Ever since the dawn of civilization, people have moved from barter to using money as means of procuring goods. Since those times, money as a concept has endured and will continue to do so in the future. Although money, as currency, has evolved over the years. Mankind has gone from haggling with livestock and services to purchasing items using coins made of precious metals such as gold, silver, and copper.
However, today’s money has no real value – per se. Each currency used today is just pretty pictures and numbers on a piece of paper that only has worth as long as there is a government reserve backing it. After all, we still use it and exchange goods and services for it – the only difference is that its value is fictional rather than real. So, we have some idea of how money came about. But what is money going to look like in the future? Let’s find out.
Is paper money obsolete?
The concept of money is always the same. You have something of worth and you exchange it for something of equal value. For example, you exchange a hundred-dollar bill for a new TV. The currency is what changes and evolves overtime. For instance, people used to exchange a cow for a new horse. Later on, one copper coin would get you a loaf of bread, while a few silver coins would get you a goat or two.
Nowadays, we use paper money to make transactions and we also use money in digital form such as credit cards for online transactions. However, a lot of people still prefer to use cash instead of converting their paper money into electronics. So, is paper money obsolete? Not by a long shot.The main reason is that paper money backs electronic transactions the same way gold used to back paper money and because the value we placed on money won’t fade away anytime soon.
The evolution of currency
Technology has, in a lot of ways, changed the way we live today. It has also changed the way we buy and sell things, meaning that technology is driving the next stage in the evolution chain of currencies. Furthermore, people are more interested in electronic transactions and they tend to have less cash on them. In addition, cryptocurrencies are becoming more and more popular,where people can buy digital currency online and exchange it for all kinds of goods.
That brings us to the question of why we simply can’t get rid of the paper nuisance and barter in cryptographic currencies. The answer to that lies in the government. To governments, digital currencies are unstable and they have an issue with the storage of value for them. Moreover, as long as governments are charging taxes, they have the right to say which currencies you can pay taxes with.
What does the future hold?
There’s no mistake that cryptocurrencies will be the next stage in the concept of money. However, it’s going to take some time before we get there. Sure, electronic transactions are a lot more common than paper money transactions these days. But, we still don’t have a working system to completely transition to digital currencies. You may be wondering why? It’s simple – paper money transactions are still free, while electronic transactions aren’t. For instance, an ATM charges you a fee to withdraw money when you need cash. There are also fees for credit card purchases. Even some online transactions demand fees so that the middleman can have their share. In short, there is no system that will allow free electronic transactions and while that’s the case, digital currencies simply won’t be able to replace paper money as the main currency.
We live in a digital age and our money should also be digital. However, things aren’t as simple as they may seem and we still have a long road ahead of us, until we digitalize our currencies for good. How long will that take remains to be seen.
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