What actually gives a coin its value?
Gold, trust, scarcity or law? A short journey from gold staters to digital money — and why KOSR has value only inside the educational game.
For a long time, a coin's value lay literally in its metal: a gold stater was worth the gold inside it. That was intrinsic value. Today, a 100-lei banknote is worth nothing as paper — its value comes from trust and from the law that declares it legal tender.
The four sources of value
Scarcity (how hard it is to obtain), utility (what you can use it for), trust (you believe someone else will accept it too), and scarcity guaranteed by law or mathematics. Gold ticked the first three. Modern money relies on the last two.
And KOSR?
KOSR — the currency of the Kosron game — has value only inside the educational ecosystem. It cannot be exchanged for lei, euros or crypto. That is not a limitation, it is exactly the point: you learn how money works without risking real money. It is a coin for the mind, not for the pocket.
