Stone Ledger
The Island That Used Giant Rocks as Bitcoin
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Beschreibung
The money was at the bottom of the sea, but he was still rich. Because the village agreed he was.
Centuries before blockchain, the people of Yap in Micronesia solved the problem of money in a genius way. They used "Rai stones"—limestone discs up to twelve feet wide. They were too heavy to move, so ownership was simply agreed upon by the community. One famous stone sank to the bottom of the ocean during transport, yet everyone agreed it still existed and could still be spent.
"The Stone Ledger" uses this fascinating anthropological case to deconstruct what money actually is: a system of trust and information, not physical value. It draws a direct line from the stone money of Yap to the digital ledgers of cryptocurrency, showing that the concept of "virtual money" is not a modern invention, but an ancient human truth.
Autor*in
Niall F. Ferguson
Author
Themen in »Stone Ledger«
finance history money yap islands rai stones