# What the Money is
We use money every day to obtain goods and services - everything we need to live. But let’s discover, what money actually is.
Money is a liquid asset we use in the settlement of transactions. The monetary currency’s current value doesn’t depend on the materials the note or coin was produced. Instead, people just agree to a displayed value and rely on it for use in future transactions. In other words, money can be anything, depending on the context and whom you are ready to trust.
## Money Not Secured
Let’s talk about trust and security. In childhood, while playing games we had to create a set of rules before getting started, just to make a play fair.
For instance, we decided to ‘trade the sandcastles’ and to pay for them with special currency, like shells, pebbles, and even tree leaves. Such a rule makes sense unless each player follows it. So, as long as we can trust each other, we’ll be able to use anything for money.
This money is not secure by any means, since anyone could break the rules anytime.
## Money Secured by authority
The real economy works according to the same principles, but it's bigger and more complicated. There are so many players to trust. You just can believe anyone who will play with the same rules.
That’s why we have chosen few authorities we can trust to force down the same rules upon us. The problem is, that these authorities overuse their power, and all of us feel the consequences (extra complexity, fees, hyperinflation, banks’ shutting down and people’s losing savings, wars financed from debt, etc.). So-called ‘fiat money’ is just a government-issued currency, not backed by a physical commodity but by the stability of the issuing government.
### Money Secured by Code
Imagine that we can agree on rules, and have computer code guarantee everyone is following them. We wouldn't need to rely on humans to make them work correctly, computers will work correctly every time because they are programmed to do it.
Tagion is an open monetary system, secured by the code. The majority agrees on the code to use, and the code guarantees the rules are followed. It’s a secure, and much more efficient form of money.