Dollars are just worthless bits of paper. The government prints them to pay the bills. The supply always goes up. Why would you give any value to these notes which will end up beinig in infite supply? You might as well value the sand on the beach.
You value them because everyone else does. You can spend them. The guy who receives them believes they are valuable too.
If you are alone on a desert island with dollars, they’re worthless. You can’t eat them, or buy anything. If there are 100 natives who only trade in Cowrie shells, your dollars are still worthless. Your dollars still have no believers.
The obvious way to give your dollars some value is create some price volatility. Set up a stall quoting $2 for a Cowrie shell, on day one, $10 on day two, and $5 on day three, and you will soon have some native willing to try and take advantage of your crazy pricing. As soon as the first native takes your dollars for Cowrie shells, all your dollars have a value.
(See my next posting on bitcoin. It’s the volatility which gives it value.)