Let's Make a Trade
The direct swapping of one good or service for another without using money.
What is bartering?
This is the most basic function of money, allowing you to buy things.
What is a medium of exchange?
This type of money has value outside of its use as money, such as salt, shells, or cattle.
What is commodity money?
The official currency of the United States.
What is the U.S. Dollar?
Money that you can't physically touch and that only exists in bank computers.
What is digital money (or electronic money)?
The main problem with bartering, where two people each must have something the other wants.
What is the coincidence of wants?
When you put money in a savings account or a piggy bank for later, you are using it as this.
What is a store of value?
Money that is valuable because a government says it is.
What is fiat money?
The idea that the value of an object comes from the material it is made of.
What is intrinsic value?
This is the first and most famous example of a cryptocurrency.
What is Bitcoin?
An item's ability to be easily carried around is a quality that makes it good for trading.
What is portability?
This function of money lets you compare the prices of two different items, like a book and a hamburger.
What is a unit of account?
A dollar bill is a prime example of this type of money.
What is fiat money?
This former system in the U.S. allowed people to exchange their paper money for a fixed amount of gold.
What is the Gold Standard?
This term describes a society where consumers pay for things with cards or phones instead of cash.
What is a cashless society?
Besides the coincidence of wants, this is a problem with bartering items like live animals because they cannot be easily split.
What is indivisibility?
This function allows you to buy something now and pay for it later, like with a loan.
What is a standard of deferred payment?
An early form of paper money that was basically a receipt for a certain amount of gold or silver in a bank vault.
What is representative money?
Coins made from valuable materials like gold and silver are this specific type of money.
What is metallic money?
Unlike the U.S. Dollar, cryptocurrencies are typically not controlled by any one bank or government, a feature known as being this.
What is decentralized?
Because prices aren't fixed, bartering lacks this key function of money that allows us to measure value.
What is a unit of account?
Inflation, where money buys less than it used to, directly hurts this function of money.
What is a store of value?
The key difference between a gold coin and a $100 bill is that the gold coin has this type of value.
What is intrinsic value?
The phrase "This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private" on a U.S. bill establishes it as this.
What is fiat money (or legal tender)?
One major risk of a cashless society for some people.
What is hacking/cybersecurity threats, lack of privacy, or it's difficult for people without bank accounts/internet access?