Token money

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Token money used in Oflag VII-A Murnau in German Murnau am Staffelsee Oflag VII token money.jpg
Token money used in Oflag VII-A Murnau in German Murnau am Staffelsee

Token money, or token, is a form of money that has a lesser intrinsic value compared to its face value. [1] [2] Token money is anything that is accepted as money, not due to its intrinsic value but instead because of custom or legal enactment. [3] Token money costs less to produce than its face value. [3] A banknote, e.g. a five-pound note, is token money because despite its value being 5 pounds it only costs significantly less to produce. [3] A gold coin is not considered token money. [3] The Token money system has been adopted in many businesses around the world as an effective way to exchange value between companies and customers. [4] Token money as a system is predominantly used in mobile games, but is also used in the realm of e-commerce. [4] Token money is similar to fiat money which also has little intrinsic value, however they differ in that token money is a limited legal tender. [5] The adoption of token money has improved transaction efficiency, as the practicalty of transacting with sums of gold poses a larger security risk. In a commodity economy, money is a measure of the value of goods and services (prices) within a sovereign country or the same economy, as well as a particular commodity to pay off debts. [6] The token is also used as a medium of exchange, as a store of value, and as a unit of account. Digital currencies using decentralized blockchain technology are also a form of token money. [7]

Contents

History

In Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire, copper coins were used for small transactions and were issued a monetary value greater than the value of the metal itself. [3] This established the principle of token money, which is the nature of coinage in contemporary society. [3] Plato distinguished between tokens and commodities. [8] In Medieval Indian History, Mohammad Bin Tughlaq (c.1290-1351) issued copper currency called Tanka as token money whose value was legally set equal to silver coin, and is considered the world's first truly token currency.

In the early nineteenth century, David Ricardo suggested issuing token money as long as it did not affect commodity standard. [9]

Physical tokens

Former tokens are collected and displayed Numismatics collection of the MNAC- local money displays (16).jpg
Former tokens are collected and displayed

Token money has less intrinsic value compared to its face value. [10] If the token money is metallic it is commonly made out of cheaper metals such as copper and nickel. [11] [12]

Token money is also money whose face value exceeds its cost of production, i.e. the intrinsic value is lower than the extrinsic value. This means that the actual worth of a note or coin is much less than what we use it for. The cost of production of token money is less than its actual value, for example with convertible currency, collector notes, souvenirs, coupons, some retired US banknotes and per 1986 banknotes printed in regulation size and only on one side with authorization are actually worth more dollars than when issued. [13] [14]

With token money, exchanges are not considered fully complete because the exchange of value is not equivalent. [15] Value is hoped to be rendered at some future time. Examples of this include bills of exchange or negotiable instrument and certificates. [15]

Token money does not have free coinage. [11]

See also

Related Research Articles

A currency is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins. A more general definition is that a currency is a system of money in common use within a specific environment over time, especially for people in a nation state. Under this definition, the British Pound sterling (£), euros (€), Japanese yen (¥), and U.S. dollars (US$) are examples of (government-issued) fiat currencies. Currencies may act as stores of value and be traded between nations in foreign exchange markets, which determine the relative values of the different currencies. Currencies in this sense are either chosen by users or decreed by governments, and each type has limited boundaries of acceptance; i.e., legal tender laws may require a particular unit of account for payments to government agencies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gold standard</span> Monetary system based on the value of gold

A gold standard is a monetary system in which the standard economic unit of account is based on a fixed quantity of gold. The gold standard was the basis for the international monetary system from the 1870s to the early 1920s, and from the late 1920s to 1932 as well as from 1944 until 1971 when the United States unilaterally terminated convertibility of the US dollar to gold, effectively ending the Bretton Woods system. Many states nonetheless hold substantial gold reserves.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gresham's law</span> Monetary principle, "bad money drives out good"

In economics, Gresham's law is a monetary principle stating that "bad money drives out good". For example, if there are two forms of commodity money in circulation, which are accepted by law as having similar face value, the more valuable commodity will gradually disappear from circulation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Commodity money</span> Money with value derived from composition from a commodity (such as silver or gold coins)

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 as well as their value in buying goods. This is in contrast to representative money, which has no intrinsic value but represents something of value such as gold or silver, for which it can be exchanged, and fiat money, which derives its value from having been established as money by government regulation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thai baht</span> Official currency of Thailand

The baht is the official currency of Thailand. It is divided into 100 satang. Prior to decimalisation, the baht was divided into eight feuang, each of eight att. The issuance of currency is the responsibility of the Bank of Thailand. SWIFT ranked the Thai baht as the 10th-most-frequently used world payment currency as of December 2023.

