Money in an economy without banks

by Alex Schaefer   Most of the world's money is currently in the form of deposits created by banks. After the 2008 credit crisis, which ...

Read More

An homage to the cheque (or check)

The check used to buy Alaska ( source ) I recently read an FP article about the odd persistence of the cheque as a way to make payments. Acc...

Read More

On currency

David Birch recently grumbled about people's sloppy use of the term legal tender , and I agree with him. As Birch points out, what many...

Read More

What makes money special, the lawyer's edition (with a guest appearance by bitcoin)

Juan Galt recently introduced me to one of bitcoin's biggest problems. Bitcoin is not money, at least not according to the law. Economi...

Read More

Chopmarks and other distributed verification methods

A 1795 Spanish dollar, minted in Mexico, with several chopmarks One of the most interesting things about bitcoin, ripple, and other cryptocu...

Read More

Deep money, the coexistence puzzle, and the legal restrictions hypothesis

WWI Liberty bonds, which according to Neil Wallace circulated alongside Federal Reserve notes What follows are some thoughts on the coexiste...

Read More