A universal monetary unit

[Enoki]

While the Imperial Credit has always been the "gold standard" for Traveller, I have always had some difficulty with it being the sole currency or even one that is easily transported between worlds, particularly ones outside the Imperium.

So, what I came up with as a "universal" form of money was something akin to the Krugerrand as an alternative. This I've dubbed a "Sliver." It is a small silver metal bar of extremely durable non-magnetic metal that is generally stamped with its origin, and other pertinent data showing what it is. The bar itself is worthless except for a microgram of a super-heavy long lived isotope called "Oganessium" (element 126 - 321) that can only be found near neutron stars and pulsars. Even then this element exists in only small quantities.
Because of its rarity and the difficulty in obtaining it (it costs more to make in a particle accelerator etc., than it is worth so collection is the only real method it is gotten by) and it's general uselessness for any other purpose it became the choice for a universal currency.
It's presence can be verified by testing easily even when present in minute amounts. Hence, a Sliver is very valuable and also relatively easily tested to determine if it is the "real thing." It is nearly impossible to counterfeit one as well (although this is tried regularly).

Comments?

 

[Patron Zero]

I lifted the concept of 'locally' supported currencies from Mike Resnick's 1985 SF novel, Santiago, such coins or bank-notes competing with Imperial-supported credits.

Such giving the opportunity for transactions-services to be done without the notice of 'big brother'.

 

[Meeko100]

Maybe I'm thick, but why wouldn't normal gold work?

Even agricultural worlds need to have some industry to make farm implements, and given the general high tech nature of any world that has trade with interstellar power, they should have computers. And gold is needed (at least a small amount) to make computers. Add in the desirability else where in the galaxy for gold, why wouldn't it not be the currency of choice? Do the Vilani just not value gold as much as we Terrans do?

 

[aramis]

Maybe I'm thick, but why wouldn't normal gold work?

Even agricultural worlds need to have some industry to make farm implements, and given the general high tech nature of any world that has trade with interstellar power, they should have computers. And gold is needed (at least a small amount) to make computers. Add in the desirability else where in the galaxy for gold, why wouldn't it not be the currency of choice? Do the Vilani just not value gold as much as we Terrans do?

One asteroid worth of rich gold ore would collapse current values. And not just on gold...

Specie Currencies are unstable - subject to sudden supplies. (Think the Klondike or California gold rushes. And realize: all the gold yet extracted would fit inside a regulation basketball or tennis court.

 

[rancke]

One asteroid worth of rich gold ore would collapse current values. And not just on gold...

Specie Currencies are unstable - subject to sudden supplies. (Think the Klondike or California gold rushes. And realize: all the gold yet extracted would fit inside a regulation basketball or tennis court.

Precisely. A well-managed fiat currency is superior to a specie currency. (It's just much easier to mismanage a fiat currency).

Local currencies are implicit in the currency exchange rules, though I don't recall one showing up in any canon material.


Hans

 

[Enoki]

I was looking at the Sliver as more of a substitute for gold or other precious metals. Being sufficiently rare gives it value. Being hard to forge or fake makes it reliable. It wouldn't be the currency of choice for typical exchanges on some planet however but rather something, say a ship's Captain might have some of to establish a local account as necessary.
It's recognition universally (or nearly so) would make it transportable between worlds. For the average person there would be little real need for it but for interstellar travelers and trade it would have advantages being a physical monetary source. That has advantages over electronic funds transfers or currency that could be forged in moving between systems / worlds.

 

[aramis]

I was looking at the Sliver as more of a substitute for gold or other precious metals. Being sufficiently rare gives it value. Being hard to forge or fake makes it reliable. It wouldn't be the currency of choice for typical exchanges on some planet however but rather something, say a ship's Captain might have some of to establish a local account as necessary.
It's recognition universally (or nearly so) would make it transportable between worlds. For the average person there would be little real need for it but for interstellar travelers and trade it would have advantages being a physical monetary source. That has advantages over electronic funds transfers or currency that could be forged in moving between systems / worlds.

You're going to have a hard time finding something rare enough, safe enough, and useful enough to be worth it. Asteroids have accessible ores of a variety of metals, metals which planets sorted gravitationally.

 

[Meeko100]

The problem is finding something that A) Has use, I.e. value B)limited but broad availability, and C) That everybody can reasonably agree has value.

If a particular item is worthless outside of being used as a medium of trade, then it is worthless outside of where it is agreed to be worth something. A hundred Yen are worthless in Sweden, other then to be converted to Swedish money. A Sliver outside of where it is considered valuable is worthless. If Aslan don't care for slivers and think they are kinda junk, then they'd have no reason to respect it other then because it is imperial currency.

Fiat currencies are only worth something because we agree they're worth something. And we all can't agree on one fiat currency on Earth.

