Money
From temple ledgers to Bitcoin — how humanity kept reinventing the promise to pay.
Each star is a thinker or work; solid lines draw the constellation of a school, dashed threads the passage of ideas between eras.
Select any point on the timeline to read about it.
All entries by era
Money 3000 BCE – 2030 CE
From temple ledgers to Bitcoin — how humanity kept reinventing the promise to pay.
- 3000 BCE
Mesopotamia. Long before coins, Sumerian temples kept debts and prices in fixed weights of silver and measures of barley. Money begins as accounting — a way to record obligations — not as a coin in the hand.
- 600 BCE
Lydia. The kingdom of Lydia strikes standardised electrum coins stamped by the state. Value is now certified by a sovereign mark, and money becomes portable, countable and impersonal.
- 1023 CE
Song China. Song-dynasty China issues the world's first government paper currency (jiaozi), backed by deposits of iron coin. Value detaches from the weight of metal and attaches to a promise printed on paper.
- 1694 CE
Bank of England. The founding of the Bank of England institutionalises paper notes redeemable in gold and the management of a national debt. Money becomes the liability of a central institution — the seed of the modern monetary system.
- 1944 CE
Bretton Woods. Postwar states peg their currencies to the U.S. dollar, itself convertible to gold at $35 an ounce. For a generation, money's value rests on a single anchor currency backed by metal.
- 1971 CE
The Nixon Shock. The United States ends the dollar's convertibility to gold. Money is now fiat — valuable because the state declares it legal tender and because people accept it, backed by nothing but trust and law.
- 2009 CE
Bitcoin. Bitcoin proposes money as a decentralised ledger secured by cryptography rather than by any state or bank. Whether or not it endures, it forces the oldest question open again: what, exactly, must back a currency?
The milestones
c. 3000 BCE
Mesopotamia
Money as a unit of account
Long before coins, Sumerian temples kept debts and prices in fixed weights of silver and measures of barley. Money begins as accounting — a way to record obligations — not as a coin in the hand.
c. 600 BCE
Lydia
The first coinage
The kingdom of Lydia strikes standardised electrum coins stamped by the state. Value is now certified by a sovereign mark, and money becomes portable, countable and impersonal.
c. 1023
Song China
Paper money
Song-dynasty China issues the world's first government paper currency (jiaozi), backed by deposits of iron coin. Value detaches from the weight of metal and attaches to a promise printed on paper.
1694
Bank of England
Banknotes and central banking
The founding of the Bank of England institutionalises paper notes redeemable in gold and the management of a national debt. Money becomes the liability of a central institution — the seed of the modern monetary system.
1944
Bretton Woods
The dollar-gold order
Postwar states peg their currencies to the U.S. dollar, itself convertible to gold at $35 an ounce. For a generation, money's value rests on a single anchor currency backed by metal.
1971
The Nixon Shock
The fiat era
The United States ends the dollar's convertibility to gold. Money is now fiat — valuable because the state declares it legal tender and because people accept it, backed by nothing but trust and law.
2009 →
Bitcoin
Money without an issuer
Bitcoin proposes money as a decentralised ledger secured by cryptography rather than by any state or bank. Whether or not it endures, it forces the oldest question open again: what, exactly, must back a currency?