meaning "let there be light!". Thus, fiat money means money that are created by the government decree - they would be random worthless pieces of paper otherwise, so the government says "let this paper be worth $100" and it becomes $100. Non-fiat money have some value that is beyond declaration - e.g., gold coin has the value of gold that is
The history of money since that time is basically one long tale of gold and silver, leading up to the Classical Gold Standard of the pre-1914 era, and then the Bretton Woods gold standard
v t e Fiat money is a type of currency that is not backed by a commodity, such as gold or silver. It is typically designated by the issuing government to be legal tender, and is authorized by government regulation. Since the end of the Bretton Woods system in 1971, the major currencies in the world are fiat money. The gold standard vs. fiat currency debate has gone on for centuries. Different groups have argued about the merits and pitfalls of a hard currency system—generally with the wealthy being in favor of a currency backed by a tangible asset like gold, and economically disadvantaged Americans supporting fiat currencies (government-issued money The money in your world doesn't have to be directly the organic bodies themselves. It could be a body-standard currency, mimicking the way gold standard currencies worked in the past. The money could be entirely electronic with a nominal value based on bodies, with a fixed exchange rate set between them (e.g. 1000 bucks = 1 body.) . 781 75 506 249 514 15 72 82

fiat money vs gold standard