I wanted to talk to you fabulous Vigilanties about the major differences between paper money, checks, money on cards, and crypto currency.

Money isn’t just that stuff we carry around in our pockets (lucky bastards). Turns out, you can do stuff with it. Everything from eat, to snort drugs, if you believe in 80’s movies. I know, my sense of humor is crap. I’ll try to refrain from making jokes...for now.

The reason we wanted to display the differences is that we wanted to clear up a few misconceptions concerning crypto currency.

I am not one of the rich snobby types that constantly sing the praises of Ethereum or Bitcoin or anything like that. Believe me, I only got a few bucks to my name. I’ve only made about 12 cents on my crypto currency investments. I only have enough currency in my personal wallet to purchase a few comics.

Why am I talking to you today, because I understand the tech behind it and want to share with you how to put it to good use for you. I truly believe it is the future of finances. I wanted to also show you that with the current downturn on the economy thanks to that pesky Coronavirus, now is the perfect time to begin investing.

Myth 1: Money makes the world go round

As it turns out according to Cool Cosmos, money does not make the world go round.

Earth spins because of the way it was formed. Our Solar System formed about 4.6 billion years ago when a huge cloud of gas and dust started to collapse under its own gravity. As the cloud collapsed, it started to spin. Some of the material within this cloud gathered into swirling eddies and eventually formed into planets. As the planets formed, they kept this spinning motion. This is similar to what you see when skaters pull in their arms and spin faster. As material gathered in more closely to form a planet, like Earth, the material spun faster. The Earth keeps on spinning because there are no forces acting to stop it.

I know, I said I would stop making jokes. I just couldn’t help myself.     

Onto the real facts about money

Prior to the invention of money, the only way that you could obtain goods or services from others, was to barter with your own goods and services. In some ways, this seems like a much better way to function in society.

I just keep thinking about that movie “Phenomenon” when Charlie (John Travolta) was fixing his friends car. The friend didn’t have cash so he suggested that his friend dig a well for another friend who will in turn put up solar panels for John Travolta. I love this. Everyone puts in some work, and everyone comes out on top.

Now this system works great on a smaller scale but it falls apart pretty quickly on a large scale. You can’t run a city like this, a small commune maybe, but not a large city or a state. Hence, money.

History of modern money

Beer, sheep, and cattle were the first real currency. Each animal was called a Caput (latin for head). This is the root of the current word “Capital” in reference to money.

Cattle were a pretty hard thing to keep in your wallet so we (as a species) began to trade in smaller items to represent our capital wealth. Most common was salts, and even shells.

Calree sea shells were the longest and most widely used currency in human history.

As I have said before, some traded in salt as a currency. The word “salary” ie the money that you get for working comes from the word “Sal” which is latin for salt. So, when your employer offers you a “good salary,” their really meaning they will give you table salt. I’m going to have to bring this up with my boss.

The problem with this form of currency is that these items are also used as goods. If you make a salty beef stew, you’ve literally eaten your money. By taking your currency out of the world’s system, you have inevitably raised the value of other people's currency. Think of it as a watered down version of the Highlander.

There can be only one. As the others died, you became more powerful. If everyone ate all the salt and beef, if you had one cow and a handful of salt, you would be the most powerful and richest man alive.

Coins

The first versions of coins came from China. They were little metal tools like swords, and spades that are around the same size as modern coins in not a little larger. The problem with these is that they were sharp and would either cut their way out of sacks, or cut you as you tried to get them out of sacks.

In around 700-500 BC the modern coin was created. Helming from China, India, and around the Aegean Sea. These coins were developed separately with no interaction or overlap in their creation, leading credence to the idea of a shared conscience throughout the world.

Paper Money

This also came from China. During the Tang Dynasty paper money was created. This is known as the Zhongtong Yuanbao paper money. It was eventually reformatted by the Song Dynasty and put into mass production during the 11th century.

We have been using the same format, same basic banking system since. Granted, it has evolved slightly since but not to the degree that you would imagine. Everything else in the world has drastically improved since this time but for some reason, we don’t really try to improve the financial market.

We need to do better. Some of us have done better.

Financial Improvements

With the inventions off the crypto currency we are no longer held to the same standards of the past. Crypto currency offers so many changes and dramatic updates that it is scary for most.

1. Digital currency affords users complete anonymity. Although everything can be tracked through the “leger” your personal information is not attached to the purchase like a credit card. Your wallet id is attached to the purchase but that is all. This is why it is so popular among criminals in the underworld.
2. Lower fees. With traditional purchases made online, credit cards there is an average of 1.5-2.5% swipe fee, 3.5% for keyed in transactions to account for higher security risks. This doesn’t even account for typical Annual fees associated with credit cards, late fees, Cash-advances, or Over Limit fees. All of those go away. With cyrpto currency, there is usually a minimal transaction fee to account for crypto minors but that is it.
3. Constant access to your accounts. We have all heard of Bank Holidays, or shown up to a bank after-hours. Many banks are now offering an app that allows you access to your money 24-7. Unfortunately, too little too late. You would just need access to your wallet through an app online and “presto” you have full access to your crypto-funds online. Since the internet isn’t going away anytime soon, you should always have safe and secure access to your money.
4. Access to everyone. There are more people with access to the internet today than ever before. This means that we all have access to the same type of crypto currency. This could mean that the people (for the first time in history) have the option of deciding on a universal currency, instead of each government deciding for us. Power to the people has never been so true.
5. No fraud! One of my favorite parts. It is impossible to counterfeit a crypto-currency. It cannot be reversed by a third party as in credit card charge backs, nor can it be mishandled. This means that everything is safe and secure and right where you want it to be.

Cryptocurrencies are not based off of a raw material such as the “gold standard”. This is truly a revolutionary new development in both the banking world and in technology. On the forefront of such technology is ApogeeINVENT, CryptoComics parent company.

While going through your favorite comic book, look and see what we are able to do with it and think of the possibilities. Think of a future that no longer requires cash or even an exchange rate. Think of a future where you can privately access all of your wealth and decide for yourself what happens with it.

This could change how you spend your money, how you browse the internet, or how we interact as a nation. The future is pretty cool from where I’m standing. Star Trek-esque in the way we interact. One more small step towards the future.