History Main / WeirdCurrency

This is not a barter system. In a barter system people trade for items directly: a goat for a cow, for example. In a monetary system, money is used as the intermediary: you sell your goat for 5 gold nuggets, and then use 4 of those nuggets to buy a cow. [[SugarWiki/TVTropesWillEnhanceYourLife As a corollary]], the above example is one of several reasons why monetary systems exist: trading a goat for a cow means that you're losing out on one "nugget" of value[[note]] Presuming, of course, you don't consider goats and cows to be of equal value. But then you're likely to make a trade of 1 cow=1 goat+1 chicken, or something... .[[/note]], whereas with money, you sell the goat, get the money, and use only the money you need to buy the cow. Therefore a barter system is "inexact", and a monetary system is "exact".

* ''VideoGame/PillarsOfEternity'': Some societies use this instead of the GoldSilverCopperStandard. Atypical currencies include scrimshaw fish bones, gears from the legendary White Forge, and carved discs of adra. [[VideoGame/PillarsOfEternityIIDeadfire The sequel]] introduces shells, pearls, and worked obsidian.

* The [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/weirdcurrency01_7359.png Rai stones]] from Yap in Micronesia are more in the line of Weird Accounting. Individual carved stones may be over two meters across and were backed, in essence, by whoever was able to muster the manpower to make one in the first place. Ownership of the stones was carefully tracked, making them a banking system operating on cultural memory. One of the stones is currently at the bottom of the ocean, but it's still legal tender. The value of a Rai stone is based not just on its size and craftsmanship, but also on its history. For example if a particularly dangerous journey was involved in quarrying a stone and bringing it back to Yap[[note]]Most Rai stones were quarried nearly 300 miles away on Palau, while some came from even more distant islands.[[/note]], that enhances its value.

** Recently the Rat Market opened up in [[CityNarrows the Flit]] as an alternative to the Bazaar; a place of exchange for unusual and hard-to-find items- both buying and selling- run every weekend by and for Rattus Faber, the Neath's sentient rats. If a player wishes to do business here, they must undergo a brief process to be declared A Rat For The Weekend. Naturally, the Market has its own coin; Rat-Shillings, an unusual form of currency which are seemingly cobbled together by whatever items the ratty minters can lay paws on, which are conspicuously too large for actual rats to use as pocket change effectively and feature the words [[ShapedLikeItself "VALID UNTIL NO LONGER VALID"]] etched on one side. Rat-Shillings only have value as long as the Rat Market is open; once it closes, they are automatically converted into rostygold at a rate of ten per Shilling, to prevent hoarding.

* ''VideoGame/Metro2033'' uses pristine pre-war 5.45x39mm cartridges (as opposed to the homemade and less effective ones normally used for combat) as currency. The ammo can still be fired -- and indeed, does considerably more damage than common 5.45mm cartridges -- but [[CastFromMoney you're literally blowing up cash with every shot]].

[[folder:Web Originals]]

* Pretty much every generation of children is likely to come up with their own informal "currency" related to hobbies. Depending on the era, the standard unit of exchange could be the baseball card, comic book, action figure or ''Pokemon Go'' critter.

** There's a chain of tire and auto part stores called Canadian Tire. They issue coupons that look like currency (kind of) called Canadian Tire Money at a rate of 0.4% of what you spent (or 4% if you have a Canadian Tire credit card). Those coupons can be used like cash in the store. Pretty mundane, right? Well, some people use Canadian Tire Money like ''regular'' currency in the areas where the chain is located -- including at other local businesses. This is at the business owner's discretion, since they're only store coupons, not legal tender. Some places even outright won't take it.

* A season 1 episode of ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDragonJakeLong'' showed giants using fish as currency.
* ''WesternAnimation/AaahhRealMonsters'' had human toenails as the monster currency.
* Due to being trapped in a canyon, miles beneath civilization, characters in ''WesternAnimation/CrashCanyon'' use golf tees as currency, since none of them have enough Canadian money to get by. After a massive truck carrying millions of golf tees crash-landed in their community one day, this monetary transition just made sense.
* In ''WesternAnimation/BlinkyBill'', the residents of Greenpatch use gumnuts as currency. At one point, this results in Mr. Wombat telling Blinky that "Gumnuts don't grow on trees, you know... not at this time of the year."
* In ''WesternAnimation/BrandyAndMrWhiskers'', Brandy establishes an economy in the jungle based on the exchange of shiny rocks as a way to be on top.

