How an ancient stone money system works like cryptocurrency

[Judi Lynn]

Archaeologists see similarities between giant coins carved from stone and cryptocurrencies
BY BRUCE BOWER 8:00AM, JULY 29, 2018



BEEN THERE DONE THAT Yap islanders in Micronesia sailed to nearby islands for limestone to carve into huge disks used as money called rai.

S. FITZPATRICK


Digital currencies, such as Bitcoin, and the blockchain technologies used to record digital transactions on a public ledger may not be so revolutionary.

At least several hundred years ago, islanders on Yap in western Micronesia used principles at the heart of cryptocurrencies to conduct business, says archaeologist Scott Fitzpatrick of the University of Oregon in Eugene.

“Stone money transactions on Yap were the precursor to Bitcoin and blockchain technologies,” Fitzpatrick says. At April’s annual meeting of the Society for American Archaeology in Washington, D.C., he explained the connection between the carved stone disks, some weighing more than a Honda Accord and standing taller than a man, and today's cyber-tokens floating in digital space.

Based on studies of rock sources and dating of sites on Yap and nearby islands, Fitzpatrick thinks that, before European contact in 1783, inhabitants of Yap sailed about 400 kilometers to other islands in Micronesia to quarry limestone from caves and rock-shelters. Sea voyagers negotiated with local leaders for access to limestone deposits.

More:
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/yap-stone-money-bitcoin-blockchain-cryptocurrency

[DetlefK]

1. Barter! Cryptocurrencies are not money! They are a barter-economy!

By the same argument as in the article above, an artist creating and selling a piece of art would also be cryptocurrency.