Coin, stories of the invention that changed the world
A podcast that reveals how currency, more than an object, is a social agreement that has shaped civilisations and financial innovations over time
Currency is a fiction.
Imagine you have a million dollars that weighs four tonnes.
You cannot transfer it with a bank transfer, but in fact you don't even need to move it, not even an inch. To pay someone, all you need to do is to let everyone know who you want to give it to. It is not a new technology or Bitcoin, but the huge perforated boulders on the Pacific island of Yap that were used as coins for centuries, even though they could not be transferred or moved. The stone was a symbol of wealth, but what really mattered was the social recognition of the right over it. These boulders fascinated two giants of economics: John Maynard Keynes and Milton Friedman. Both considered them to be the most sophisticated form of currency that had ever existed.
From the giant stones of Yap to the gold coins of ancient kings, from the fake sterling of the 1940s to Satoshi Nakamoto's Bitcoin, the podcast "MONETA: Stories of the invention that changed the world" conceived by UniCredit's Investment Institute, produced and distributed by 24Ore Podcast, takes the listener on a journey through time, between the present, past and future of the currency: https://podcast.ilsole24ore.com/serie/moneta-storia-dell-invenzione-che-ha-cambiato-mondo-AIPBPzQ.
He reveals anecdotes about Chinese flying coins and the etymological origins of the word 'currency', tells how the Templars were Europe's first bankers and how the Knights of Malta imposed the use of a currency that was worthless, the patacca, describes how metal coins were instruments of political propaganda, and throws the listener into the world of cryptocurrencies. So many different forms of currency, but all with the same essence: trust in those who issue them.
