From Bronze Chunks to Imperial Currency: A Brief History of Roman Coins

Before Rome minted coins, sheep and pieces of rough bronze were the dominant currencies, both being abundant local resources.

Throughout the duration of Ancient Roman civilisation, currency was mostly based on coins of precious and semi-precious metals, namely gold, silver, bronze and copper.

Coinage began during the Republic with the minting of silver coins and heavy bronze pieces in order to trade with Greek colonies and other settlements on the Italian peninsula.

Other Mediterranean cultures had already been using coins for hundreds of years. For instance, the Greek drachma dates to before 700 BC.

Today, an entirely new form of currency is opening up new opportunities. Whether you call them crypto-currencies, digital or virtual currencies, they are distinctly different from the current physical 'fiat' currencies, as they only exist in a digital form. What all currencies continue to have in common, is that they represent a value against which to trade good and services.

Flash Payments, is one such brand new Australian company that just launched a real-time cross borders payment service, providing an ultra-competitive alternative to the existing opaque, siloed and inefficient banking networks.

Using the innovative Ripple technology platform and XRP, Ripple's digital currency, Flash Payments delivers extraordinary control, performance and value to users.

Built on a common global infrastructure and bringing new efficiencies to financial remittances by enabling near real-time settlements, the technology tightly integrates payments messaging with funds settlements, allowing for unprecedented visibility and transparency.

At its core, Flash Payments focuses on delivering an exceptional user experience, delivering extraordinary control built into the latest technology.

At Flash Payments users pick the date; pick the rate; send funds like an email; track transfers like a package; all without any surprise charges. There are none.

So, whether you are a business or an individual you can now skip the banks and take control of your foreign exchange transfers.

Learn more about Flash Payments to benefit from cutting-edge technology, great rates, transparency and control.