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btc is over $40,000 again. we are so back.

to commemorate this milestone, let’s talk about a real-life example of a decentralized ledger. we previously explored the bare basics of blockchain and cryptocurrency. one of the concepts we discussed was a decentralized record of transactions.

recently, i learnt about a health system project we have in the state of Yap, a group of islands in the Pacific Ocean and a state in Micronesia. i had never heard of Yap before, so went to read up about the state of 11,000 residents and their culture. i found out that unique to Yap is a bunch of giant limestones that are used as currency!

these limestones, called rai, are up to 4 metres in diameter and requires up to 30 men to move. they were mined from quarries in Palau centuries ago and transported to Yap by the state’s skilled sailors. as mining rai was diffiicult, the stones remained quite rare on the island. despite changing hands over generations, often during significant events like weddings and land sales, the stones themselves are rarely physically moved even if the owners don’t live on the same island.

this is where it gets intriguing. just like bitcoin’s ownership is verified through a distributed ledger, the ownership of rai was also validated, orally though, among villagers present at the point of transaction. this system of distributed oral ledger means that individual villagers cannot lie about their wealth in rai as it can easily be disproved when verified with other nodes (villagers). the collective understanding of ownership is hence largely immutable (!) and mirrors the transparency and resilience of blockchain technology.

however, no sooner did technology and new quarrying methods introduced by western colonizers debase the currency and cause hyperinflation. today, the stones are mainly used ceremonially.

isn’t this fascinating? credits to anthropologists scott fitzpatrick and stephen mckeon for their work on this form of decentralized ledger.

btc always has been.