Centuries ago in western Micronesia, Yapese islanders sailed to the Palauan archipelago 250 miles away to carve their famous stone money disks (rai) from limestone and then transported them back for use as exchange valuables in various social transactions. While rai were not strictly currency, their value is similar to other traditional and modern objects where worth is arbitrarily based on both real and perceived attributes. Recently, corollaries have been made between rai and newly established electronic cryptocurrencies that use blockchain technology—essentially, digital ledgers that track financial transactions in real time across a computer network to ensure that they are seamless and incorruptible. In this study, we examine the sociophysical similarities and differences between stone money and cryptocurrencies that rely on blockchain, both of which demand a unified and continuous chain of information to ensure that the value is known and ownership indisputable. This research suggests that stone money: (a) is an exemplary ancient analog to blockchain that used oral ledgers solidified through social networks to create accurate and unbroken lines of communication so that economic relationships involving rai could be established, maintained, exchanged, and rectified, and (b) may have been a progenitor that inspired the development of Bitcoin.

中文翻译：

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石钱银行业务：比特币的古老前身

几百年前，在西部的密克罗尼西亚，亚庇人（Yapese）的岛民驶向250英里外的帕劳群岛，用石灰石雕刻出他们著名的石钱盘（rai），然后将它们运回用作各种社会交易中的贵重物品。尽管rai并非严格意义上的货币，但其价值与其他传统和现代对象相似，在这些对象中，价值是根据真实和感知属性任意确定的。最近，在rai之间进行了推论以及使用区块链技术的新近建立的电子加密货币，本质上是数字分类帐，可在计算机网络中实时跟踪金融交易，以确保它们无缝且不会腐败。在这项研究中，我们研究了依赖区块链的石钱和加密货币之间的社会物理相似性和差异，两者都需要统一和连续的信息链以确保价值已知和所有权无可争议。这项研究表明，石制货币：（a）是区块链的一个古老示例，它使用通过社交网络巩固的口头分类账来创建准确无间断的沟通渠道，从而使涉及莱的经济关系成为现实。 可以建立，维护，交换和纠正，并且（b）可能是启发比特币发展的祖先。