Ever wonder what started the value of money or currency in the world?

 Believe it or not the first form of currency was barter and trade.  Barter and Trade is when two or more parties agree to exchange goods and services with an agreed upon equal value of goods and services.  Each parties involved with the exchange or deal would seek value that either strengthens their growth in personal or business gain.  What we think of as gain today was very different then but similar in the way we see value.  Barter is more commonly used and preferable to businesses even today.  More commonly called collaboration work.

It is said that from 9000 B.C. to 12000 B.C. livestock and Cowrie Shells (shells from mollusks) of all types were used as currency in exchanged for goods and services.  By the end of the Stone Age, China had created bronze coins as currency setting the pace for yet  another advancing value.  This progress evolved into deerskin with prints much cut into large pieces of leather better known as "Leather Money" much like our notes today but this happened between 500 B.C. and 118 B.C.  Eventually, China began the "Paper Money" trend where bank notes were made into actual paper currency.  This era started in 816 A.D. and continued until 1500 A.D.  All meanwhile, Indians had been trading strings of beads and select shells as currency.

Eventually gold came to play in England as the standard value of exchange for goods and services in 1816 A.D.  This system relied heavily on how much gold was available to notes.  In other words, they could not print more notes over the amount of gold England had in their possession as a country.    England, along with the rest of Europe enslaved this idea of currency with proficiency to this day.  United States adopted the same in 1900 A.D. with some modifications.  

Where are we today?

The digital world plays a large part in how we operate, purchase and sell goods and services on the World Wide Web (WWW.//http:examplebusiness.com).  Ask yourselves, "When was the last time you purchased something from sites like Ebay.com, Etsy.com, iTunes and even FaceBook.com?"  If you can quickly answer this question, then you can find the answers on what's next for our currency capabilities.  Think of the how we are evolving financially and what's to come.  Keep your eyes wide open because it's going to be a beautiful ride.

Reference:

10.26.96, P. (n.d.). The History of Money. Retrieved April 22, 2015, from http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/history-money.html