Perhaps Uranium, or some other heavy metals. Something rare, and not easily found in asteroid fields / stars. I figure the very high atomic numbered elements may be sufficiently rare to not be easily diluted by finding the stuff.

What material is used to make Grav tech? It would be valuable to interstellar societies.

 

[aramis]

The problem is finding something that A) Has use, I.e. value B)limited but broad availability, and C) That everybody can reasonably agree has value.

If a particular item is worthless outside of being used as a medium of trade, then it is worthless outside of where it is agreed to be worth something. A hundred Yen are worthless in Sweden, other then to be converted to Swedish money. A Sliver outside of where it is considered valuable is worthless. If Aslan don't care for slivers and think they are kinda junk, then they'd have no reason to respect it other then because it is imperial currency.

Fiat currencies are only worth something because we agree they're worth something. And we all can't agree on one fiat currency on Earth.

Perhaps Uranium, or some other heavy metals. Something rare, and not easily found in asteroid fields / stars. I figure the very high atomic numbered elements may be sufficiently rare to not be easily diluted by finding the stuff.

What material is used to make Grav tech? It would be valuable to interstellar societies.

High atomic number elements are unstable and thus unsafe - mostly radioactives to various degrees.

 

[Patron Zero]

One very non-canonical idea might be that a particularly rare element is processed into a component of a jump-drive, for sake of better wording, an ignition coil or sub-assembly of a spark-plug that triggers the leap into j-space.

Said material could be a sub-atomic particle or chain of molecules that must be harvested as a synthetic-manufactured facsimile has not yet been achieved.

 

[Meeko100]

I was thinking a heavy element because they generally are rarer, and are harder to be made by fusion reactors. But their radioactivity is a problem... can't have your family's inheritance decay away over the years.

I suppose the best answer would be to barter with tech. Everyone has a respect and need for tech. Most place can produce some amount of tech. Be it drugs, bots, spaceship components, spaceships, civil tech or arms, only the most backwater of frontier world's have no domestic products.

Or, you could make a handwavium currency that everyone uses. Slivers, Alliance Gold Bars, Element Zero, Spice, whatever. This actually may be the most fun option, because it could help build background for your universe ( element zero and spice being good examples).

GMs choice I suppose. I like the idea of tech bartering/ converting to local currency and then treating local currency as creds. Helps keep the hold full, and spurs some-on-the-side spec trading along side the crews adventuring.

 

[kilemall]

One very non-canonical idea might be that a particularly rare element is processed into a component of a jump-drive, for sake of better wording, an ignition coil or sub-assembly of a spark-plug that triggers the leap into j-space.

Said material could be a sub-atomic particle or chain of molecules that must be harvested as a synthetic-manufactured facsimile has not yet been achieved.

Traveller has that, Lanthanum. Not really a good metal for currency, on it's own, for both rarity and portability. Although I suppose if you don't have any it would be costly.

http://wiki.travellerrpg.com/Lanthanum
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lanthanum


2300's version was Tantalum. A few Earth nations rode to space on having that mineral on tap. Seems to be a really good candidate for a currency in rarity and physical properties-

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tantalum

But in both games they didn't become the mineral currency of choice.



Here's a Mongoose forum thread on the topic arguing the lanthanum case-

http://forum.mongoosepublishing.com/viewtopic.php?f=89&t=49866



One of their suggestions was Iridium. That seems eminently practical, and as they pointed out the Imperium has the Iridium Throne after all.

The high incidence in meteorites makes it a spacefaring currency base and not so rare as to retard business, and it's properties scream starship hull and all manner of weapons and engineering to me. Not to mention some really tough coin and bar.

Perhaps our travellers live in the Iridium Age.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iridium
http://wiki.travellerrpg.com/Iridium




How canon is this article?

http://wiki.travellerrpg.com/Jump_Drive_History

 

[BillDowns]

No offense intended, but it sounds like a solution in search of a problem.

I would think Imperial credits would be acceptable within 2 subsectors of the Imperial border. And the major nations - Aslan, major Vargr, KKree, etc - would accept Imperial currency so they can maintain mutual faith and credit.

Beyond that, only trade goods themselves would be of value.

 

[Meeko100]

No offense intended, but it sounds like a solution in search of a problem.

I would think Imperial credits would be acceptable within 2 subsectors of the Imperial border. And the major nations - Aslan, major Vargr, KKree, etc - would accept Imperial currency so they can maintain mutual faith and credit.

Beyond that, only trade goods themselves would be of value.

But wouldn't the inverse also have to be true then? Imperials would have to respect their currencies as well, to show mutual faith. I doubt a broker on Capital values Vargr money at all, given the difficulties at keeping the exchange rate up to date.

 

[Patron Zero]

There have always been currency brokers and always will be as someone will be motivated to seek profit on the insecurities of others concerning 'local' banks.

