Thread by @HenriArslanian

1/ Ever wonder how the invention of coinage gave rise to two of humanity's biggest vices?

Time for a thread! 🧵👇

2/ Based on texts from the Greek writer Herodotus, it is now commonly accepted that the Lydians, who ruled over a vast kingdom located in what is today western Turkey, minted the first coins sometime around 630 BC.

3/ Many of the most innovative concepts in today's digital assets space - like fractionalization and tokenization - were actually introduced by the Lydians, who would mint their coins in various weights.

4/ For example, the basic unit of a Lydian stater was 14.1 grams, but the most popular denomination was one-third of a stater, which expanded the range of products that one could buy using these coins.

5/ These Lydian coins were highly successful and began to be widely circulated well beyond the Lydian kingdom, which had a major impact on Lydian society.

6/ By inventing coins as we know them, the Lydians also invented seigniorage by having this embedded tax within each coin, which represented the difference between the currency’s face value and the cost of minting it.

7/ The invention of coinage also had many snowball effects.

For example, the Lydians became the first civilization to set up permanent retail shops. Coins eliminated uncertainty and made transactions fast and convenient.

8/ And the invention of coinage also gave rise to arguably two of humanity’s biggest vices.  

For instance, Sardis, the Lydian capital, became home to the world's first commercial brothels.

9/ And in addition to brothels, another development that came with the introduction of coins was the rise of gambling. While dice had existed for some time, the Lydians added the money component.

10/ Archaeological excavations clearly show that gambling and games of chance such as knuckle-bones thrived in the areas around local marketplaces.

11/ The future of money is unfolding at a rapid pace...but in order to understand where we're going, it's important to study and understand all of the historical developments in money, banking, and commerce that laid the foundation for what we have today.

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