Top all-time · #990
Moneyness
Personal blog · jpkoning.blogspot.com · on HN as jpkoningeconomicshistory
Moneyness is a personal blog at jpkoning.blogspot.com about economics and history. Since 2013, 65 different Hacker News readers have linked it 146 times, most often “From Circle-of-Gold to Mega$Nets to Bitcoin”. It is still writing: the last post was on 2025-04-28, and you can follow it by feed.
Too few sampled comments (22) to say how often HN recommends it.?
Why HN links it
HN readers link Moneyness for J. P. Koning's writing on money, moneyness, cash, currency law and Bitcoin. Commenters cite it as background on those topics, and a few call it interesting or well explained.
Summarised by Claude from a sample of 22 HN comments that link here. Each comment is marked recommending, critical or neutral (citing without judging); how this works.
monetary economics|history of money|central banking|coinage|financial privacy|payments|gold|financial inclusion|cryptocurrency|monetary law|financial crime
Most-linked posts?
- From Circle-of-Gold to Mega$Nets to Bitcoin4 people · 5 mentions · first linked 2021-04-12
- Setelinleikkaus: When Finns snipped their cash in half to curb inflation3 people · 3 mentions · first linked 2024-11-09
- Memecoins are the point2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2024-10-31
- Bitcoin as a Game2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2019-11-04
- Pennies as State Failure2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2020-07-21
- On Currency2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2017-06-28
- A Decentralized Version of MIT's Billion Prices Project2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2021-09-15
- The case for banning gold mining2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2020-08-22
- The desert dollar industry (2021)2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2015-12-31
- How the pandemic has clogged the global economy with paper currency2 people · 2 mentions · first linked 2020-08-02
What Hacker News says?
Specifics about L'Oreal. https://www.loreal-finance.com/eng/registered-shares-loyalty... General discussion of the concept in France. http://jpkoning.blogspot.com/2016/09/the-french-shareholder-... > Despite ensuing controversy in the French legislature over the fairness of elevating one class of shareholder above the rest, the ability to provide prime de fidélité was enshrined in French law in 1994, with several li…
Comment linking /2016/09/the-french-shareholder-revolution.html
on “The Long-Term Stock Exchange Opens for Business”Submitted Starbucks, monetary superpower as a story · 238 points
HN discussionLast part is a trope but human societies around the world use different things as money, including counterfeit notes in Somali http://jpkoning.blogspot.com/2013/03/orphaned-currency-odd-c... In fact I doubt gold/silver becomes money because it’s generally too rare and inconvenient (hard to cut the gold bar without tools even if you have one). Realistically people will just keep using cash.
Comment linking /2013/03/orphaned-currency-odd-case-of-somali.html
on “Coronal mass ejection impact imminent, two more earth-directed CMEs”Submitted Banks are slow to increase rates on savings accounts, but quick to reduce them as a story · 235 points
HN discussionYou can see the "Authorized but not issued" numbers at https://tether.to/en/transparency/ and a detailed outside analysis of redemptions http://jpkoning.blogspot.com/2022/06/watching-tether.html
Comment linking /2022/06/watching-tether.html
on “Tether ordered to produce documents showing backing of USDT [pdf]”Submitted Setelinleikkaus: When Finns snipped their cash in half to curb inflation as a story · 225 points
HN discussionSame link, but with enabled TLS: https://jpkoning.blogspot.com/2024/11/setelinleikkaus-when-f...
Comment linking /2024/11/setelinleikkaus-when-finns-snipped.html
on “Setelinleikkaus: When Finns snipped their cash in half to curb inflation”Submitted Bitcoin is more like ham radio than the early internet as a story · 221 points
HN discussionhttp://jpkoning.blogspot.com/2021/03/from-circle-of-gold-to-... "By solving the dishonesty and fungibility problems, bitcoin has radically dialed up the contagion factor for chain letter technology to a degree never experienced before. Bitcoin has become the first chain letter to go mainstream. It is the first chain letter to go global."
Comment linking /2021/03/from-circle-of-gold-to-meganets-to.html
on “Ethereum: A Store of Value with Cash Flow [pdf]”Submitted Old bills in Yemen are worth 10% more than new ones as a story · 203 points
HN discussionJ. P. Koning noticed this a year ago - he blames crooks having a hard time laundering money in pandemic lockdowns. https://jpkoning.blogspot.com/2020/07/how-pandemic-has-clogg...