* The ''WesternAnimation/GarfieldAndFriends'' episode "Crime and Nourishment" had Garfield come across an underground village of beings who use Italian cuisine as currency and [[CurrencyCuisine eat money]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheMidnightGospel'': In "Hunters Without a Home", Steve the Junkboat Fish accepts cats as currency. After Darryl gives him four cats in exchange for some equipment, Steve happily pets the cats.
* In the Bakshi ''WesternAnimation/MightyMouse'' episode "This Island Mouseville," the alien cat--the Grand Ruler--seems to think that his squid-like currency, a Norloc, has more value than the currency we use.
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/MikeLuAndOg'' has the islanders use pigs and crabs as currency before Mike introduces them to paper money.
* ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'': In "Brainania", Brain poses as the leader of the eponymous country and tries to get a foreign aid loan to finance his latest world domination scheme. Brain claims that he'll take the check in US dollars because on Brainania, they use 30-pound asphalt coins called queebs as currency.

* The Hidden City in ''WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheTeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' appears to use small, glowing unicorn-like creatures as cash.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', Milhouse claims that in juvenile hall, kids like him are used as currency.
* The penguins in ''WesternAnimation/{{Spike}}'' use fish as currency. They even have a high-tech bank to keep them in!
* In the ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode "Can You Spare a Dime?", Squidward quits his job at the Krusty Krab after Mr. Krabs accuses him of stealing his prized first dime. After Squidward moves in with [=SpongeBob=] and abuses his hospitality, [=SpongeBob=] offers Mr. Krabs a whole bunch of dimes out of his own wallet to induce him to hire Squidward back, but Mr. Krabs refuses them. It turns out that Mr. Krabs' first dime isn't a conventional "dime" at all, but an enormous rai stone that he somehow didn't notice was in his back pocket all along. [=SpongeBob=] is very confused.
-->'''[=SpongeBob=]:''' This is a dime?
-->'''Mr. Krabs:''' I've been in business a long time, boy.

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitansGo'' had Beast Boy establishing live bees as a currency and it quickly catches on, allowing him to make a massive bee farm and become incredibly wealthy.

* The Rai stones from Yap in Micronesia above are more in the line of Weird Accounting. Individual carved stones may be over two meters across and were backed, in essence, by whoever was able to muster the manpower to make one in the first place. Ownership of the stones was carefully tracked, making them a banking system operating on cultural memory. One of the stones is currently at the bottom of the ocean, but it's still legal tender. The value of a Rai stone is based not just on its size and craftsmanship, but also on its history. For example if a particularly dangerous journey was involved in quarrying a stone and bringing it back to Yap[[note]]Most Rai stones were quarried nearly 300 miles away on Palau, while some came from even more distant islands.[[/note]], that enhances its value.

* ''Webcomic/{{Xkcd}}'' strip #512 "Alternate Currency": "Your monetary worth is now determined by the number of funny pictures saved to your hard drive."

** Physical objects are extremely difficult to move between the Corporeal, Ethereal, and Celestial planes, and neither Heaven, Hell, nor the Ethereal spirits would ever recognize currency backed by any of the three other factions. Consequently, the default currency in the setting is essence, the spiritual energy used by celestials, ethereal spirits and mortals alike to work supernatural acts. Accumulated essence can easily be transferred between willing individuals, and this has become the most common way to give and ask for recomposes for favors and services.

** The Bazaar itself uses echoes. This may or may not be a metaphor. According to the Numinastrix, this is because these coins are "echoes" of the very first currency used in the Bazaar, before it even thought of taking cities. What that actually means, however, is unclear, as in the Neath, that could be either a metaphor for replicas, or [[MindScrew actual coin echoes]]. Either way, the only thing the devs have cleared on the matter is that, in the end, [[spoiler:the Masters are still bats, and bats love echoes]].
** While echoes are the currency of the Bazaar, several other forms of currency are in use among the citizenry, and at least a few of the common ones (never mind the uncommon ones) would probably qualify. For instance, glim, which falls periodically from the roof of the Neath and may be either a type of gemstone or shards of phosphorescent insect chitin (either way, it's useful for lighting if you don't mind the smell, and sailors love it). Or nevercold brass slivers, which are what devils pay their purchases with, and never, ever cools, making it useful for heating. Also jade, since Neath-jade is made out of either the blood of the newly dead or fossilized souls depending on who you ask. And moon-pearls, which don't seem to have a particularly odd source but for some reason follow the phases of the moon, which is a useful trick when you're BeneathTheEarth and can't actually see it. They can also power pocket watches pretty decently.

* ''Anime/YureiDeco'': The Hypernet of Tom Sawyer Island runs on "love", which are essentially social media likes. Exactly how this economy goes around or deals with likes inflation is anyone's guess, but it does mean that social media popularity equals wealth in what is probably the most transparent "marketplace of ideas" metaphor ever.

