From the shell to bitcoin

A short history of money and markets, with a source for every line. Myths are marked as myths.

Chapters

Shells and the first coins
How people paid before and after the coin.
Paper money and bills
From Chinese notes to European bills of exchange and banknotes.
The first shares and exchanges
How share trading started in the 1600s.
Tulip mania: fact and fable
The 1637 tulip price collapse, and why the famous story is mostly wrong.
Rice, grain and the birth of futures
From the Dojima rice market to Chicago and screen trading.
Bubbles and crashes
From the South Sea Bubble to the 2010 Flash Crash.
From gold to floating currencies
How money lost its link to gold.
Bitcoin and crypto
From a 2008 white paper to EU rules.

Timeline

Prehistory onward · Shells and the first coins
Before coinage, valued materials served as money. In ancient China these included jade, bronze and cowrie shells; bronze inscriptions record strings of cowries as gifts and later as payments. britishmuseum.org
Ongoing · Shells and the first coins
MYTH (caveat): the textbook story of a "barter economy" that money replaced cleanly is not what the museum record shows. Barter ran in parallel with coins for centuries, and most people in early coin-using societies never handled a coin. bbc.com
c. 1300 BC · Shells and the first coins
The Bank of England dates the earliest documented use of cowrie shells as currency to China, c. 1300 BC (the British Museum says "1000 BC onwards": dates vary). The cowrie survives in Chinese characters for money and buying. bankofengland.co.uk
c. 650 BC · Shells and the first coins
The first coins were struck in Lydia (modern Turkey) from electrum, a natural gold-silver alloy, to strict weight standards; a lion's head was likely a royal symbol. money.org
6th c. BC · Shells and the first coins
Lydia was the first state to mint gold and silver separately; after the Persian conquest of Lydia (547 BC) the practice spread through the Persian Empire. britishmuseum.org
221 BC · Shells and the first coins
After China's unification, the Qin round coin became the standard shape for about 2,000 years. britishmuseum.org
c. 2nd c. BC – 16th c. · Shells and the first coins
The Silk Roads were a shifting network of land and sea routes linking China, Central Asia and the Mediterranean, carrying silk, other goods and ideas. The Chang'an–Tianshan corridor (~5,000 km) developed from the 2nd c. BC and stayed important into the 16th c. unesco.org, whc.unesco.org
990s–1024 · Paper money and bills
Private merchants in Sichuan issued paper bills (jiaozi) in the 990s. After issuers failed, the Song state took over, set up an office in 1023 and issued the first state paper notes in 1024. doi.org
Late 13th c. (book c. 1298) · Paper money and bills
Marco Polo described Kublai Khan's mint at Cambaluc (Beijing): notes made from mulberry bark, cut into denominations, signed and sealed by officials with a vermilion imperial seal; forgery was punishable by death. (The book's date, c. 1298, is not verified here; no date is claimed.) afe.easia.columbia.edu
Medieval · Paper money and bills
Italian merchants perfected the foreign bill of exchange to finance trade across Europe; bills also worked around usury prohibitions. cambridge.org
1397 · Paper money and bills
The Medici Bank is dated to 1397, when its head office moved from Rome to Florence. It dealt in deposits, bills of exchange and loans, ran as a holding of branch partnerships, and lasted until 1494. doi.org
1602 · The first shares and exchanges
The Dutch East India Company (VOC) opened a subscription to all comers (open until 1 Sept 1602) and raised about 6.5 million guilders. It is regarded as the first company with freely tradable shares. beursgeschiedenis.nl, westfriesarchief.nl
1602–1611 · The first shares and exchanges
