The Evolution of Money: A Freedom Journey to Afreum and Financial Inclusion

Community Member Article

Written by: De-bestDBT
Date: February 22, 2025

Thousands of years ago, before coins, paper bills, and digital banking were invented, the world relied on a simple system: barter. This simple way of conducting transactions existed for many years and was becoming boring, overwhelming, and tiring. In bustling ancient marketplaces, farmers traded grain for livestock, and merchants exchanged spices for cloth. However, this system was flawed in the long run. What if someone needed wheat but only had fish to trade, and the wheat seller did not want f ish? A new form of money was required.

The Birth of Currency

Over time, societies discovered commodity money — precious metals like gold and silver that had universal value. Africans, Romans, and Chinese dynasties had a bigger role to play. Countries like Egypt and China began minting coins. This act made transactions easier and trade more efficient. But practically, carrying heavy coins was not funny. So, the ancient civilizations introduced paper money. China was the first to produce such currency, and later across the world. This marked the beginning of centralized finance. The power to control the supply of money was given to governments, and banks, including kings, and queens.

Fast forward to the modern era, financial sectors and institutions grew more powerful. Banks began to issue different methods of payment like credit/debit cards even to the more advanced, digital payment and online banking. This further makes money easier to use. At this point, sending and receiving of money was more flexible even between countries but with big drawbacks ranging from increasing restrictions, fees, and financial exclusion. Billions of people across the globe, especially in developing regions, remained unbanked, locked out of the global economy.

Now, what could be the permanent solution to these payment pitfalls that have been over thousands of years?

The Rise of Digital Money & Decentralization

Then came Bitcoin in 2009, a revolutionary, complex idea: money that did not need banks or governments. Blockchain technology introduced decentralization, allowing peer-to-peer transactions without intermediaries. This sparked a wave of innovation, leading to the birth of thousands of cryptocurrencies. But while Bitcoin and Ethereum dominated headlines, many African and emerging markets were still left behind, struggling with unstable currencies, high remittance fees, and a lack of financial access.

Afreum: The Future of Financial Inclusion

Enter Afreum, a new vision for finance — one that truly serves everyone. According to an article released in 2021, “Afreum’s goal is to create an alternate economy for those who have been under-served or left behind by economic development in their countries.” This simply implies that Afreum was designed to liberate billions of people who have been financially excluded from poverty by giving them tools to build wealth. Built on the Stellar blockchain, Afreum is designed to bring fast, low-cost, and borderless transactions to the people who need it most.

Looking at the availability of Afreum Pay, anyone can send, receive, and store value instantly. Qualify Merchants, can accept payments without the burden of high fees. People in Africa and across the world can escape financial exclusion, protect their wealth from inflation, and participate in a truly global economy. Unlike traditional banking, Afreum puts control back into the hands of the people.

Afreum Save and Stake provides a huge opportunity to earn passive income. Afreum Save works like a bank but is completely different in that people can earn up to 10% APY (INTEREST) on their Saved tokens. The earnings are split: 5% on the saved token and 5% on AFRX (a governing token within the ecosystem with a total supply of about 20 million).

Still to come, Afreum Game Engine, allows interacting users to earn real-world money by playing games. Young people across Africa and the world can play games and earn rewards that can be converted to NFTs, and traded in the marketplace for money. By interacting with the game, daily bread can be made, which will help onboard more-younger generation to crypto space.

The Next Chapter in Financial History

From ancient barter systems to gold and silver coins, from paper money to digital banking — the evolution of finance has always been about progress. And now, decentralized money is the next step. In the Afreum TG group, a recent announcement shows that Afreum is now ready to fully embrace decentralization as the developers are, “officially transitioning from the BUILD phase of Afreum to the DECENTRALIZATION and ADOPTION phase.” This phase will be built on its mission of UNITY, CLARITY, EQUITY.

With Afreum leading the way in Defi, a future of fair, open, and accessible finance is no longer just a dream. It is happening now.

Afreum is not just the future of money. It is financial freedom for all.