Gez wrote:
paper money was more practical and cheaper to produce
I led my thought to the fact that every existing monetary system based not on practicality/cost/transportation difficulties/etc. Core of monetary system is to create universal goods, which can be exchanged to other goods with minimal time.
To choose such goods, material incarnation of this though must be
hard to produce;
easy to check for originality;
First time, in world history, such universal goods was gold. Because its hard to produce (find gold field, extract ore from earth, melt ore with mercury, distillate mercury from gold, try not die in process) and easy to check(gold density ~= 20g/cm^3, higher only osmium and iridium)
But if look at gold, at that time, it be useless metal, because gold physical characteristics very poor. It cant be used to make sword, armor, war machines, nails, etc. Of course, no one prevent make gold sword, but in battle it be worse than old as mamoths rude club from nearest tree. So main purpose of gold at that time only be shiny and rare.
Only now we know that this transition metal finds great, or even GREAT, use in computers and scientific research.
And here example of money, which you even cant put to pocket. But it used more than 500 years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rai_stones
With bitcoins and paper money same thing. It hard to produce(watermarks, microprinting, security thread, UV paints, special paper for banknote and transfusion from empty to vacant, while you bounded with other transfusor from empty to vacant through internet for bitcoin) and easy to check for originality.
And I can send to you bitcoin without banks 3 day waiting while money, on their tiny legs, walk from me to you.This is much more convenient, if I live in Moskov and you in Washington. Especialy if I live on Venus and you on Mars. But thats in theory, now 1 MB limitation for one block start, with pain, crawls sideways.
Plus, from capitalistically point of view, if for sequence of zero and one, rise and fall of current on CPU, many who agreed to exchange, how much now there are exchange rates, 8000 dollars?, why dont use it? Marx get out from portal and, furiously rolling his eyes, will begin to tell "communism was stand not for this"?
