Bills of exchange were capitalism's self-regulating credit mechanism for seven centuries, until governments monopolized money creation and destroyed the entire system.
Bills of exchange don't just provide elasticity within existing monetary systems; they can bootstrap entire economies that lack base money.
Modern banking systematically transformed from credit creator to deliberate gatekeeper, engineering $2.5 trillion trade finance gap while earning billions from derivatives.
Bills of exchange carried a built-in death date and extinguished themselves as goods reached market; modern debt compounds forever by design.
