Rai Stones: The Most Mysterious Currency in History

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Thoughty2 (Arran) is a British YouTuber and gatekeeper of useless facts. Thoughty2 creates mind-blowing factual videos about science, tech, history, opinion and just about everything else.
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Writing: Damien Knightley
Editing: Alex Brown
Script Development: Steven Rix

[davidanderson_surrey_bc]

Medieval tenant: Will ye accept these forty eels as annual rent on my house?
Medieval landlord: I cannot accept eel-gotten gains.

[varonexgamer]

Me every time I see a thoughty2 video:
"I don't need sleep, I need answers"

[aziris]

"I will buy this banana for 1 Rai Stone."
"Where is the Rai Stone?"
"At the bottom of the sea."
"I accept."

[THETRIVIALTHINGS]

Thoughty2 has maintained his amazing video quality for so many years and even made it better in many ways without losing his essence. He's such a classy guy. A classy British guy with the manliest mustache on youtube.

[benjamindover]

From the caves of stoneage Europe, the cries could be heard:

[iHaveTheDocuments]

"Why bitcoin was actually invented 600 years ago" is the original, soon to be changed title.

[sminem]

IRS: What happened to all your rai stones?
Me: I lost them in a tragic boating accident…

[RealMadrid-ljvm]

Just imagine a person in medieval Europe going aroung shouting, " Doge to the moonn!"

[HomesteadForALiving]

Did they also have some prehistoric version of Elon Musk manipulating the giant rock market?

[yarlodek]

That’s not bitcoin, that Mr. Krabs’s 1st dime.

[coinholio]

@Thoughty2 You briefly mentioned the mining aspect, but is important to note that both rai stones and Bitcoin are backed by "proof of work". For the stones, that is the process of mining them and crafting them, for Bitcoin that's the means of expending large amounts of electricity to power computers that search through a vast numberset for solutions that satisfy the algorithm and award a "block" of Bitcoin.

[TheObsesedAnimeFreaks]

lets not foget that every stone is unique, introducing an element of cryptography.

[CountDain]

Now I know why Mr. Krabs is so crazy about his “first dime”

[slowercuber]

"Stick a Flag in It" is a very good book, btw. I love listening to the Audible and it has given me a better sense of English history and western history in general than I've ever had. You do a credible read of it, too. I might have wished for a more strictly chronological telling, but then, as I tend to skip around a bit, my occasional feelings of anachronism might be due more to my reading than your writing. On a chapter by chapter basis the anecdotal and topical presentations are marvelous.

[mt-]

Their stoneblockchain technology was truly ahead of its time

[TheJohnnyCalifornia]

Honestly, I doubt any society really relied on bartering. Instead, it was more likely if someone in your group needed something, then you gave it to them or someone else just gave it to them with the understanding that they would "pay it back" or "pay it forward" whenever you or that other person needed something. Most early humans were fairly self sufficient so simply giving each other things and helping out is what made a society work. No need for barter or money, and even in many villages, families and close friends today, debts between are forgiven or cancelled out as a matter of process without the need for money to change hands.

Trade between different villages or cultures in a larger nation-like region or between different nations and empires was far more likely the origin of money as these would be economic transactions between groups that were mostly separate otherwise and so did not have the normal enforcement of cultural mores and peer pressure to remain honest. Then as civilizations and cosmopolitan interactions grew more complex, money would crucial to maintain the development of a much larger economy. However, even in these cultures, debt forgiveness - the jubilee - was necessary to maintain the social bonds as everyone knew unending debt would eventually swallow the entire economy and degrade the social connections.

[HyprHotshot]

Can we all just take a moment to appreciate the editing

[ThePaintHistorian]

The Channel That I Found In My Recommended And Immediately Subbed To

[rolandkatsuragi]

So currency that physically doesn't move, despite changing owners? I see why the title referred to these Bitcoins.

[jonathanmoody]

"Why Bitcoin Was Actually Invented 600 Years Ago"

-Original Title