We’re on the bleeding-edge of the biggest tech boom the world has ever seen. Every year the world becomes more intertwined thanks to internet connectivity. Looking at the numbers, 44% of the world’s population will have a smartphone by the end of the year, putting the United State’s 77% smartphone ownership into perspective.

Despite America’s technical privilege, the country is visibly divided economically, politically and socially. Americans are witnessing first-hand as corruption bubbles to the top within the largely centralized institutions that make up the spectrum of finance, media, and politics. Today the brightest minds, savviest entrepreneurs and tech trailblazers are exploring the benefits of blockchain as the medium for an electric age. While many of us are just grabbing a-hold of this technology, the thought of it and effects were preeminently described by professor Marshall McLuhan, also known as the “Electric Man”. Marshall McLuhan (1911–1980) was the polymath professor in English literature who prophesied the internet, theorized the field of media ecology and became an icon in the early days of television. McLuhan was ahead of his time in the world that characterized him as a communication’s expert who communicated poorly. Never the less, McLuhan’s reign as a media prophet and T.V. personality dubbed the 60–80s “The Age of McLuhan”, only to later be scrubbed from the educational palet with the likes of Nikola Tesla.

Marshall did not simply limit media to print and television stating,

“Since all media are extensions of ourselves, or translations of some part of us into various materials, any study of one medium helps us to understand all the others. Money is no exception.” — Marshall McLuhan

Money talks, the message is…

Money plays a gigantic role in many people’s daily lives, but what is money in the first place? As far as one can tell it’s a means of abstracting human energy/value into a medium of exchange which is mutually agreed upon (Hopefully). When we look at the role money plays in our daily lives things like the speed of transfer, reliability, and security start to matter. Throughout history humans have used numerous items from whale’s teeth to precious metals as a means of representing value in a medium that is either inherently valuable or default of corruptibility and counterfeit-ability. What do a few of today’s value mediums say?

Gold Coins— These coins are made of a precious metal, foiling counterfeiting while attaching a minimum value to the asset based on the metal’s price. Gold coins are generally not accepted as an ordinary means of trade, thus would be quite impracticable today. Trade facilitation would be tedious and individuals would certainly spend a lot of time trying to make equivalent trades. Let’s not forget the geopolitical benefits, or shall I say consequences of owning a gold mine.

Gold backed Currency — Gold backed currency comes with many of the problems of gold coins, but with increased transfer speed providing a digital crutch. Oh, and you also have to trust a centralized authority, traditionally a government. While transfer speeds are increased in comparison to bullion, the currencies need the assistance of technology to remain relevant and secure in today’s environment. The overall message sent by this medium is increased speed, and generally a required trust in a central authority.

Fiat Paper Currency — According to Investopedia the definition for FIAT currency is — is currency that a government has declared to be legal tender but it is not backed by a physical commodity. The value of fiat money is derived from the relationship between supply and demand rather than the value of the material that the money is made of. Historically, most currencies were based on physical commodities such as gold or silver, but fiat money is based solely on the faith and credit of the economy.

Fiat money is inconvertible and cannot be redeemed. Fiat money rose to prominence in the 20th century, specifically after the collapse of the Bretton Woods system in 1971, when the United States ceased to allow the conversion of the dollar into gold. In other words, fiat money requires it’s users to have a faith in a central authority that they essentially stake their livelihoods on it.

Crypto and Digital Currency

The spike in popularity surrounding cryptocurrency is nothing short of fascinating. All of the sudden people all over the world have an interest in their financial instruments. The craziest thing from the whole matter you may ask? They can do something about it! For better or worse people around the globe are taking control of the money, rules, and technologies that govern their everyday lives. The thing about cryptocurrencies is they utilize the flexibility of computer code as the medium to an infinite amount of service models.

Recently I asked Travis Wright, an expert on cryptocurrency and host of The Bad Crypto Podcast what he thought about the recent shift towards crypto. “You used to get up of the couch to turn the TV knobs. You used to have a long cord attached to your phone. You used to listen to CDs. You used to use VHS. Soon, going to the bank will be a thing of the past.” Travis went on to say that “Blockchain and cryptocurrency are the next new normal.” This statement may not be too far off if you look at the ruckus blockchain and it’s poster boy-Bitcoin- have caused over the last few months.

Bitcoin - You’d have to be living under a rock to miss the surge of interest that has sparked around Bitcoin lately. A mysterious figure called “Satoshi Nakamoto” proposed bitcoin in a academic paper in which he described an electronic payment system based on mathematical proof. The idea was to produce a currency independent of any central authority, transferable electronically, more or less instantly with very low transaction fees. Bitcoin utilizes cryptographic hashing, a decentralized network, and a limited amount of 21 million coins to create a conventional currency that trades against the value of everything. Bitcoin seems to be a step in the right direction as it has forced every-day people to reevaluate how they think about Money. What characteristics make it valuable? And do you really need a government to issue something safe and secure?

Cryptocurrency - With the success of bitcoin as a means of facilitating trade; we’ve begun to see the emergence of other cryptocurrencies utilizing variations of the technology behind Bitcoin. A cryptocurrency or blockchain based token can essentially be anything. It can represent a service, a good, demand, or nothing at all. The plasticity and technology around these currencies allow them to excel as money mediums in a digital age. This isn’t without a lot of fuss, as scammers, self interest groups, and huge technology firms have jumped on cryptocurrency as a means for turning a profit. People are just beginning to understand that Cryptocurrency can represent almost anything. With that being said investors should know what they are getting into. No body should invest in ANY currency until they have done a fair share of research.

As our mediums of exchange begin to change I find that I have more faith in the new systems coming out, but not utmost faith. The understanding of money has been traditionally obscured or just ignored. Money talks, because money is a metaphor, a transfer, and a bridge. Like words and language, money is a storehouse of communally achieved work, skill, and experience. Money, however, is also a specialist technology like writing; and as writing intensifies the visual aspect of speech and order, and as the clock visually separates time from space, so money separates work from the other social functions. Even today money is a language for translating the work of the farmer into the work of the barber, doctor, engineer, or plumber. As a vast social metaphor, bridge, or translator, money — like writing — speeds up exchange and tightens the bonds of interdependence in any community. It gives great spatial expansion and control to political organizations, just as writing does, or the calendar.