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Digital assets and currencies

Understand assets, networks and trading mechanics with sources you can check.

Fiat currencies

Bimetallism

Bimetallism, also known as the bimetallic standard, is a monetary standard in which the value of the monetary unit is defined as equivalent to certain quantities of two metals, creating a fixed rate of exchange between them. In all known historical cases, the metals are gold and silver.

Fiat currencies

Bureau de change

A bureau de change (plural bureaux de change, both BURE-oh də SHONZH; British English) or currency exchange (American English) is a business where people can buy or sell a foreign currency.

Fiat currencies

Chartalism

Chartalism is a heterodox theory in macroeconomics that views money as a pure creation of the state, introduced to control and organize economic activity rather than arising from barter or debt.

Banking

Cheque

A cheque (or check in American English) is a document that orders a bank, building society, or credit union, to pay a specific amount of money from a person's account to the person in whose name the cheque has been issued. The person writing the cheque, known as the drawer, has a transaction banking account (often called a current, cheque, chequing, checking, or share draft account) wher

Banking

Cheque clearing

Cheque clearing (or check clearing in American English) or bank clearance is the process of moving cash (or its equivalent) from one bank, from which a cheque is drawn, to another bank, in which it was deposited. Clearance is usually accompanied by the movement of the cheque to the paying bank, either in the traditional physical paper form or digitally under a cheque truncation system. T

Finance

Clearing (finance)

In banking and finance, clearing refers to all activities from the time a commitment is made for a transaction until it is settled. This process turns the promise of payment (for example, in the form of a cheque or electronic payment request) into the actual movement of money from one account to another. Clearing houses were formed to facilitate such transactions among banks.

Finance

Clearing house (finance)

A clearing house, often written as clearinghouse, is a financial institution formed to facilitate the exchange (i.e., clearance) of payments, securities, or derivatives transactions. The clearing house stands between two clearing firms (also known as member firms or participants).

Fiat currencies

Coincidence of wants

The coincidence of wants (often known as double coincidence of wants) is an economic phenomenon where two parties each hold an item that the other wants, so they exchange these items directly. Within economics, this has often been presented as the foundation of a bartering economy.

Fiat currencies

Credit theory of money

Credit theories of money, also called debt theories of money, are monetary economic theories concerning the relationship between credit and money. Proponents of these theories, such as Alfred Mitchell-Innes, sometimes emphasize that money and credit/debt are the same thing, seen from different points of view. Proponents assert that the essential nature of money is credit (debt), at leas

Assets

Cryptocurrency

Cryptocurrency is a type of digital asset that uses distributed ledger, or blockchain, technology to enable a secure transaction.

Fiat currencies

Currency

A currency is a standardized form of money used as a medium of exchange. Under this definition, the US dollar, the euro, the yen, sterling, and the renminbi 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.

Fiat currencies

Debasement

A debasement of coinage is the practice of lowering the intrinsic value of coins, especially when used in connection with commodity money, such as gold or silver coins, while continuing to circulate them at face value. A coin is said to be debased if the quantity of gold, silver, copper or nickel in the coin is reduced.

Fiat currencies

Demurrage currency

Demurrage currency, also known as depreciating money or stamp scrip in its paper money form, is a type of money that is designed to gradually lose purchasing power at a constant rate. Demurrage money is often confused with inflation, as they both cause money to lose value, but they have significantly different economic effects. Unlike normal money, demurrage is designed to be only a temp

Finance

History of money

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

Fiat currencies

Metallism

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 (commodity money) or it may use tokens (such as national banknotes) redeemable in that commodity. Georg Friedrich Knapp (1842–1926) coined the term "metallism" to describe

Assets

Mining pool

In the context of cryptocurrency mining, a mining pool is the pooling of resources by miners, who share their processing power over a network, to split the reward equally, according to the amount of work they contributed to the probability of finding a block. A "share" is awarded to members of the mining pool who present a valid partial proof-of-work. Mining in pools began when the diffi

Fiat currencies

Monetarism

Monetarism is a school of thought in monetary economics that emphasizes the role of policy-makers in controlling the amount of money in circulation. It gained prominence in the 1970s, but was mostly abandoned as a direct guidance to monetary policy during the following decade because of the rise of inflation targeting through movements of the official interest rate.

Fiat currencies

Money

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.

Securities & exchanges

Promissory note

A promissory note, sometimes referred to as a note payable, is a financial instrument in which one party (the maker or issuer) promises in writing to pay a determinate sum of money to another (the payee), subject to any terms and conditions specified within the document.

Fiat currencies

Quantity theory of money

The quantity theory of money (QTM) is a hypothesis within monetary economics which states that the general price level of goods and services is directly proportional to the amount of money in circulation (i.e., the money supply), and that the causality runs from money to prices. This implies that the theory potentially explains inflation. It originated in the 16th century and has been pr

Payments & settlement

Scrip

A scrip is any substitute for legal tender.

Assets

Smart contract

A smart contract is a computer program or a transaction protocol that is intended to automatically execute, control or document events and actions according to the terms of a contract or an agreement. The objectives of smart contracts are the reduction of need for trusted intermediators, arbitration costs, and fraud losses, as well as the reduction of malicious and accidental exceptions.