A Brief Past Of Tokens & How They Mingle With Modernized Crypto

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A Brief Past Of Tokens How They
Mingle With Modernized Crypto
History is not just a view of the past. It can
also be a window to the present and the future.
Anyone interested in Bitcoin or crypto please
read on. Did you know that one of the earliest
uses of a utility token is in ancient Rome? Or
that privately minted tokens were used over
centuries in Britain (and elsewhere) as coins
when there was severe shortage of
government issued money? Or that telephone
tokens in Italy were once commonly used for
small coin payment? Whilst these are just a few
examples of historical uses of tokens, the
similarities with modern day crypto should not
escape anyone. The difference is in scale and
technology.
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The word token is today used to refer to a
crypto (digital) asset. But the use of tokens in
an economic setting has existed for at least two
thousand years. Bitcoin and other crypto are just
the latest incarnation using modern technology
(blockchain). Perhaps the oldest is the Roman
token (or spintria), which according to one
theory, was invented to pay for services
forbidden to be paid for using official currency
with the emperors portrait on them. The tokens
'utility was driven by high demand for the
worlds oldest profession that could not be paid
in Roman coinage. Of course, with demand comes
supply and a form of payment (tokens) was
created. They were apparently so popular
that tokens have been found as far away as
Roman Britain. The functionality of todays
crypto assets (or tokens) are coded into the
relevant smart contracts the Roman tokens had
distinctive pictorial representations. Try
checking one out with a Google search. The
other is the Conder token created by merchants
in Britain for use as private coinage due to the
shortage of small denomination coins
for day-to-day transactions (including paying
wages which could not otherwise be paid for with
coin). Due to the severe shortage of small
change, private tokens for use in commerce had,
in fact, already existed in England and other
countries for centuries (as Erasmus himself had
observed when he stayed in London). In the
Napoleonic era, millions of such tokens were in
circulation in Britain and helped bridge a gap in
the countrys fast-developing industrial economy.
Whilst eventually the government issued large
quantities of small denomination coin which the
contemporary economy demanded and private token
coinage was later outlawed, the collection and
trading in tokens continued and created an
intrinsic value in them. In turn, the use of
trade tokens issued by merchants for payment of
or to be redeemed in goods (rather than money
issued by a governmental authority) proliferated
in the United States over a number of years.
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In more modern times, in Italy as an example,
Telephone tokens (in Italian the Gettone
telefonico) became a popular alternative to
currency for smaller transactions until they
ceased to be used. Other uses of tokens evolved
in many countries as a means of payment for goods
or services and some are still in existence today
(vouchers). So, whilst crypto is a modern
technological invention, the architecture that
underpins it is not. What made Bitcoin
revolutionary, of course, is that the blockchain
in which it operates is borderless and not
restricted to any geographical location. As such,
it is potentially available to everyone using
a smartphone. An interesting observation is that
in the same way as Conder tokens solved the
problem in Britains changing industrial economy
for paying wages of workers who could not
otherwise be paid, Bitcoin itself allowed the
unbanked population the opportunity to
participate in Bitcoin related transactions and
payment transfers. Just as tokens have been
in existence for a wide range of potential uses
for a very long time, crypto in one form or
another is here to stay. They are, however,
likely to evolve to meet the expectations of
governments and regulators alike. And whoever
first bridges the gap between the capital
markets and digital assets and sets the
internationally recognised legal and regulatory
standards for such transactions will help unlock
the huge value of distributed ledger technology
in the blockchain at a scale not yet
seen. Source gtgt https//www.lexology.com/librar
y/detail.aspx?g57e3ba14-ae4b-45a5-95c
b-e14d0eb92caf The race is on - who will that
be? We Sellbitbuy a pre-eminent token
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