Even though the US Dollar is considered the “international” currency: that has limitations since people in other countries are not paid in that nor are they paying taxes in US Dollars (a British person is paid and taxed in GBP, a Japanese person earns money and pays taxes in Yen, so you get the point). You can go contactless but it’ll still convert it to your home country’s currency via forex in your bank account instead of paying that as it is.
You can be a US citizen earning money from remote work in Euros but one thing remains unchanged: your tax residency is tied to the USA meaning it’s subjected to taxes even if your earning money in another currency. You can tip servers overseas in USD but they still have to pay taxes imposed by their own country, and their wages remain in their currency (again, they do not earn USD in let’s say Korea, as they’re paid in Won).
Cryptocurrency isn’t recognized by the world bank, so that is out of the question. Instead, the main topic is about real money that’s valid for regular transactions. As in, why can’t you pay using $ in the UK? Is it because the £ is stronger? Why won’t they accept a $100 bill (£74) at a restaurant for a meal that costs £60 in Britain? If you opt for contactless, it’ll still convert GBP to USD anyway: so no currency is “region free” in that sense.
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The USD, or any other currency, is given value by the backing of the government issuing it. Any currency has a value relative to another based on the volume printed and the economics of the home country.
To have some sort of universal currency, even if someone could get everyone to agree in a name and form, you would have to sort up regional differences in wages and costs, who has authority to make it, counterfeiting enforcement, a whole host of things competing nations are not likely to agree on.
Currencies are issued by governments and there is no “region free” government.
I hereby declare myself a government without land. I will mint a global digital currency at my arbitrary discretion and tax any exchange that uses it at a flat 1%. Who wants in?
You just answered your own question. Currencies are regulated by their government and banks. If you want to have an international region-free currency, then no single government or bank should be able to regulate it, which is exactly what decentralised cryptocurrency is designed for.
Sticks of RAM for large purchases, silver and gold coins for everything else, graphing calculators as an arbitrage mechanism, and giant stone toroids for dowries. Sorted
Money is just paper (or old blue jeans, if Usa) with funny things printed on it.
It is nothing unless some people believe in it’s value. And first it needs someone who guarantees for the value.
Governments do that, by tradition. Usually they also make a rule that XY shall be the only official currency in a country.
Cryptos make an exception: it is private entities who tell people to believe in their value. And so their value is usually less stable.
If you, private xyz, invent your new “region-free” currency, you are going to have a hard time with making anyone believe in it’s value.
Why should there be? Who needs this?
Crypto may be the closest to this idea. And it gets used a lot for speculation, drug trade, and to finance the North Korean economy. Nobody is looking at that thinking this is the future.