The Mexican peso is the currency of Mexico. Modern peso and dollar currencies have a common origin in the 16th–19th century Spanish dollar, most continuing to use its sign, "$".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Swedish riksdaler</span> Pre-1873 currency unit in Sweden

The svenska riksdaler was the name of a Swedish coin first minted in 1604. Between 1777 and 1873, it was the currency of Sweden. The daler, like the dollar, was named after the German Thaler. The similarly named Reichsthaler, rijksdaalder, and rigsdaler were used in Germany and Austria-Hungary, the Netherlands, and Denmark-Norway, respectively. Riksdaler is still used as a colloquial term for krona, Sweden's modern-day currency.

In economics and law, fungibility is the property of a good or a commodity whose individual units are essentially interchangeable. In legal terms, this affects how legal rights apply to such items. Fungible things can be substituted for each other; for example, a $100 bill (note) is considered entirely equivalent to twenty $5 bills (notes), and therefore a person who borrows $100 in the form of a $100 bill can repay the money with twenty $5 bills. There is no requirement to return the same $100 bill. Non-fungible items are not substitutable in the same manner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Banknote</span> Form of physical currency made of paper, cotton or polymer

A banknote—also called a bill, paper money, or simply a note—is a type of negotiable promissory note, made by a bank or other licensed authority, payable to the bearer on demand. Banknotes were originally issued by commercial banks, which were legally required to redeem the notes for legal tender when presented to the chief cashier of the originating bank. These commercial banknotes only traded at face value in the market served by the issuing bank. Commercial banknotes have primarily been replaced by national banknotes issued by central banks or monetary authorities.

In economics, a medium of exchange is any item that is widely acceptable in exchange for goods and services. In modern economies, the most commonly used medium of exchange is currency. Most forms of money are categorised as mediums of exchange, including commodity money, representative money, cryptocurrency, and most commonly fiat money. Representative and fiat money most widely exist in digital form as well as physical tokens, for example coins and notes.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indian rupee</span> Official currency of India

The Indian rupee is the official currency in India. The rupee is subdivided into 100 paise. The issuance of the currency is controlled by the Reserve Bank of India. The Reserve Bank manages currency in India and derives its role in currency management based on the Reserve Bank of India Act, 1934.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Egyptian pound</span> Official currency of Egypt

The Egyptian pound is the official currency of Egypt. It is divided into 100 piastres, or qirsh, or 1,000 milliemes, but milliemes are no longer used.

The history of money is the development over time of systems for the exchange, storage, and measurement of wealth. Money is a means of fulfilling these functions indirectly and in general rather than directly, as with barter.

Japanese currency has a history covering the period from the 8th century AD to the present. After the traditional usage of rice as a currency medium, Japan adopted currency systems and designs from China before developing a separate system of its own.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Money</span> Object or record accepted as payment

Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are: medium of exchange, a unit of account, a store of value and sometimes, a standard of deferred payment.

Metallism is the economic principle that the value of money derives from the purchasing power of the commodity upon which it is based. The currency in a metallist monetary system may be made from the commodity itself or it may use tokens redeemable in that commodity. Georg Friedrich Knapp (1842–1926) coined the term "metallism" to describe monetary systems using coin minted in silver, gold or other metals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cochinchina piastre</span> Official currency of Cochinchine francaise

Between 1878 and 1885, the Cochinchina piastre was the currency of the French colony of Cochinchina. It was replaced by the French Indochinese piastre after the creation of a unified administration for Cochinchina and the other French protectorates and colonies in the Far East on 22 December 1885.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fiat money</span> Currency not backed by any commodity

Fiat money is a type of currency that is not backed by a precious metal, such as gold or silver. It is typically designated by the issuing government to be legal tender, and is authorized by government regulation. Since the end of the Bretton Woods system in 1971, the major currencies in the world are fiat money.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Money burning</span> Deliberate burning of money for effect

Money burning or burning money is the purposeful act of destroying money. In the prototypical example, banknotes are destroyed by setting them on fire. Burning money decreases the wealth of the owner without directly enriching any particular party. It also reduces the money supply and slows down the inflation rate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">String of cash coins (currency unit)</span> Historical currency unit

A string of cash coins refers to a historical Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Ryukyuan, and Vietnamese currency unit that was used as a superunit of the Chinese cash, Japanese mon, Korean mun, Ryukyuan mon, and Vietnamese văn currencies. The square hole in the middle of cash coins served to allow for them to be strung together in strings. The term would later also be used on banknotes and served there as a superunit of wén (文).

References

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  12. Tsoukalas; Falk, B. H. (2020). "Token-Weighted Crowdsourcing". Management Science. 66 (9): 3843–3859. doi: 10.1287/mnsc.2019.3515 .
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  14. Stannard, Clive (25 March 2022). "Small change in Campania from the Fourth to the First Century BC, and the Newly Discovered Second Punic War Roman Mint of Minturnae". www.researchgate.net. Retrieved 2022-03-25. ...the small units and of copper-based alloys, in which it was possible to make coins of usable size at a relatively low cost...
  15. 1 2 Kuzminski, Adrian (2013). The Ecology of Money: Debt, Growth, and Sustainability. Lexington Books. p. 54. ISBN   9780739177181. Archived from the original on 2 January 2017. Retrieved 2 January 2017.