The first problem is that Rai-stones are not a fungible item, it has no definable intrinsic value except for sentiment and subjective opinion of the specfic Rai-stone which
Rai Stones are a great example of failed money, because it does not what it takes to be money. It has no real marketable intrinsic value.
might change from person to person, and from country to country, and from generation to generation.
The other problems are of course divisibility, but even we look apart from that…
Rai-stones had no use for anything other than being a medium of exchange, and hence Its intrinsic value was actually 0, which is exactly where it went.
Of course some collectors might buy it etc. But you get the point.
Which is exactly why it failed, and it was always going to fail. It could never ever have worked in a free market. Unless there was a government forcing you to use rai-stones as money…
They were never money, but simply acted as a medium of exchange, due to a faulty perception of it being money. It was never going to store Its value, but because there was a faulty perception, people went a long with it and eventually, anyone holding these things, had nothing. Great for those who made them I guess. It was a probably a innocent scheme.
It is the exact same situation with Bitcoin right now… We can use it as a medium of exchange… While it has value… But it will end like Rai-stones…
Because just as Rai-stones, nobody actually wanted or needed a raistone and thats apart from all the other faults of why it was terrible choice of money.
If you had a roman gold or silver coin laying around from 2000 years ago, you could still buy stuff today… Not only because of production and industry, but because want gold and silver to wear it, and make things out of it. There are properties only Gold and Silver has.