"'Papa!
What's money?'
Mr Dombey was in a difficulty. He would have liked to give him some
explanation involving the terms circulating-medium, currency,
depreciation of currency, paper, bullion, rates of exchange, value
of precious metals in the market, and so forth; but looking down at
the little chair, and seeing what a long way down it was, he
answered: 'Gold, and silver, and copper. Guineas, shillings,
half-pence. You know what they are?' 'Oh yes, I know what
they are,' said Paul. 'I don't mean that, Papa. I mean
what's money after all?'"
– Dombey and Son,
Charles Dickens
In this article, we attempt to answer Paul Dombey's question
to his father by providing an overview of the various kinds of
"money" (including cash, bank and electronic money, and
virtual currency) in the South African context. For present
purposes, we attribute to money its widest meaning, namely, any
tangible or intangible thing that functions as a means of exchange
or debt settlement, a
