{"id":12790,"date":"2025-06-05T15:52:28","date_gmt":"2025-06-05T13:52:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wsj-crypto.com\/?p=12790"},"modified":"2025-06-05T15:52:28","modified_gmt":"2025-06-05T13:52:28","slug":"a-journey-through-the-evolution-of-currency-from-ancient-coins-to-bitcoin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wsj-crypto.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/05\/a-journey-through-the-evolution-of-currency-from-ancient-coins-to-bitcoin\/","title":{"rendered":"A Journey Through the Evolution of Currency: From Ancient Coins to Bitcoin"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div data-v-60373258=\"\">\n<p>If currency isn\u2019t merely coins, notes, or even cryptocurrencies, what is it, truly? That\u2019s the inquiry at the core of this week\u2019s episode of<em> The Clear Crypto Podcast<\/em>, where hosts Nathan Jeffay (StarkWare) and Adrian Blust (Tonal Media) engage with Bill Maurer, the dean of the UC Irvine School of Social Sciences and a prominent anthropologist in finance.<\/p>\n<p><template data-ct-widget=\"buzzsprout\" data-buzzsprout-podcast-id=\"2464083\" data-buzzsprout-episode-id=\"17286160\"\/><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Returning to the origins<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>\u201cI typically start by revisiting history and discussing case studies like ancient Mesopotamia,\u201d Maurer stated.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He indicated that as he transitions into a discussion about blockchain or crypto, he refers to the rise of societies, and consequently, the eventual development of a currency framework. Nevertheless, in the beginning, it wasn\u2019t a token, coin, or banknote; it wasn\u2019t even something that was \u201ctransmitted hand to hand.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He elaborated:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cWhat they possessed was a sophisticated system for maintaining records.\u201d\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>For Maurer, that\u2019s pivotal for comprehending both ancient economies and contemporary digital currencies: \u201cmoney fundamentally serves as a means of documenting credits and debts, and that\u2019s all it has ever been.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Related: <\/strong><\/em><a data-ct-non-breakable=\"null\" href=\"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/news\/bitcoin-shrinking-supply-demand-shocks-sygnum\" title=\"null\"><em><strong>Bitcoin\u2019s diminishing supply might lead to price surge: Sygnum<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<h2><strong>The function of Bitcoin<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>While Bitcoin is frequently regarded as a novel form of digital currency or even celebrated as the new \u201cdigital gold,\u201d Maurer contests that perspective:\u00a0<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cAlthough the Bitcoin system acknowledges that money is a record-keeping action, it remains tethered to the notion that it is money in the guise of something akin to a coin.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Maurer perceives this as a lost opportunity. \u201cIt could foster an entirely different set of associations around data and value without necessitating the abstraction of it into the concept of money,\u201d he stated. \u201cYou might refer to it as rights to a segment of a ledger that continuously evolves moving forward in time.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The discourse also examines what blockchain discloses regarding how humans establish trust. \u201cWe are relational beings, not solitary beings,\u201d Maurer mentioned. \u201cWhat blockchain has pledged is a method of conceptualizing that sort of framework, while also accomplishing it in a decentralized manner.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To experience the complete dialogue on <em>The Clear Crypto Podcast<\/em>, tune in to the entire episode on Cointelegraph\u2019s Podcasts <a data-ct-non-breakable=\"null\" href=\"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/podcasts\/the-clear-crypto-podcast\" title=\"null\">page<\/a>, <a data-ct-non-breakable=\"null\" href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/the-clear-crypto-podcast\/id1805146224\" title=\"null\">Apple Podcasts<\/a> or <a data-ct-non-breakable=\"null\" href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/4i4rBWOIDNxM0MGathWIzQ\" title=\"null\">Spotify<\/a>. And remember to explore Cointelegraph\u2019s complete assortment of additional shows!\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><a data-ct-non-breakable=\"null\" href=\"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/magazine\/us-government-strategic-bitcoin-reserve-pakistan-btc-price-jan3-samson-mow\/\" title=\"null\"><em><strong>Magazine: US faces the risk of being \u2018front run\u2019 on Bitcoin reserve by other nations \u2014 Samson Mow<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p><template data-name=\"subscription_form\" data-type=\"crypto_biz\" data-ct-non-breakable=\"undefined\" label=\"Subscription Form: Crypto Biz Newsletter\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/cointelegraph.com\/news\/from-clay-tablets-to-crypto-rethinking-money-in-the-age-of-blockchain?utm_source=rss_feed&#038;utm_medium=rss&#038;utm_campaign=rss_partner_inbound\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>If currency isn\u2019t merely coins, notes, or even cryptocurrencies, what is it, truly? That\u2019s the inquiry at the core of this week\u2019s episode of The Clear Crypto Podcast, where hosts Nathan Jeffay (StarkWare) and Adrian Blust (Tonal Media) engage with Bill Maurer, the dean of the UC Irvine School of Social Sciences and a prominent<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":12791,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[2646],"class_list":["post-12790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bitcoin","tag-gptreturn-a-list-of-comma-separated-tags-from-this-title-money-examined-from-ancient-times-to-bitcoin-gpt"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A Journey Through the Evolution of Currency: From Ancient Coins to Bitcoin - WSJ-Crypto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/wsj-crypto.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/05\/a-journey-through-the-evolution-of-currency-from-ancient-coins-to-bitcoin\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"it_IT\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Journey Through the Evolution of Currency: From Ancient Coins to Bitcoin - WSJ-Crypto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"If currency isn\u2019t merely coins, notes, or even cryptocurrencies, what is it, truly? 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