Early VOC share trading took place on the Nieuwe Brug and in chapels and churches. The VOC did not found the exchange. worldsfirststockexchange.com
9 Sept 1606 · The first shares and exchanges
The oldest surviving "share" is a VOC payment receipt from the Enkhuizen chamber (found in 2010 in the Westfries Archief). The VOC issued no share certificates. westfriesarchief.nl
31 Jan 1609 · The first shares and exchanges
Amsterdam founded the Wisselbank (Bank of Amsterdam), a public giro bank whose deposits were backed by coin, to end coin debasement and confusion. It became a de facto central bank, failed after the 1780s–1795 shocks and closed in 1820. DNB calls it 'an early stablecoin'. dnb.nl, pure.uva.nl
1611 · The first shares and exchanges
Amsterdam's first exchange building (Beurs van Hendrick de Keyser) opened. It was mainly a commodities exchange, with shares traded at the back. beursgeschiedenis.nl
Feb 1637 · Tulip mania: fact and fable
The tulip price collapse. MYTH: stories of ruined merchants, canal suicides and a wrecked Dutch economy (Mackay, 1841) are not supported by the archives. The historian found no bankrupt person identifiable as ruined by tulips; trade was among the well-to-do, and contracts were for future delivery. historytoday.com, theconversation.com
1661 / 1694 · Paper money and bills
Sweden issued Europe's first banknotes in 1661. The Bank of England was founded in 1694 and issued notes against deposits. bankofengland.co.uk
1697 / 1730 · Rice, grain and the birth of futures
The Yodoya rice market moved to Dojima, Osaka, around 1697. In 1730 the shogunate officially authorised the Dojima Rice Exchange (a rice-bill spot market plus rice futures), which had membership and clearing. It is widely cited as the first organised futures exchange. jpx.co.jp, odex.co.jp
1717 / 1816 / 1821 · From gold to floating currencies
Britain moved onto a de facto gold standard after the 1717 guinea valuation. The 1816 Coinage Act made gold the standard, and gold convertibility took effect in 1821. royalmint.com
1717–1720 · Bubbles and crashes
Mississippi Bubble (France): a state bank (Banque Royale) and the Compagnie des Indes were merged, notes were issued to buy shares, the money supply surged (monthly inflation ~23% in Jan 1720), and shares collapsed from ~10,000 to ~1,000 livres by Dec 1720. Its founder was dismissed and fled. guides.loc.gov, mshistorynow.mdah.ms.gov
1720 · Bubbles and crashes
The South Sea Bubble: London share prices, led by the South Sea Company (founded 1711 to help with war debt), rose unsustainably and crashed in autumn 1720, right after the Paris Mississippi Bubble. d-nb.info
June 1815 · Bubbles and crashes
MYTH: the tale that a banker learnt of Waterloo first (by carrier pigeon or private courier) and made a fortune by deceiving the London market. The Rothschild Archive and historian Brian Cathcart find no evidence: another man was first with the news, any gains were modest, and there was no trickery. The legend comes from an antisemitic 1846 Paris pamphlet signed 'Satan'. rothschildarchive.org, rothschildarchive.org
3 Apr 1848 · Rice, grain and the birth of futures
The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was founded as a cash grain market, and "to-arrive" forwards began almost immediately. cftc.gov
13 Oct 1865 · Rice, grain and the birth of futures
CBOT set formal rules on margin and delivery, a key step towards standardised futures. cmegroup.com
1884 / 26 May 1896 · Bubbles and crashes
Dow's first average (railroads) dates from 1884. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was first published on 26 May 1896. "Dow theory" was later systematised from the founder's editorials (no primary text for the "theory" itself). guides.loc.gov
Oct 1907 · Bubbles and crashes
Panic of 1907: runs on New York trust companies; the first worldwide financial crisis of the 20th century. It led to the monetary reform movement. federalreservehistory.org
