why-physical-money.html

<h3>Invention of the Custodian</h3>
<ul>
  <li>Gold was used for trade</li>
  <li>Gold was heavy to carry</li>
  <li>People deposited gold in banks</li>
  <li>Banks issued gold certificates / notes</li>
  <li>Notes were used for trade</li>
  <li>Banks noticed limited gold withdrawals</li>
  <li>Banks issued more notes than gold held</li>
  <li>Fractional reserve banking emerged</li>
</ul>


<h3>Divisibility</h3>
<ul>
  <li>Initial money was physical</li>
  <li>Rapidly expanding USA drove decisions</li>
  <li>Limited divisibility to smallest unit</li>
  <li>More issuance kept pace with growth</li>
  <li>Led to money debasement</li>
</ul>


<h3>The Gold Standard</h3>
<ul>
  <li>USD was redeemable for gold</li>
  <li>Nixon ended the gold standard</li>
  <li>USD became non-redeemable for gold</li>
  <li>Federal Reserve managed fiat currency</li>
  <li>JFK attempted a silver standard</li>
  <li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_Order_11110" target="_blank">Executive Order 11110</a></li>
  <li>JFK was assassinated</li>
</ul>


<h3>Embeddedness of the USD</h3>
<ul>
  <li>Accepted for taxes</li>
  <li>Global reserve currency</li>
</ul>

<h3>Lack of technology</h3>
<ul>
 <li>Digital assets are a 21st century technological advancement</li>
</ul>