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  • Writer's pictureGerard Kavanagh

Is a Ruby a store of value?


For the sake of continuity let's dig deeper into the issue of a ruby (a collectible) and its value, or to be specific and regulator compliant, the notion of a store of value.

Is a Ruby a store of value? Well yes, it has an extraordinarily long history of being just that and a subject we covered in the WP (pages 10 and 11), but let's ask the font of all knowledge ..... Wikipedia! OK not the greatest or most reliable source, but it covers the basics (and can be verified through other sources). So here is their definition: "A store of value is any commodity or asset that would normally retain purchasing power into the future and is the function of the asset that can be saved, retrieved and exchanged at a later time, and be predictably useful when retrieved. The most common store of value in modern times has been money, currency, or a commodity like a precious metal or financial capital. The point of any store of value is risk management due to a stable demand for the underlying asset." [Mankiw, N. Gregory (2012). Essentials of Economics. Cengage Learning. p. 437. ISBN 978-1133418948. Retrieved 2 January 2017.] Nothing contentious there, so back to Wikipedia for some more information: "Examples for stores of value other than money are: Bonds – value is guaranteed by a legal contract Collectibles, e.g. original art by a famous artist or antiques such as ancient artifacts or ancient coinage Gemstones Gift economy relationships – value is stored as social reputation Labor notes (currency) Livestock ownership and control (see African currency) Fine wine Precious metals – ownership in gold, silver, platinum, and palladium Real estate – ownership in actual deeds in protectable controllable land Stored-value cards – value is physically stored on the cards in the form of binary coded data" Again nothing too controversial there or anything that runs contrary to other sources/ examples. What is interesting from a crypto perspective is the reference to Stored-value cards. Basically a working description of an NFT. So is an NFT a store of value? The internet says the following: "If NFTs consistently hold their value in the long term, it suggests NFTs could be a “store of value,” like gold, something that investors can put their money into during a downturn in other markets." Fair enough. HOWEVER, we would argue it isn't that black and white. When we introduce our NFTs, they are the digitalisation of a collectible - a ruby or indeed rubies - which is an acknowledged STORE OF VALUE in the real world. Ergo, our NFTs can be (and should be) an acknowledged store of value. What's interesting is that this is the least of the revelations that stem from the Wikipedia article on the basis of what is a store of value .......


For a short overview of the FIX00 project 🙂 please use this link: The Start of something new

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