what was the first medium of exchange 
the earliest medium of exchange may have been a coin issued about 2 600 years ago in lydia an ancient kingdom in what is now western turkey the coin was made of a gold and silver alloy it was stamped with an official government image and the metal had a guaranteed weight and purity 3gold and other metals may have been used earlier as a medium of exchange but the lydians were the first known to have issued it in a standardized form that could be accepted as having a set value the bottom linein an encyclopedia britannica article written in part by milton friedman money is defined as a commodity accepted by general consent as a medium of economic exchange in modern economies the local currency is the universal medium of exchange except in dire economic circumstances for example as britannica points out the usual medium of exchange in germany directly after world war ii was cigarettes or cognac 4