On Monday, Bao agreed to sell three baskets of plums on Thursday for ten shells.
She was pleased with ten shells. On Monday, the ten shells bought her nine loaves of bread.
On Thursday she handed over the plums, took the ten shells, walked to the bread cart, and the bread woman gave her five loaves.
"That is wrong, I got nine loaves of bread for the same price on Monday"
"That is the price today."
Bao had been paid exactly what she agreed for the plums, but when buying bread she had lost four loaves doing so.
Moolah took Bao down to the end of the market, where a tortoise sat behind a table with a stack of paper on it and no queue at all.
"This is Lis," said Moolah.
"One note, two loaves," said Lis. "Today. Thursday. Next spring."
"Why would anybody believe that?"
"They do not have to," said Lis. "Go and look round the back."
So Bao went round the back. There was a room full of loaves, and a mouse counting them, and a board on the wall with two numbers chalked up. The first was how many notes Lis had written. The second was how many loaves were in the room.
The second number was bigger.
"Anybody can come and count," said the mouse, who seemed used to this. "People do. Tuesdays, mostly."
Bao took four notes.
"They will not grow," said Lis. "A note is a note. Next spring a shell might be worth twice what it is worth today, and you will still be holding four loaves."
"I know."
"Most animals only hear the first half of that sentence."
Bao priced her plums with notes after that. Three baskets, nine notes, Thursday. Nothing moved. Nobody argued.
It was the least interesting thing she had ever done.
She did it for the rest of her life.
Margin Note: Boring is a feature you pay for.
The Honest Bit: Lis represents a stablecoin. The note holds still because something real is sitting behind it, and the only reason anybody trusts it is that anybody is allowed to walk round the back and count. Some real stablecoins are backed like this. Some are backed differently. Some turn out not to be backed at all. Always find out what is in the back room, and whether you are allowed to look at it.
The Question of the Day: Bao gave something up when she took the notes. Name it. Then say whether she was right to.
Try It: Pick any stablecoin on BNB Chain and find out what is behind it and who checks. If you cannot find out within five minutes, that is your answer.
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