Credit is a Human Right
Origin of money
The classic story of money's origins, championed by thinkers like Adam Smith and Carl Menger, paints a vivid picture of barter evolving into currency. It often goes like this:
"Imagine two farmers in a village: one grows apples, and the other raises chickens. The apple farmer wants eggs, and the chicken farmer wants apples. They trade—apples for eggs. Simple!
But what if the chicken farmer doesn’t need apples right now, or the apple farmer wants bread instead of eggs? Bartering becomes tricky.
So, the villagers invent something universally valuable—shiny coins. Now, the apple farmer can trade coins for eggs, and the chicken farmer can later use those coins to buy bread, clothes, or whatever else."
This story feels intuitive, but anthropologist David Graeber turns it on its head. He argues that credit historically preceded money, which itself came before barter. Drawing on historical, ethnographic, and archaeological evidence, Graeber reveals a world where trust and mutual obligations, not trade, were the foundation of early economies.
The Web of Trust: Before Money
Graeber’s narrative reimagines the origins of exchange:
"Instead of two farmers swapping apples and eggs on the spot, they trust each other. The apple farmer says, 'I’ll give you apples now; you’ll give me eggs when I need them.'
This informal system relies on social relationships, not immediate transactions. Over time, a Web of Trust forms. The apple farmer owes eggs to the chicken farmer, the chicken farmer owes bread to the baker, and the baker owes apples to the apple farmer.
No one keeps strict accounts because trust holds it all together."
In this framework, credit was a decentralized ledger—a system woven into the community itself. Money, then, didn’t arise to make barter easier but emerged when societies expanded and trust-based networks no longer sufficed. Enter rulers, hierarchical states, and standardized currencies stamped with royal faces. Money, in this sense, became a tool of control, shifting
The Loss of Trust and Rise of Debt
As centralized powers grew, they introduced taxation and formalized debts. The Web of Trust unraveled, replaced by systems that enforced obligations through legal and economic mechanisms. Credit, once a shared community resource, became concentrated in the hands of rulers, governments, and later financial institutions.
This shift had devastating consequences. In many societies, the control of credit led to debt slavery, where individuals were forced to work under exploitative conditions to repay loans. What began as a human right—a shared resource of trust—turned into a mechanism for oppression.
Today’s Fragmented Systems
Fast-forward to the modern era, and we see the remnants of these disassembled systems:
The Credit System
A $5.2 trillion global credit gap.
Billions of people excluded, many forced to pay exorbitant interest rates of 9% or more monthly.
The Web of Trust
Once, small communities provided both emotional and financial support.
Today, we’re connected to thousands of people, but only a few meet our emotional needs, while financial relationships are handled by impersonal institutions.
Sociologist Émile Durkheim captured this shift beautifully, describing the transition from mechanical solidarity (tight-knit communities) to organic solidarity (large, specialized societies). While progress brought efficiency, it also fragmented trust.
Welcome to Textile Protocol
Textile protocol is a social credit protocol.
Looking to bring credit & money back in the hands of the community.
Charles Eisenstein in his book Sacred Economics argues that the nature of money and what backs it fundamentally shapes society. His idea is that whatever money is backed by society will naturally produce more of it. As an example Gold-Backed Money: When money was backed by gold, societies focused heavily on mining and accumulating gold, often at great environmental and human cost.