Now whether repositories will become targets of individuals with more creative means of obtaining capitol or 'liberating' such when said commodities are in transit, that does offer seeds for adventures.

 

[Enoki]

No offense intended, but it sounds like a solution in search of a problem.

I would think Imperial credits would be acceptable within 2 subsectors of the Imperial border. And the major nations - Aslan, major Vargr, KKree, etc - would accept Imperial currency so they can maintain mutual faith and credit.

Beyond that, only trade goods themselves would be of value.

I can't see that. Barter is a very poor way to do business on any kind of useful scale. I would think that any reasonably advanced economy would have a better mechanism for doing trade than that.

On the exception side, I could see barter or some other odd ball system in use with truly Alien races and systems that have radically different societies or values.
One Alien race I've used before is the Maskai. In canon they are described vaguely as an "insect race." I made them into essentially "space ants." As a sort of psionic hive mind ant colony they use barter simply because they have no concept of money or economics in the human sense of things being a single-minded hive colony where everything is communal.

So, you come back to a need for something that can be widely or universally recognized on its own as having an agreed to value that works as "money."

 

[maksimsmelchak]

One Alien race I've used before is the Maskai. In canon they are described vaguely as an "insect race." I made them into essentially "space ants." As a sort of psionic hive mind ant colony they use barter simply because they have no concept of money or economics in the human sense of things being a single-minded hive colony where everything is communal.

*** Who created the Maskai? What is their original reference (source)? ***

I believe that Michael J. Maley, also known a Darkhstarr, created the Poicxh.

Thanks!

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

 

[maksimsmelchak]

I can't see that. Barter is a very poor way to do business on any kind of useful scale. I would think that any reasonably advanced economy would have a better mechanism for doing trade than that.

On the exception side, I could see barter or some other odd ball system in use with truly Alien races and systems that have radically different societies or values.

So, you come back to a need for something that can be widely or universally recognized on its own as having an agreed to value that works as "money."

I think one of the beauties of Traveller is that it captures real human conflict in a way that Star Wars or Star Trek never could... It has real-world economics, multiple feuding polities, internal dissent within nearly every polity, xenophobes, megastructures, jump drives, etc. Lots of cool sci-fi tropes with few idealized statements of modern ethics as Star Wars or Star Trek do... Traveller is far more believable in that regard.

I also like that there is no galactic stock exchange due to communication limitations. I wonder if there are subsector or sector stock exchanges.

It is definitely cannon that letters of credit and scrip are used. However, modern credit cards, cheques, direct deposit, direct debit and wire transfers are specifically excluded.

This article is at least semi-canon: [http://wiki.travellerrpg.com/Imperial_Currency ]

I think that the Imperial credit would be the equivalent of the dollar in the present. Except for those polities intentionally not using certain currencies to spite their neighbors, polities would shoot whatever currency offers the most benefits.

It reminds me that the Chinese and Saudis both invest in the Dollar, Euro, and other widely used currencies, which is a double-aged sword... It gives those polities a chance to affect the economy of the currency's origin, but then again, the originating currency minter can also affect the holder of its currency. I wouldn't be surprised if the Zhodani held Imperial credits although I can't see the K'kree holding any foreign currency. I would think that when they do trade, they would deal in commodity exchange.

Interesting thought.

Thomas Jones-Low would know much more about this. He has an interest in Traveller economics.

Shalom,
Maksim-Smelchak.

 

[Condottiere]

One variant is that the planetary government needs to pay off the Imperial tax collectors, and the most efficient way is with the Imperial Credit, so a generous exchange rate is set up, where the banks collect all that credit script, convert to the local fiat currency, and it's accepted everywhere on planet, since the locals have to pay their taxes as well.

 

[flykiller]

A well-managed fiat currency is superior to a specie currency.

it is, in every way. and a digital fiat currency (there is no reason whatsoever that a fiat currency should not be digital) is even better, as it represents maximum liquidity - it can be data-mined and transferred at light speed.

but it's that "mismanagement" angle that makes it all fall apart ....

gold/sliver-concept specie are the only counter to that mismanagement. one either has the specie, or one does not. "mismanagement" is impossible.

the problems with specie in an interstellar setting are availability and liquidity.

1) for gold/sliver to work there has to be enough for it to physically circulate. is there enough? at present there is not enough gold on earth to physically circulate and support anything larger than a 19th century economy. even if other worlds have twice as much gold as earth there definitely would not be enough to physically circulate to support an imperium economy. and presumably sliver would have the same issues.

2) using specie requires that it be physically transferred. this puts a tremendous drag on liquidity, a drag that would pull interstellar commerce down to a 19th century pace.

thus the pressure to ditch specie and use electronic fiat would be very very high.