Hormuz inflation dilemma — Iran-US clash drives US consumer sentiment to a record low while Fed cut hopes evaporate. KOSPI 7,498 holds as Intel hits ATH on Apple deal.
First commodity currency — Yap’s four-ton stones, cowry shells that lasted 4,000 years, medieval English tally sticks. Money is not a thing — it is the community’s agreed memory, all the way to Bitcoin.
Hormuz chronic risk — April ceasefire fractures into a permanent regime. Big Tech AI capex $725B vs FCF 10-year low, Anthropic in talks for $1T, KOSPI all-time high with Korea stock-suppression bill, soft ADP and PTJ on Fed cut.
Limits of barter — How many trades to swap a cow for a loaf of bread? From a Neolithic farmer’s day to Mesopotamian clay tablets and Graeber’s credit theory — why money had to be invented in the first place.
Hormuz Strait clash — May 8 daily briefing: Hormuz US–Iran clash sends WTI +2%, US trade court strikes down Trump 10% tariff, Nvidia and SpaceX move AI infra into a single stack, soft ADP revives rate-cut bets.
History of money — Money is a social contract written in numbers. A 30-episode series tracing 5,000 years of trust as money — from Mesopotamian barley to Bitcoin ETFs and beyond.