Personally, I see two types of money.Real MoneyFunny MoneyReal...

Personally, I see two types of money.

Real Money

Funny Money

Real Money exists in reality. It has an intrinsic value, which means that you can trade it directly for goods.

Funny Money is the representation of money, like that on a screen. You trade it via an intermediary.

In the end, it does not matter which type is better or worse than the other, or what form they take.

So long as there are people willing to trade with your Real Money and Funny Money, you can be happy.

However, in times of crisis, the preference is Real Money, because the Funny Money tends to disappear.

For example, you can have $25K in 'stock value' disappear overnight, but your Real Money is still good.

Of course, what is Real Money changes with time and era. Like you said, could be shells, could be gold.