A little over a month ago, I was able to attend a Web 3.0/crypto conference in Belgrade, Serbia and to cut a very long story very short, on the third and final day of the event, I managed to walk home with a box full of energy drinks as well as cans of top notch craft beer.
I don't necessarily go out of my way to find energy drinks but I'll have some if it's available. BUT I'm definitely into craft beer so that meant that for a few days after the show, I didn't have to worry about buying beer.
Beer, dare I say, is a precious commodity. To me, it is.
One of the dumbest arguments that we hear when it comes to crypto is "oh it's actually worthless because it's not backed by anything."
And yet that's exactly what the U.S. Dollar, or any other currency for that matter, is: an inherently worthless commodity that we accept as having value.
FIAT money, and especially the U.S. Dollar, is the most widely accepted form of currency but mechanically, it is just like the cans of good beer that I had.
The only difference, an admittedly huge one, is that everyone agrees the U.S. Dollar has value, not everyone agrees that beer has value.
I'm using beer as an example but you could replace it with anything. Let's say I want to hire you for a job that's worth $100, and let's say I offer to compensate your work with $100 worth of your favourite brand of mineral water, or chocolate, or whatever it is you consume.
I guess some people wouldn't go for that but why? We drink water every day. We need water today just like we needed it yesterday and just like we're gonna need it tomorrow.
Humans have been transacting with one another since the dawn of time but money as a concept has only been around for around $5,000.
Before that they used barter.
I'm not suggesting we should get rid of the U.S. Dollar and replace it with beer, all I'm saying is that anything that anyone, ever, accepts as a form of payment only has value because both parties, the seller and the buyer, the taker and the giver, have agreed that it does.
I guess what I'm trying to say is, I'm available for hire, and I accept beer as a form of payment.
I've crossposted this article on Bitcoinea and Publish0x
