristics of been widely needed, hence it becomes valuable and it's then needed by everybody and generally accepted everywhere. yet it remains portable,durable and can easily be sorted. Gold and silver is another advanced type of commodity money, it had and still has value based on humans perception about it, it dosen't satisfy hunger, it cannot be eaten and it definitely can't cure diseases, but it is beautiful and people handle it know it is beautiful. >gold is precious, purely because people want it, it is not necessarily useful or needed. Majority of people think and know it is very beautiful, so it is highly sort after.

MONEY OF OLD

In the olden days transactions where done mainly through trade by barter. But this process proved rather hectic and hard. For example if a trader had water melons and goats, and he needed bananas, he would have to find another trader who wanted his water melon and goats in exchange for some bananas. This was very hectic as was a difficult task to accomplish. In Africa different Items where used as money to exchange goods and services, in the Igbo land in the eastern part of Nigeria where am from, cowries, pearls and beads where used as money before currencies where adopted. ![img_0.4795456648354511.jpg](https://images.ecency.com/DQmW8wAzmm2ShEWBpsVunktD1jVZpxvm3amS6VLsJT58Dqm/img_0.4795456648354511.jpg) [source](https://www.google.com/search?q=trade+by+barter&client=ms-android-transsion-infinix-rev1&prmd=invx&sxsrf=AOaemvI0qiDd9W1z5eA5A2jFAOehOqSkvA:1634853791371&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjh2_n7wNzzAhVD6uAKHeENAVEQ_AUoAXoECAIQAQ&biw=360&bih=624&dpr=2) Apart from trade by barter, as time passed on humans learnt to adopt the use of Familiar durable materials like animal skin, salt and weapons as currencies to pull of trades. One of the significant achievements of money is the speed it grants to business transactions. >Sometime around 770 B.C., the Chinese moved from using actual usable objects–such as tools and weapons–as a medium of exchange to using miniature replicas of these same objects that had been cast in bronze. Due to impracticality–nobody wants to reach into their pocket and impale their hand on a sharp arrow–these tiny daggers, spades, and hoes were eventually abandoned for objects in the shape of a circle. These objects became some of the first coins.In 600 B.C., Lydia's King Alyattes minted the first official currency. The coins were made from electrum, a mixture of silver and gold that occurs naturally, and the coins were stamped with pictures that acted as denominations. In the streets of Sardis, in approximately 600 B.C., a clay jar might cost you two owls and a snake. Lydia's currency helped the country increase both its internal and external trading systems, making it one of the richest empires in Asia Minor. (Today, when someone says, "as rich as Croesus", they are referring to the last Lydian king who minted the first gold coin In around 700BC China moved from using coins to paper money, although different parts of Europe still maintained the use of coin, the colonial efforts helped to push and bring to form the use of paper currency. Banks started adopting the use of paper money. It could be changed in banks to their equivalent in solid metal(gold/silver). However this currencies where issued by banks and private institutions and not the government. ![img_0.9012138270884307.jpg](https://images.ecency.com/DQmUPY2WKEYgVahhoNS1LX8RveRCafhdbkehWMpDMShEnxb/img_0.9012138270884307.jpg) [source](https://unsplash.com/s/photos/money) >The first paper currency issued by European governments was actually issued by colonial governments in North America. Because shipments between Europe and the North American colonies took so long

VIRTUAL MONEY

![img_0.29795223645042007.jpg](https://images.ecency.com/DQmTNXZgS4euegW3hf7Mi6aippHyRpmrjNDy3r71RYTRasc/img_0.29795223645042007.jpg) [source](https://www.google.com/search?q=virtual+currency&client=ms-android-transsion-infinix-rev1&prmd=nivx&sxsrf=AOaemvKziWk4Nh3bcKdDBAI0pTvcdoR4Kg:1634856535514&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj_7rqYy9zzAhU6DGMBHVzZCg4Q_AUoAnoECAMQAg&biw=360&bih=624&dpr=2#imgrc=sxbzrpoOHC_HmM) In the present days, money has evolved to a different level entirely, as it has gone digital. BITCOIN OR HIVE is an example of virtual money, they can't be seen physically or touched but they are not less powerful than the paper or coin. >The appeal of virtual currency is it offers the promise of lower transaction fees than traditional online payment mechanisms, and virtual currencies are operated by a decentralized authority, unlike government-issued currencies.