23 Dec 1913 · From gold to floating currencies
The Federal Reserve Act was signed, creating the Federal Reserve System and the Federal Reserve note. federalreservehistory.org
1919 · Rice, grain and the birth of futures
The Chicago Butter and Egg Board was reconstituted as the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME). cmegroup.com
1922–Nov 1923 · Bubbles and crashes
Weimar hyperinflation: the mark went from 4.2 per US dollar (pre-WWI) to 4.2 trillion per dollar by November 1923. The Rentenmark replaced it in November 1923. fraser.stlouisfed.org, bundesbank.de
Oct 1929 · Bubbles and crashes
The Dow fell nearly 13% on 28 Oct 1929 and about 89% peak to trough by mid-1932. federalreservehistory.org
1929–1941 · Bubbles and crashes
The Great Depression: 'the longest and deepest downturn in the history of the United States and the modern industrial economy'. The money supply fell nearly 30% from fall 1930 to winter 1933. federalreservehistory.org
July 1944 · From gold to floating currencies
Bretton Woods (44 nations): currencies pegged to the US dollar, and the dollar convertible into gold at $35/oz. federalreservehistory.org
15 Aug 1971 · From gold to floating currencies
Nixon shock: the US President suspended dollar-gold convertibility ("closing the gold window"); fixed rates collapsed by 1973, leading to floating FX. federalreservehistory.org
19 Oct 1973 · From gold to floating currencies
The OAPEC oil embargo on the US: oil went from $2.90 to $11.65/bbl by Jan 1974; the embargo was lifted in March 1974. federalreservehistory.org
1978–1980 · From gold to floating currencies
Second oil shock (Iranian Revolution): oil more than doubled between April 1979 and April 1980; US CPI inflation reached ~9% by end-1979, part of the 1970s stagflation. The Fed raised the funds rate to a peak of ~19% (1981), and inflation fell to ~4% by end-1982 at the cost of a severe recession. federalreservehistory.org
22 Sept 1985 · From gold to floating currencies
Plaza Accord: the G5 (France, West Germany, Japan, UK, US) stated that 'some further orderly appreciation of the main non-dollar currencies against the dollar is desirable'. g7.utoronto.ca
19 Oct 1987 · Bubbles and crashes
Black Monday: the Dow fell 508.32 points (−22.6%) to 1,738.40, the largest one-day percentage drop. federalreservehistory.org, reuters.com
1992 · Rice, grain and the birth of futures
CME launched electronic trading on Globex, starting the move from pits to screens. cmegroup.com
18th c. (myth) · Rice, grain and the birth of futures
MYTH: the popular claim that the rice trader Homma invented candlestick charts is unsupported. A 2016 prize paper in the journal of Japan's technical analysts association (NTAA), based on the National Diet Library's digital archive, concludes that candlestick charts emerged later, in the Meiji era (after 1868). ntaa.or.jp (Japanese, PDF), datavizcatalogue.com (secondary)
16 Sept 1992 · From gold to floating currencies
Black Wednesday: the UK suspended sterling's membership of the ERM after intervention and rate rises failed. bankofengland.co.uk
2 Jul 1997 · Bubbles and crashes
Thailand floated the baht, starting the Asian financial crisis. federalreservehistory.org, imf.org
Sept 1998 · Bubbles and crashes
LTCM near-failure: the New York Fed facilitated a $3.6bn private-sector recapitalisation (no Fed money). federalreservehistory.org
1 Jan 1999 / 1 Jan 2002 · From gold to floating currencies
The euro was introduced as book money in 1999; notes and coins entered circulation on 1 Jan 2002. ecb.europa.eu
10 Mar 2000 · Bubbles and crashes
The dot-com peak: the Nasdaq index peaked at 5,048, then the bubble burst. goldmansachs.com
11–17 Sept 2001 · Bubbles and crashes
9/11: US stock markets stayed closed until 17 Sept, when the Dow fell 684.81 points (−7.1%). The Fed supplied emergency liquidity. federalreservehistory.org, money.cnn.com
