Quote from: FreeTrade on November 07, 2011, 02:03:30 PM

Quote from: johnj on November 06, 2011, 05:00:31 PM

So from this I'd gather that currency is the actual thing used for exchange, whereas money is the abstract. I could give you 1 BTC for a stick of gum, and that'd be a use of it as a currency.

Money is abstract - agreed. I like to say that money is imaginary. Currency is used to represent the imaginary. Currency is physical tokens.

When gold was money, it was simultaneously money and currency at the same time.

With Bitcoin, the blockchain, and the agreement about what it represents is Money. (When/If Bitcoin becomes generally accepted).

Bitbills and Casacius coins are currency. Your wallet on a USB stick is currency (although very difficult to verify, so it probably could never become generally accepted). (Again, When/If Bitcoin becomes generally accepted.)

I know it the term 'cyptocurrency' is in general use, but it is a misnomer. Bitcoin allows individuals to directly exchange money. It largely obsoletes currency.

So having a patch of land you don't have money ?

No you don't have currency , cash , but still you could rent it , or you could exchange it ... or you could grow something on it , or you could build something on it. Money ain't imaginary. It's a term for value. If something has value to you it is money.
Currency is imaginary because it has no value other then the fact that it can be exchanged , If someone desires it or is forced to desire it (legal tender) , and the paper bills represent that fictional item , just the same as the numbers showing the debit of you Bank account.

Gold is currency , because it is valuable because people believe it to be so. There are very few useful things you can do with gold other then exchanging it , you can make jewelery but you can make that from shit if you wanted , not very useful , or you could use it in electronics but there are better materials like silver.

A piece of bread on the other hand is money, will always have an intrinsic value (of how much calories it will provide to you) and depending on how much you desire it and how much the owner of the bread desires it , we can quantify that piece of bread in currency and it's value in currency is the one that varies . It's real and intrinsic value will always be the same .

If you have the knowledge to produce a knife for example , again you have money , that knowledge is still valuable to you as it is , but you can also exchange that knowledge for something else by quantifying it .

The belief in god ... is money in my view , if your belief is strong enough God can have huge value for you , you can also use that belief to control people , if you can make them believe to and accept that you have a better understanding of god for example. You don't need to exchange nothing real but still you would gain huge benefits.

All currency is money but just for the time there is desire for it , if the desire or belief disappears the value of currency is ~0 . BUT the paper bill that represented that currency at one point might still be valuable for some (collectors for example.) the numbers representing your currency in a bank account on the other hand , i don't think someone would value them.