The original Bitcoin: Rai stones of the Yapese

Discussion in 'Crypto Assets' started by Pekelo, May 29, 2021.

  1. Pekelo

    Pekelo

    Long, long time ago on an island in the Pacific Ocean, humankind invented a hard to make, but even harder to use exchange of value (aka money), this was the Rai stone of the Yapese people. It even included an oral ledger (the history of what it was spent on).

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rai_stones

    https://www.sciencealert.com/the-or...as-giant-stone-money-on-a-tiny-pacific-island

    The "Original Bitcoin" Was This Giant Stone Money on a Tiny Pacific Island

    PETER DOCKRILL
    12 JUNE 2019
    Bitcoin and the blockchain may seem like puzzling new technological concepts, but the central tenet of this cutting-edge cryptocurrency goes back way longer than you might believe.

    Strange as it may seem, bitcoin has a kind of bizarro historical analogue in an ancient currency system dating back hundreds of years: giant stone disks called rai, which were used long ago as a symbolic form of money on the Micronesian island of Yap.

    "They are one of the world's most intriguing coins," says archaeologist Scott Fitzpatrick the University of Oregon....

    According to the researchers, this oral ledger – told through stories shared by the Yapese and passed down over generations – helped the community to record and communicate changes in ownership of the rai, for things like wedding gifts, political enticements, or even paying ransoms."

     
  2. hilmy83

    hilmy83

    As they say, history doesn't repeat, it just rhymes