Good morning or Good evening if you’re on the other side of the globe.
Question : Why is Bitcoin worth 2300$ ? Is it just the supply and demand system ?
In fact, where does the money value come from, how did humanity create money ?
‘I’ll give you my banana for your little peach’
350 BC Aristotle said in Politics books that an object has 2 purposes : its original function and its value to be traded.
For example you could use a spoon to eat or you could exchange this spoon with somebody for something else which has the same value. It’s called barter.
In 6000 BC Mesopotamian tribes started to use barter to exchange goods located into cities across the ocean. Goods like cattle were exchanged for salt, spices or fruits.
It was common to use a cow as currency. You could trade a cow in exchange for fabric for example … not very efficient for a currency don’t you think ? ( this makes me think about the british sterling… only usable in the UK )
With the appearance of money ( coins and notes ) the barter became just better organized and used in times of crisis :
In the Middle age there was a resurgence of barter because metallic coins were scarce,
In 1930 : During the great depression barter was used again for foods or services.
Today, Barter is still alive in the Middle eastern country of Oman (http://www.abroadabroad.com/2015/02/20/bartering-for-cows-and-goats-at-the-ancient-cattle-market-of-nizwa/)
I would like to end this first post about the money’s origin with a reflexion, what is money ? Nothing per ser, it is just something used by people to exchange goods. If money is nothing, money is everything. Could we say that Cattle, Salt, Gold, USD and bitcoins are the same : a kind of barter, a currency ?