The evolution of money and emergence of digital assets

Throughout history, money has encompassed roles as both a store of value and a means of facilitating the exchange of goods and services. Nonetheless, the currency's development over time has yet to remain fixed. Before the widespread adoption of currency, trade was based on the exchange of goods - unsurprisingly, a method lacking efficiency and uniformity. But a remarkable transformation is now underway - the conversion of tangible assets, including cash, into digital tokens. And this transformation is reshaping transactional norms. It is sagacious then to delve into the sequential phases characterizing the evolution of currency, the ascent of digital assets such as cryptocurrencies, the underlying infrastructure bolstering them and the extensive implications these hold for the financial sphere. So, with this in mind, it could be argued that money itself has undergone five (and about to see the sixth) phases in terms of how it is used:

·      ‘commodity’ money (goods barter):

In the ear…