Now if we turn to the empirical record, we confront the stark fact that, in no period of human history, has paper money spontaneously emerged on the free market.”

[Footnote: “Paper money must not be confused with credit money made out of paper, or with money certificates made out of paper. The latter can be redeemed into commodity money; the former cannot.”]

Excerpt From

The Ethics of Money Production

Jörg Guido Hülsmann