** Part of the reason the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whiskey_Rebellion Whiskey Rebellion occurred]] in the 1790s was because whiskey (and other inherently valuable goods) was commonly used as a substitute currency in cash-poor rural areas. Liquor is always valuable and lasts essentially forever if stored properly, so whiskey could be traded directly in rural communities for goods and services. Farmer-distillers who owned stills would regularly distill grain for other farmers nearby, keeping a portion of the whiskey as payment. When the tax on whiskey seemed to be designed to put farmer-distillers out of business[[note]]It allowed a tax by the gallon or a flat tax at the distiller's choice, which favored large distilleries that could pay the flat tax and produce higher volumes for effectively lower tax[[/note]], a rebellion began and eventually led to the tax being overturned.

* In New France, cards were used as currency.

* In Colonial Virginia, tobacco leaves were ''official'' currency. Ministers' salaries were set in pounds of tobacco. The [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parson%27s_Cause Parson's Cause]] happened when the government altered the exchange rate. (Note that Virginia's use of tobacco was simply one of the more consistent and reliable currency substitutes in colonial America; mercantilist British trade policy meant that the Colonies had a chronic shortage of hard currency, and relied on all kinds of things as alternative media of exchange.)
** Similarly, part of the reason the Whiskey Rebellion occurred was because whiskey (and other inherently valuable goods) was commonly used as a substitute currency in cash-poor rural areas. Liquor is always valuable and lasts essentially forever if stored properly, so whiskey could be traded directly in rural communities for goods and services. Farmer-distillers who owned stills would regularly distill grain for other farmers nearby, keeping a portion of the whiskey as payment. When the tax on whiskey seemed to be designed to put farmer-distillers out of business[[note]]It allowed a tax by the gallon or a flat tax at the distiller's choice, which favored large distilleries that could pay the flat tax and produce higher volumes for effectively lower tax[[/note]], a rebellion began and eventually led to the tax being overturned.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'': Kelly's world has a violence-based economy. A bus ticket is worth a punch, a hamburger is a kick and a jab, and buying a yacht will require an extended hospital visit afterwards. The only known exception is the overdue fee for a library book, which is getting one's head shaved (which means getting rid of the Woolett's primary means of protection ([[HammerspaceHair and storage]]), their super tough, knee-to-ankle-length, [[BlindingBangs body-encompassing]] hair). Fortunately for Kelly, Marco opted to team up and fight the librarian instead.

* In ''Literature/KnownSpace'', the [[ProudWarriorRace Kzinti Patriarchy]] deals in ''strakh'', a unitless system based on reputation and interactions. In economic terms it's far less efficient than money, but it probably produces better habits of thought.
* In ''Literature/TheLongEarth'' and its sequels, the standard unit of "currency" among stepwise communities is quite seriously described as the ''favour'', as in "I do something for you, you need to do something for me in exchange". A "favour" can be owed, loaned, or swapped for another favour from somebody else. This only works because residents of stepwise communities all know each other, and passersby routinely pay a settlement a favour ''before'' receiving service in return.
* The protagonist of ''Literature/{{Mogworld}}'' mentions that his home village uses turnips as money.
* In ''Literature/TheQuantumThief'', Time is the currency of choice in Oubliette. When a person is born, they receive a specific amount of Time donated by their parents, which they can spend as they please as an idle Noble or earn through pseudo-capitalist enterprise. But custom dictates that everybody must eventually run out, at which point their body is placed in stasis and their mind is uploaded into a robotic Quiet, which take care of all the menial labour in the colony. After a set period they have once again earned enough to be returned to human form and begin the cycle anew.
* In ''Literature/TheSagaOfTheBorderlands'', by the Argentine Liliana Bodoc, the inhabitants of The Fertile Lands use barter, however the [[MayIncaTec Zitzahay, and surely also the Lords of the sun]], use Oacal seeds (that is, Cacao ) as money.
* In ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'', the currency is "spheres": gemstones contained in glass spheres. [[PracticalCurrency This has a practical use]], as gemstones are the catalyst for a magic known as Soulcasting, which is used to transmute material from one type to another. The value of a particular sphere is dependent on its size and usage in Soulcasting, with emeralds being the most valuable since they can be used to create food.
* Creator/MCAHogarth's ''Literature/TalesOfTheJokka'':

* The nation of Valka in ''Literature/VigorMortis'' uses chitin, due to metal being exceedingly rare.
* In ''Literature/YoungWizards'', Carmela uses a Valrhona chocolate bar to [[spoiler:bribe the Tawalf into giving up the information Skerret needs]]. Chocolate is either a collectible or controlled substance and is very valuable outside of Earth.

* ''VideoGame/WorldOfHorror'' has a History Club, where you can purchase random occult items, spells or perks, for an increase in Doom. [[spoiler: If you make four purchases, you get knocked out and used as a HumanSacrfice].

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