The assignat, the French Revolution’s innovative but failed currency experiment, is amongst the most instructive in the entire history of currency innovations. Although the example of the assignat is often invoked to demonstrate the importance of restraint in the issuance of token money, and to illustrate the evils of uncontrolled inflation, it has so far received little attention in the debate surrounding contemporary currency innovations, such as crypto-currencies and stablecoins. This paper pursues a three-pronged objective: first, to explore the core lessons of the unsuccessful assignat experiment for money, in general, and for contemporary currency innovations, in particular; second, to identify, on their basis, the main determinants for the success of currency experiments; and third, to apply to twenty-first Century currency innovations the lessons drawn from the assignat experiment’s failure, with a view to assessing the prospect of their success, as viable alternatives to fiat currencies, relative to the assignat.

中文翻译：

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21 世纪的新货币形式和法国分配实验的遗产

分配，法国大革命的创新但失败的货币实验，是整个货币创新史上最具启发性的实验之一。尽管经常引用assignat的例子来证明在代币发行中克制的重要性，并说明不受控制的通货膨胀的弊端，但迄今为止，在围绕当代货币创新（例如加密货币）的辩论中，它几乎没有受到关注。货币和稳定币。本文追求一个三管齐下的目标：首先，探索不成功的货币分配实验的核心教训，一般来说，特别是当代货币创新；第二，在此基础上确定货币实验成功的主要决定因素；第三，