But Blockchain has a secret history, one that stretches back over 1,000 years. From Fei stones to BitcoinsIn 500AD the people of the tiny Micronesian island of Yap had a problem. If someone came along and tried to wrongly claim a stone was theirs, the village could consult its mental ‘decentralized ledger’. What Yap tells us about the futureYap's decentralized ledgers were impressive creations, but never caught on beyond the island. By the 1900s the Yapese people had started moving away from Fei stones towards the more manageable currencies, eventually settling on the US dollar.

Source: Forbes March 23, 2018 11:26 UTC