Post
Topic
Board Economics
Re: Tally stick lasted 720 yrs. Was it the worlds 1st and most successful digital Cy
by
qwerty555
on 30/06/2014, 14:38:40 UTC
I don't think you understand exactly what 'digital' means, however, I shall tell you:

Most likely, if the Internet wasn't alive, then it's not a digital currency. Thank you.
The tally stick's tally is indeed digital. It was a currency. It wasn't electronic or transmitted digitally.

Most people who refer to bitcoin as a digital currency do so because it's transferred digitally, not because it's comprised of digits. Isn't all currencies comprised of digits? Since a money stick cannot be transmitted or replicated digitally I'd say it's not a digital currency.

All fiat is also digital as it uses numbers so you are correct and part of the current widely accepted definition includes that it should be created electronically(and transmitted?) which a tally stick is not. However an  important part of the definition for me is that it was stored, a virtual currency and a medium of exchange(with centralized recording , somewhat revolutionary for the day) which the tally was .that is 3 of the 4 requirements to the definition.....

Digital currency is a form of virtual currency or medium of exchange that is electronically created and stored

Whilst it does not fully fit with todays definition because of the "electronically created" part of the def. it arguably has enough (stored/virtual/medium of exchange)to consider it a forerunner to modern day digital currencies.

in fact it did take electrical energy to activate the nerves in the hand to cut the notches in the stick so using a loooooong stretch of the imagination it was created electronically . Smiley  The widely held belief that it should be through a computer and be able to be transmitted electronically is not strictly in the definition.  
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_currency

electronic money or e-money definition is the one that fits more closely with the use of computers and internet

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_money