Animated/expository YouTube video (Cointelegraph) narrating a concise history of money: humans moved from barter to commodity money (gold) because of scarcity and portability issues, then to banknotes/fiat issued by governments which led to devaluation and concentration of power with banks. In response, a group developed Bitcoin — a decentralized digital currency secured by a proof-of-work algorithm (described here as a "complicated algorithm" that creates new bitcoins) and recorded on a shared ledger called the blockchain. The video frames Bitcoin as "better than gold" and notes early adoption for everyday purchases. Produced/posted by Dr. Violet Howard (June 20, 2018).
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It all started with food Primal. People used to grow stuff outside their caves and eat it. But the weather everywhere was different. So people were freezing to death and couldn't grow anything. So what they did was they stole food from others. Smart, huh? Well, not quite. Soon enough, people realized they didn't have to steal from each other. Instead, they started to exchange food for things. Horses, buckets, or whatever. But this didn't last very long. So people decided to use something else for that purpose. Something more valuable. Something rare. Something like gold. There's not much gold in the world, and it's difficult to mine. Great. People thought, let's get down to business. So they started to exchange everything for gold. Their food, work, and sometimes even their lives. Gold is not some kind of magic metal. People decided that it had value. Also, they realized that they would run out of it one day. Soon enough, people got tired of carrying gold around. It was heavy and could just get them into trouble. That's when people got another idea. Why not deposit gold in banks? Government started to print special papers called banknotes. All banknotes had different numbers written on them. This way, people knew how much gold a banknote could buy. Banks became the place where people kept their precious banknotes. Unlike gold, banknotes didn't require mining. Governments could print as many as they wanted. The value of banknotes started to drop. That's what we call devaluation. Bankers started to exchange different banknotes and receive huge bonuses in return. Very soon, money began to rule the world. That's when a group of smart guys decided to change things. They invented a new form of currency, the one that government and banks would not control. They called it Bitcoin. To prevent forgery, they invented a complicated algorithm that would create new bitcoins. To prevent any fraud. They decided to register all bitcoin transactions in one digital ledger, which they called a blockchain. At first, there were just a few of those smart guys. But with time, more and more people saw that Bitcoin was just like gold, only better. They could buy anything with it. Meat, beer, jewelry, or even a Thai massage. This way, bitcoins became secured by the interest of smart people. So now you know how the bitcoin came into this world. Like this video. And don't forget to subscribe. We've got more interesting stories to tell you. Cointelegraph, the future of money.
