What will money look like in the future? Will it even exist at all? Peer into six differing visions for the stuff that makes the world go round.
What is the future of money? Six differing visions
Author: tinstaafl
What’s the fate of crypto tokens? Look to 17th-century London
There are currently at least 13,000 different cryptocurrency tokens in existence. Can all of these new forms of digital money survive? 17th-century London might provide an unexpected answer.
Operation Bernhard – The Nazi plot to carpet bomb Britain with fake pounds
Learn the story behind Operation Bernhard, the Nazi plan to counterfeit British pounds and then drop them on the UK to cause economic chaos.
The Chiasso billion dollar Bearer Bond mystery
In 2009, a sleepy provincial Italian town was the scene of one of the strangest-ever financial crimes. Two Japanese men en route to Switzerland were found by Italian police to have $134 billion in bearer bonds in a false-bottomed suitcase.
What is currency debasement?
We illustrate the dull concept of currency debasement by looking back at the Roman Empire, coin clippers, hyperinflation in the Weimar Republic and connect it to the rise of Bitcoin.
What Squirrels & Cicadas can teach us about time preference
A Cicada that waits 17 years underground to emerge; a Squirrel that can memorise the location of thousands of nuts by value. Meet nature’s low time preference specialists.
The crypto custody conundrum – How to secure a Seed
From memory palaces to punching passwords into metal sheets, we look at solutions to the unique security problem posed by crypto’s promise to be your own bank.
What are the origins of money?
When you learn how our need for money first emerged, it might change how you value your time and energy today.
What is a post scarcity society?
Inspired by 80’s sci-fi, Elon Musk envisions a world without work where AI acts like a magic Genie. But how do we get from now to this abundant future?
The challenges of salvaging lost treasure
There are reportedly 3,000 shipwrecks containing lost treasure dotted around the ocean floor waiting to be found. So what’s stopping intrepid treasure hunters from claiming this hugely valuable historic booty?