ABSTRACT

Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts in a particular country or socio-economic context, or is easily converted to such a form. Money's universality and fungibility gives those who have money the ability to concentrate resources and power, and with those concentrations to channel, drive and even dominate the actions of others. Local currencies have been around for centuries, and of course predate modern, treasury-backed currencies at the national level. But since the widespread adoption of national currencies, local alternative currencies have had a place in societies around the globe. The growing hybrid approaches to local paper and digital currencies provide a nice transition to discuss the rampant growth of cryptocurrencies around the globe. Cryptocurrency startups aim to create digital currencies not regulated by national or regional governments.