Future of Money: Will We Become Crypto Coins?
By Mirko Kikovic on ALTCOIN MAGAZINE
The past and the future of money is to be the medium of exchange as a perfect denominator for the value of goods.
But what happens when the value changes rapidly?
Amid the battle in Shakespeare’s play, King Richard III was shouting “My Kingdom for a horse!” This phrase suggests that something insignificant can hold a high value depending on a person and a set of circumstances.
The exchange of goods dates from ancient history, similarly to the term work-week. Initially, work-week was a time between two exchange days on the local market. Although the world accepted Hebrews five-days’ work-week, Chinese and Incas work-week lasted for ten days!
Nowadays we trade every day without impediment, especially with E-commerce and digital payments. But what is the future of money if it isn’t only replacing the existing model with the digital?
What if the future money algorithm could calculate the objective value of goods? Furthermore, what if you can pay with the unique personal coin that represents all your worth, both material and social?
Perceived vs. actual value
Since you were a kid, you were deciding upon the price by comparing it to the price of other goods you need. For example, the candy had the same worth as three packages of stickers. However, I bet that opening the package of stickers during the World Cup was sweeter than candy.
It was the same throughout history. The whole idea of scarcity or any unavailability makes goods more valuable. For example, Roman emperor Tiberius in 14AD forbade men wearing silk due to the export-import deficit.
At the time, Romans didn’t know the secret of a “silk bug.” They thought that Chinese extract leaves from the “silk tree” that couldn’t grow in ancient Rome. As a result of mystery and inability, the price of the silk became high. Similar to showing off on social media was walking around dressed in silk in Rome these days.
Furthermore, the perceived value of silk made it available only for those exchanging vast amount of gold for a piece of fabric. In the end, Tiberius banned wearing silk.
History repeats since people tend to measure themselves to others. Our genes hold data that being stronger means that you will survive in the event of struggle with another being. But it is also the matter of perspective — as David said that Goliath is “too big to miss.”
Still, the difference between the actual and perceived value is the profit driver for the marketing industry. You can notice how people react to discount offers as to earnings (although they paid for something they might not need).
In their mind, they gained the difference between the actual and perceived value. And by getting the discount, they have a feeling of filling the gap between real and perceived value, deceiving themselves.
The future of money vs. work-week
The world holds many irregularities. Still, it is not so hard to be in the 1% of the world in terms of wealth. If you are living in North America, you could be a high school teacher to reach that goal! And famous American author Tim Ferris state that you can achieve it by a “4 hours work week.”
At the same time, the average wealth in Africa is 100 times lower when we compare to those ranked 1%. If there wasn’t “4 hours work week” book, one could think that being in 1% is due to the hard work only.
As mentioned, the work-week was the longest in South America but the shortest in Africa — only four days long. Both continents had prosperous civilizations — “communist” Incas and the legendary wealth of Kush and Axum. And both developed in harsh climate conditions, but with different work weeks.
Nowadays, the world uses Hebrews five days’ work-week since the Romans copied it. But similar to Romans, we are stuck with another denominator for work — hours per week. And it opens another question — how much you charge your hour? Combine this with the perceived value, and we will face much more irregularities.
Knowing that the working week was nothing but the social construct based on market days, we can finally abandon this concept. We can rely on E-commerce and the ability to trade whenever as a massive improvement to ancient trading days. Then we can work when we want to and deliver at our own pace.
But, can we go a step further and create the future of the money vs work ratio?
Personal Cryptocurrency
Nowadays, any society or group of individuals can craft its coin. Although it was Sci-Fi only ten years ago, it is viable due to digitalizing and securing the currency by the blockchain technology.
The latest rise of cryptocurrency and crypto collectibles is proving that the concept of money is still evolving. So, what would be the future of money?
If we put our hopes in the technology, it is possible that the algorithm will calculate and pay an actual price for your bread. By calculating the value of your work or your property you could exchange value with your baker. No worries, you wouldn’t work for him. He will receive your currency from the pool that pays him for his work.
Sounds impossible? Well, people were exchanging goods between each other before money.
For example, your ancestor gave goose to the blacksmith. At the same time, he demanded grains from the farmer. And it was because the farmer got his tools from the blacksmith. Perfect, right? The only problem of this model was the inability to calculate and remember who owns who.
But, as personal computers fit our pockets, we can solve the problem of memory and calculating the value. It is a matter of time when the future of money would be no money at all. In that time, all of us will be coins, exchanging pieces of our value to receive the value from others. And measured by your social proof or superb skills, you might reach 1% by working from Africa.
As objective data reporting would substitute perceived value, the ability to deceive others will be a thing of the past.
Of course, our property (and ourselves) would be secure more than ever thanks to blockchain. And if we hold something rare, like stickers from our childhood, the algorithm will show their worth.
Imagine that you have chosen sticker over candy and that you can exchange it now for a real estate. Or a horse. Whatever you need.