Comment linking /2020/07/how-pandemic-has-clogged-global-economy.html
on “Banks, gangsters and the strange resurgence of cash”Submitted Bringing back the Somali shilling as a story · 177 points
HN discussionI find it absolutely astonishing people would pour half a billion into a fintech company which puts real money transactions on the same platform as a betting game and even worse, a betting game which claims it's some sort of digital money. (bitcoin) I never used Revolut because of this and never will. To be fair, I never used Revolut because I thought bitcoin is a scam but since last November I know better. http://j…
Comment linking /2019/11/bitcoin-11-years-in.html
on “Revolut raises $500M at a $5.5B valuation”Submitted Yemen's bifurcated monetary system as a story · 160 points
HN discussionThe US military has had some innovative payments ideas. An occupying force prefers to use a money that 1) doesn't dollarize the nation they are occupying 2) can be tracked, thus thwarting black marketeers 3) is lightweight 4) if they lose, the enemy can't reuse it Unfortunately, dollar bills are bulky, infiltrate local economies, and aren't enemy-resistant. So we get innovations like EagleCash, which solves a lot of…
Comment linking /2017/04/c-day-and-military-money.html
on “Eagle Cash”Submitted A 96 Bitcoin ransom payment ends up on Bitfinex as a story · 130 points
HN discussionHere are a few recent articles I found to be relatively accurate and fair (several of which have already appeared on HN): http://blog.priceonomics.com/post/47135650437/are-bitcoins-t... https://medium.com/money-banking/2b5ef79482cb https://mises.org/daily/6399/The-Moneyness-of-Bitcoins http://www.forbes.com/sites/timothylee/2013/04/03/four-reaso... http://jpkoning.blogspot.com/2013/04/bitcoins-plunge-protect...
Comment linking /2013/04/bitcoins-plunge-protection-team.html?spref=tw&
on “Bitcoin makes journalists say stupid things”Submitted Monetagium – monetary extortion in feudal Europe as a story · 128 points
HN discussionanother example of a discontinued currency remaining in use: http://jpkoning.blogspot.com/2013/05/disowned-currency-odd-c... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_Swiss_dinar
Comment linking /2013/05/disowned-currency-odd-case-of-iraqi.html
on “Bitcoin Price Pressure”Submitted Bitcoin as a Game as a story · 96 points
HN discussionMore on this: http://jpkoning.blogspot.com/2017/06/on-currency.html > Property that had been granted currency had a different legal status from property that didn't. Let's assume that a good has been stolen and sold by the thief to a third party, a shopkeeper, who innocently accepts it not knowing that it has been stolen. For most forms of property the original owner could sue the third party and get the stolen arti…
Comment linking /2017/06/on-currency.html
on “Do Bitcoin Markets Have a Conversion Tort Problem?”Submitted Bringing back the Somali shilling (2017) as a story · 87 points
HN discussionHe has an article about that one too: https://jpkoning.blogspot.com/2013/05/disowned-currency-odd-...
Comment linking /2013/05/disowned-currency-odd-case-of-iraqi.html
on “Bringing back the Somali shilling (2017)”Submitted China is slowly joining the economic war against Russia? as a story · 76 points
HN discussionThe blog from which this article hails -- turns out to be an interesting blog about all things Money: "Moneyness "money is best described as an adjective not a noun" - the blog of JP Koning": https://jpkoning.blogspot.com/ (Disclaimer: Note that I do not necessarily agree with some/any/all of the political positions and/or ideologies espoused by this blog. That being said, it seems to be an interesting blog with the…
Comment linking /
on “Bringing back the Somali shilling (2017)”Submitted Orphaned currency: the odd case of Somali shillings (2013) as a story · 72 points
HN discussionIndividuals and companies with billions of dollars in cash can't really stick it in a mattress and ignore it. True. Far better to bury it somewhere remote. See this "news article" from the future about how it plays out: The desert dollar industry January 1, 2021 These days, the desert is swimming in cash... literally. Over the last six months, a booming business in illegal cash storage has sprung up in Nevada, New M…
Comment linking /2015/12/the-desert-dollar-industry.html
on “How Low Can Central Banks Go? JPMorgan Reckons Way Lower”Submitted A way to make anonymous online donations as a story · 67 points
HN discussionI'm as concerned as the next person about energy use, but I did read some counterpoints in an article published yesterday [1] The House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee is reportedly going to investigate cryptocurrency’s effect on the environment... But the meme that bitcoin or cryptocurrency uses as much power as one country or another, promoted by The New York Times last Se…
Comment linking /2022/01/the-fallacy-of-bitcoin-and-renewables.html
on “The Worrisome Rise of NFTs”Submitted Is it legal to mix cash in a jar? as a story · 65 points
HN discussion