15 Sept 2008 · Bubbles and crashes
Lehman Brothers filed for Chapter 11, the peak of the global financial crisis. federalreserve.gov, newyorkfed.org
31 Oct 2008 · Bitcoin and crypto
The Bitcoin white paper, "Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System", was posted to a cryptography mailing list. bitcoin.org, reuters.com
Nov–Dec 2008 · Bubbles and crashes
QE and zero rates: the Fed began large-scale asset purchases (agency MBS and debt, 'QE1') in Nov 2008 and cut the funds target to 0–0.25% on 16 Dec 2008. federalreservehistory.org
6 May 2010 · Bubbles and crashes
Flash crash: the Dow briefly fell about 998.5 points (~9.2%) intraday and closed −347.80 (−3.2%). The joint SEC-CFTC staff report blamed a large automated E-mini sell order combined with algorithmic trading and liquidity withdrawal, and found two liquidity crises (E-mini/SPY and individual stocks). More than 20,000 trades were later cancelled as clearly erroneous. cftc.gov, sec.gov, reuters.com
2010–2012 · Bubbles and crashes
Euro debt crisis: Greece's first programme (on 2 May 2010 the Eurogroup agreed €80bn of pooled bilateral loans), then others. On 26 July 2012 the ECB President said the ECB was 'ready to do whatever it takes to preserve the euro'. ecb.europa.eu, economy-finance.ec.europa.eu
Feb 2014 · Bitcoin and crypto
Mt. Gox halted withdrawals and filed for bankruptcy after about 850,000 BTC went missing. On 7 Mar 2014 it found ~200,000 BTC (199,999.99) in an old-format wallet. mtgox.com
5 Jun 2014 · From gold to floating currencies
Negative rates: the ECB cut its deposit facility rate to −0.10% (effective 11 June 2014), the first major central bank to do so. Danmarks Nationalbank had already set a −0.20% certificate-of-deposit rate from 6 July 2012. ecb.europa.eu, nationalbanken.dk
15 Jan 2015 · From gold to floating currencies
The Swiss National Bank discontinued the EUR/CHF 1.20 floor and cut its deposit rate to −0.75%. snb.ch
2018 · Bubbles and crashes
ESMA banned binary options for retail clients and restricted CFDs, citing excessive leverage and the structurally negative expected return of binaries. esma.europa.eu
Mar 2020 · Bubbles and crashes
COVID crash: US market-wide circuit breakers (Level 1, S&P 500 −7%) halted trading on 9, 12, 16 and 18 March 2020. sec.gov, govinfo.gov
20 Apr 2020 · Bubbles and crashes
May WTI futures settled at −$37.63, down from $17.73 earlier that day. The CFTC interim report found no single root cause. cftc.gov
Jan 2021 · Bubbles and crashes
GameStop / meme stocks: the SEC staff report covers the January 2021 surge, retail order flow, short interest, payment for order flow and broker trading restrictions. sec.gov
Nov–Dec 2022 · Bitcoin and crypto
FTX collapsed (bankruptcy filing Nov 2022). On 13 Dec 2022 the SEC charged its CEO and co-founder with defrauding investors; the CFTC and SDNY filed parallel charges. sec.gov
2022–2023 · From gold to floating currencies
Inflation and rate hikes: US CPI peaked at 9.1% y/y (June 2022, highest since Nov 1981). The Fed hiked from 16 Mar 2022 (+25bp), including +75bp on 16 Jun 2022, reaching 5.25–5.50% on 26 Jul 2023. bls.gov, federalreserve.gov, federalreserve.gov
10 Jan 2024 · Bitcoin and crypto
The SEC approved the first US spot bitcoin ETPs (11 products); the Chair stated it was not an endorsement of bitcoin. sec.gov
23 May 2024 / 23 Jul 2024 · Bitcoin and crypto
The SEC approved exchange rule changes to list spot ether ETPs (Release 34-100224, 23 May 2024). Trading began on 23 Jul 2024 after the registration statements became effective on 22 Jul. sec.gov, troutman.com
30 Dec 2024 · Bitcoin and crypto
MiCA licensing obligations for crypto-asset service providers began to apply in the EU. esma.europa.eu (MiCA)

Education only, not financial advice. No signals. Backtests are hypothetical: real trading can be worse. Past results don't predict future results.