📜 The history of the Rai stones 💰🪨
On the island of Yap, before the arrival of the Europeans, the inhabitants used large limestone discs as currency. These stones, called Rai, could measure from a few centimeters to more than 3 meters in diameter and weigh several tons.
How did they work as money? 🤔
1️⃣ They didn't move: Many were so large that they were left in a fixed place, and their ownership was simply transferred from one person to another.
2️⃣ Value based on their history: It wasn't just the size that mattered, but the effort and risk involved in bringing them from other islands, such as Palau, where they were mined.
3️⃣ Community trust: Everyone knew who owned each stone, even if it didn't physically change location.
Lessons for modern money 🏦📈
💡 Subjective value: Money is worth what people agree it is worth, like gold, paper money, or Bitcoin.
💡 Trust and decentralization: The system relied on community consensus, just like cryptocurrencies today.
💡 Scarcity and difficulty of acquisition: Like Bitcoin, the difficulty of obtaining new stones increased their value.
It is said that some stones were lost at the bottom of the sea, but were still accepted as money because everyone remembered who owned them. A concept similar to blockchain! 🚀
👉 What do you think? Does this sound like Bitcoin? Tell me in the comments. 👇
