Updated 3/6/2024

“Money, it’s a crime.”

Pink Floyd

My grandparents used to say that money makes the world go around, but what do we know about the money we use today? We currently use fiat money but also deal with commodity money. Then, we add Bitcoin and other types of electronic currency, and we all get confused. Fiat money versus commodity money is the battle raging today in the markets.

Money has been a part of our human history for about 3,000 years, give or take. Money has evolved from bartering to credit cards, with some elements of bartering still in existence today.

I didn’t know this, but the first known currency was established in 660 B.C. by King Alyattes in Lydia, now part of Turkey. The first coin ever minted contained a figure of a roaring lion.

Coins evolved from metal to banknotes around 1661 A.D. The first credit card appeared in 1946. China created the first paper money in around 770 B.C.

Money communicates no worth; there remains no difference; the value is symbolic, whether gold, paper, or electronic. Money conveys the importance we place on the currency. Money derives its value from the functions it allows, such as a medium of exchange, a storehouse of wealth, or a unit of measurement.

Some confusion around money exists in terms of money and currency. Currency, some argue, remains physical, such as coins, notes, and credit cards. Money is an intangible concept that denotes the value we place in a currency as having a value.

The recent rise of Bitcoin has recently brought all of these doubts into focus. As we decide whether Bitcoin creates “money” or not, we need to understand the difference between fiat money and commodity money.

In today’s post, we will learn:

• What is Commodity Money
• What is Fiat Money
• Pros of Commodity Money
• Pros of Fiat Money
• Fiat Money vs. Commodity Money

Let’s dive in and learn more about fiat money versus commodity money.

What is Commodity Money

What exactly is commodity money?

According to Wikipedia:

“Commodity money is money whose value comes from a commodity of which it is made. Commodity money consists of objects having value or use in themselves (intrinsic value) and their value in buying goods.^“

Examples of commodity money are endless:

• Gold
• Silver
• Copper
• Salt
• Tea
• Silk
• Coffee
• Alcohol
• Cocoa beans

The list could go on and on.

Think back to yourself as a kid, and you used to swap toys, books, games, or baseball cards. These items create commodity money because you value them and use them to trade with your friends.

Commodity money remains no different.

Commodity money has a unique feature: the value we derive from the commodity remains based on the utility or beauty of tokens as goods. The exchange of commodity money correlates to bartering but remains different in it places a single value on the commodity recognized by all.

A great example of commodity money and the value recognized by all from history:

“People left their surplus clothing, toilet requisites, and food there until they were sold at a fixed price in cigarettes. Only cigarette sales were accepted – there was no swap […] Of food, the shop carried small stocks for convenience; the capital was provided by a loan from the bulk store of Red Cross cigarettes and repaid by a small commission taken on the first transactions. Thus, the cigarette attained its fullest currency status, and the market was almost completely unified.”

Commodity money is often associated with metals like gold and silver.

The use of gold and silver in governments by minting coins, typically with a symbol or mark on the metal, is associated with commodity money, which serves as a guarantee based on the purity and weight of the metal, which gives the commodity value in the eyes of the people using those coins.

At first, money in the colonies in early America was strictly commodity money in the sense that it involved trading items such as furs, wampum, rice, and tobacco. These items were used as money because the colonies were forbidden to create their own money, such as coins.

In the early years of the Americas, the only physical coin that had widespread use was the Spanish Dollar, the unofficial currency of early America from the early 1600s to 1700s. Interestingly, they changed the Spanish Dollar and cut it into pieces or bits.

We are moving on to gold, the longest-held commodity of value for humans throughout history.

Gold As a Commodity Money

Gold has existed as a form of money, whether a commodity or fiat, for as long as humans have known about gold. In our eyes, it has achieved a value that transcends all other storeholders of wealth.

The most significant difference between gold and other commodities is that gold is never used for oil or tobacco. Once the gold is found and mined, it stays in our existence.

Think about gold and its impact on civilization; it has helped forge and tear empires down. Over time, civilization gave gold power over any other commodity, which has never wavered.

The U.S. based its monetary system on the gold standard until the 1970s; some say that was the beginning of the end.

Proponents of the gold standard argue that this type of system helps control credit expansion and the lending standards employed by banks. This is because the physical supply of gold backs the extension of credit.

A word about the gold standard: A gold standard is a monetary system in which a country’s money has value based on its link directly to gold. Any country that uses the gold standard buys and sells gold at a fixed price, and that price becomes the value of the country’s money.

The gold standard was the monetary system of choice for much of the world until the early 1970s when the U.S. moved away from the currency. The gold standard has a long and complicated history in the U.S. and worldwide and will stay a subject for another day.

The bottom line is commodity money functions by establishing a value backed by a physical product that everyone assumes has a value, such as gold, silver, or tobacco. When using commodity money to purchase items, it becomes the money or currency everyone accepts.

Examples throughout the history of commodity money:

• Roman denarii
• Greek drachma
• Spanish bouillon
• Dutch Kroner

All of the above were forms of commodity money backed by a physical commodity that had an accepted value by all.

Let’s move on to discovering more about fiat money.

What is Fiat Money

According to Investopedia:

“Fiat money is a government-issued currency not backed by a physical commodity, such as gold or silver, but rather by the government that issued it. The value of fiat money is derived from the relationship between supply and demand and the stability of the issuing government rather than the worth of a commodity backing it, as is the case for commodity money. Most modern paper currencies are fiat currencies, including the U.S. dollar, the euro, and other major global currencies.”

