A short history of money
Barter, commodity money, coinage, the gold standard, and fiat. The 5,000-year arc.
Money is a technology, and like all technologies it has evolved. Understanding that evolution is the shortest path to understanding why gold keeps returning as a monetary anchor.
Commodity money
Grain, cattle, salt, shells — societies experimented for millennia before settling on metals. Gold and silver won on durability, divisibility, and scarcity.
Coinage and the gold standard
Coined money emerged around 600 BC in Lydia. Two and a half millennia later, the classical gold standard (1871–1914) tied major currencies to fixed weights of gold.
The fiat era
1971 ended the last vestige of gold-backed money when the US closed the gold window. Every currency today is fiat — its value backed by legal tender laws and the credibility of the issuer.
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