Token money is money made from tokens of some form, as opposed to account money. Most modern coins used in circulation are token money, as are paper notes.
Token money has a strong privacy feature in that it works as money without the intervention of any other party in each transaction between two parties. Privacy makes money safe from interference by more powerful third parties. Where property rights are not strong, privacy is required to protect assets and permit trade, and token money works well in this regime.
Read more about Token Money: Hybrid Forms, Value
Famous quotes containing the words token and/or money:
“The token woman carries a bouquet of hothouse celery
and a stenographer’s pad; she will take
the minutes, perk the coffee, smile
like a plastic daisy and put out
the black cat of her sensuous anger
to howl on the fence all night.”
—Marge Piercy (b. 1936)
“[France is] a country where the money falls apart but you can’t tear the toilet paper.”
—Billy Wilder (b. 1906)