Banking on Stone Money
Ancient Antecedents to Bitcoin
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2048972 |
|---|---|
| Authors | M Fitzpatrick (0000-0002-7392-6061, University of Oregon, corresponding author), Scott M Fitzpatrick, Stephen Mckeon, Stephen B McKeon (Oregon Department of Education) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 7 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 7-21 |
| Publication date | 2020-01-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Economic Anthropology (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 2330-4847 • E-ISSN: 2330-4847 |
| Publisher | Wiley (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1002/sea2.12154 |
| OpenAlex | W2949972175 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 12 |
| References cited | 25 |
Centuries ago in western Micronesia, Yapese islanders sailed to the Palauan archipelago 250 miles away to carve their famous stone money disks(rai)from limestone and then transported them back for use as exchange valuables in various social transactions. Whileraiwere not strictly currency, their value is similar to other traditional and modern objects where worth is arbitrarily based on both real and perceived attributes. Recently, corollaries have been made betweenraiand newly established electronic cryptocurrencies that use blockchain technology-essentially, digital ledgers that track financial transactions in real time across a computer network to ensure that they are seamless and incorruptible. In this study, we examine the sociophysical similarities and differences between stone money and cryptocurrencies that rely on blockchain, both of which demand a unified and continuous chain of information to ensure that the value is known and ownership indisputable. This research suggests that stone money: (a) is an exemplary ancient analog to blockchain that used oral ledgers solidified through social networks to create accurate and unbroken lines of communication so that economic relationships involvingraicould be established, maintained, exchanged, and rectified, and (b) may have been a progenitor that inspired the development of Bitcoin
Blockchain · Business · Commerce · Computer security · Cryptocurrency · Currency · Database transaction · Digital currency · Distributed ledger · Economics · Financial transaction · Ledger · Medium of exchange · Monetary economics · Store of value · Blockchain Technology Applications and Security · Computer Science · Finance
The First and Last Bank
Bitcoin and Stone Money
Chemical analysis of glass beads in Palau, western Micronesia reveals 19th century inter-island exchange systems in transition
Introduction
Bitcoin and stone money
From money to commodity
Bitcoin and its spheres of consumption
What Money Is and Ought To Be
A constitutional approach to cacao money
Debt and inequality
Ancient numismatists and the seasteading movement
Detained settlements
Blockchain technology
Traditional Micronesian Societies
Traditional Micronesian Societies
Maritime interregional interaction in Micronesia
The Production and Exchange of Marine Shell Prestige Goods
On the Relative Isolation of a Micronesian Archipelago during the Historic Period
Metal Tools and the Transformation of an Oceanic Exchange System
The Shell Money of the Slave Trade
The Hungarian Hyperinflation and Stabilization of 1945-1946
Yapese politics, Yapese money and the Sawei tribute network before world war I
The Man Who Was Reputed to be King
Archaeological investigation of Omis Cave
The maritime transport of prehistoric megaliths in Micronesia
The Island of Stone Money
Yap
Social Body and Icon of the Person
Crypto-miners
Finance beyond function
| Unique citing works | 12 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2 |
| Citation span | 2020 - 2025 (6) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 12 |