How money works—and why it changes.
Explore gold, government currencies, Bitcoin and Zcash through history, evidence and the trade-offs between saving, paying, pricing, privacy and settling.
Four jobs, different arrangements
Store of value
Carries purchasing power through time.
Medium of exchange
Helps people pay for goods and services.
Unit of account
States prices, wages and debts.
Settlement asset
Discharges an obligation between parties or institutions.
One arrangement need not do all four jobs. A useful comparison starts with what someone holds, who owes a claim and who controls its transfer.
Follow a question
Compare the claims
Cash is an issuer liability; a bank balance is a claim on a bank; physical gold is an asset held somewhere; self-custodied Bitcoin depends on key control. An exchange balance or stablecoin adds another issuer or custodian. Compare these arrangements by use →
To see why deposits, reserves and bonds are distinct, follow four stylised £100 transactions →
History overlaps
Classical gold convertibility was interrupted by the First World War. Interwar attempts to restore it differed from the post-1944 Bretton Woods dollar system. Since the 1970s, fiat currencies, gold reserves, bank deposits and newer digital arrangements have coexisted. Bitcoin and Zcash are different developments within that overlap, with different transparency and operational trade-offs.
Four research volumes
What evidence can and cannot settle
Bitcoin and Zcash permit transfer without a central account operator, yet broad use for wages, prices and debts remains uncertain. Claims about adoption, privacy, comparative returns and official reserves require populations, dates and precise source locations. Quantitative charts in the historical arc remain withheld while their datasets are checked.