The modern world monetary system originated in Venice. At that time, the material used as currency was either gold or silver, which was very heavy. It was impossible for businessmen to carry gold and silver on their backs every day, so they kept their gold and silver in the storage room on the shore and took the receipt ashore to get it when they needed to pay.

this kind of deposit office on the shore is called bank, which is now the bank. At the beginning, the receipt issued by the bank to the merchants was a general receipt, such as a receipt of 12, yuan for 12, yuan, which was very inconvenient to use. Later, it evolved into a bill combination of 12 yuan, 12 yuan and 12 yuan. When the merchants pay, there is no need to come back and get the money to pay. They just need to give the receipt issued by the bank to others, and others can also take the receipt to withdraw money.

We can see from this scene that money is a multiple contract with certain universal value, knowledge and commitment. Of course, there is a premise for the currency to pass: the person who holds the IOU or the currency has no close identity relationship with the currency itself-if someone else finds your lost ticket, they can also take out the money.

mcluhan has a famous saying: paper money is the credit card of the poor.

The paper money evolved from bank receipt doesn't care who you are, as long as you hold that special currency, but later a special currency-credit card:

Credit card is a contract and contract;

Money is completely related to its holder. To some extent, money is no longer paper, but this person.

If money is a contract, the credit card has achieved "setting an example" to a certain extent, and "contract" is also a contract.

We often hear a saying, "You are poor only with money", which can be interpreted in many ways. For example, "You are poor only with paper money and don't even have a credit card". As you can imagine, if you don't have a credit card, the scope of your value transaction will be greatly limited. For example, if you are abroad now, you can't complete the transaction without a credit card and local currency.

compared with paper money, credit card is a more universal knowledge and commitment of value. If money is a kind of license and pass, and owning money is the right of way and license, then credit card is a kind of future-oriented currency, which is based on the holder's commitment to the future.

From gold and silver to paper money to credit cards, there are more and more applicable scenarios, and the scope is wider and wider, and the identity of the currency and the holder is getting closer and closer.