The rise of fiat currencies over the last fifty years is also tied to creating more credit in our system, but not historically so, which I find interesting.

Fiat money gives central banks more control over the amount and frequency of credit extensions because the control of fiat money allows the banks to “print” more money.

As discussed in our series on the Federal Reserve and how the U.S. banks, money is not “printed” per se; rather, they create the money out of extension of credit and debits recorded on the Central Banks’ balance sheet.

Like commodity money, fiat money has value because it is determined to have value by the most concerned. In this case, the government, such as the U.S. government, issues fiat money.

Unlike commodity money, we cannot redeem fiat money. Fiat money doesn’t link or “peg” to physical reserves, such as gold.

Back in the day of the gold reserve, people printed money out of a valuable physical commodity such as gold, silver, or paper money that they could redeem for a set amount of gold or silver.

Fiat money has none of those characteristics and doesn’t peg to any tangible value; rather, it is only as valuable as the people’s faith in the money.

Early examples of fiat money, not backed by a physical substance, were the continental currency issued during the American Revolution, the “greenbacks” of the American Civil War, and the paper mark issued in Germany after World War One.

Fiat currencies rose to prominence in the early 20^th century as governments sought to insulate their economies from the booms and busts of economic cycles. The theory states that allowing central banks to control the printing of money allowed countries to avoid society-crushing depressions like those experienced in the early 1920s.

Ok, let’s move on to the pros of commodity money.

Pros of Commodity Money

Commodity money has many proponents who believe it is the best form of money, and we should move back toward that style of money.

Commodity money has several advantages over fiat money.

For example, it offers more flexibility for the money holder, has more possibility of getting rich quickly, and offers more protection from inflation in the economy.

Of course, modern economists argue commodity money has far more disadvantages than advantages, which remains why fiat money is the money of choice for all developed nations.

The number one advantage of commodity money is its ability to serve more than one purpose. For example, gold can become jewelry and also be used as wiring in computers. We can smoke tobacco, eat rice, or consume alcohol.

The holder of commodity money has several advantages; we can use it or spend it.

Pros of Fiat Money

China became the first company to use fiat currency around 1000 AD and as recently as 1971, when Richard Nixon removed the U.S. from the gold standard.

Currently, most developed nations use fiat money as their mode of payment. For fiat currencies to be successful, the nations must control both counterfeiting and the management of monetary supply.

The most important feature of fiat currency remains its stability, unlike commodity monies such as gold, silver, and copper. As mentioned earlier, the rise of fiat currencies came about as countries attempted to smooth out the business cycles and avoid the busts of credit cycles.

Unlike commodity monies, fiat currencies allow central banks to print or hold money as they see fit to help control the money supply, inflation, interest rates, and liquidity.

The central bank’s response to the Great Recession in 2008 provided a great example of fiat monies and the ability to control interest rates, money supply, and liquidity. The ability to control those aspects of the money helped lessen the blow to the U.S. and global economies.

Fiat Money Vs. Commodity Money

Ok, it’s time for the grudge match. But here are the pros and cons of commodity money versus fiat money.

Commodity Money vs. Fiat Money:

• Lower inflation – because commodity money is based on a physical product, i.e., gold, it is less prone to inflation from the devaluation of the money. Gold is fairly finite money, and the government cannot create more whenever it wants to, thus lessening inflation. Throughout history, many examples remain of a devaluation of money due to hyperinflation, such as Germany in the 1930s, Zimbabwe in 2016, and Argentina more recently. Fiat monies control inflation by controlling the interest rates and creating more or less money in the system. However, creating more money can lead to the devaluing of the money over time.
• Intrinsic Value – commodity monies have an intrinsic value based on their physical properties, such as gold, oil, and silver. Where fiat money is only as valuable as faith in the people that give it its value, gold, for example, has utility; gold can also create other valuables like jewelry, whereas a dollar bill has no use other than spending.
• Perishability—Commodity monies, such as oil, barley, or olive oil, can devalue over time. They have a shelf life, and they devalue once they extend past that shelf life. Fiat money has no shelf life other than degrading real money used through the system.
• Slower Growth—Fiat monies promote faster economic growth, and because they can be manipulated more quickly, they can provide liquidity to stimulate faster economic growth. Commodity monies take longer to grow, thus leading to slower expansion.
• Value Tied to Government – one of the cons of fiat money is that it will only have value for as long as the people believe and accept that it has value. The money has the government’s full faith and backing, and no physical asset exists. Gold, for example, has an intrinsic value that almost everyone on the face of the Earth recognizes.

Fiat money remains today’s monetary system but is not set in stone. Any changes in the value of the faith in our monetary system could send us back to commodity money or the rise of a different currency such as Bitcoin.

Final Thoughts

The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the flaws in our current fiat monetary system by forcing the Federal Reserve to open its piggy bank and pour out all the money it can to keep the country and economy afloat.

Many critics of the Fed believe it has gone too far by creating so much money and flooding the system with that much liquidity. Are they right or wrong? Only time will tell.

The increase in the creation of money and its impacts have led to increased interest in cryptocurrencies as an alternative to fiat currencies. But Bitcoin has some of the same strengths and weaknesses as commodities and fiat money. It is only as valuable as people believe it is and has a finite value, such as a commodity. The next question remains: Will Bitcoin become the future currency? It’s hard to say.

But for the immediate future, fiat currency is what we have to play with, and likely into our children’s future as well.

With that, we will wrap up our conversation for today.

As always, thank you for taking the time to read this post. I hope you find something of value in your investing journey.

If I can further assist, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Until next time, take care and be safe out there,

Dave