Currency and the future of it has been the subject of some debate in the past few months. As it won't have escaped your attention, the most notable project to create a single all powerful currency for an entire region - the euro - has come under serious threat.
This turmoil has led many to think about the possible break-up of the Eurozone and how that might work.
Part of the problem with the euro is that noone ever really thought about what would happen if one or more of its member nations needed to leave. Even though a complete break-up of the single currency remains an unlikely state of affairs, it is very possible that one or more nations will leave and return to their previous unit of currency.
This will obviously cause some serious difficulty for all concerned, as economies struggle to cope with the process and the markets react with volatility. However what it also proves is that we are no closer than we ever were to a scenario where there is one all-encompassing currency for the globe.
With the world of technology advancing at an alarming rate, it is perhaps surprising to some idealists that we still have so many different units of money in the world.
A single currency governing 17 nations is unworkable
Some had predicted that a single global currency would one day emerge to replace the pound, dollar, shekel, euro and all the rest. With that in mind, I was interested to read in a recent article stating how futurologists had suggested that we are more likely to have the ability to communicate via "thought transmission" - that's telepathy to you and me - in the next 100 years, than decide to introduce a global single currency.
The Eurozone crisis has shown that a single currency governing 17 nations is unworkable, let alone a currency that takes into account the quirks and foibles of each individual nation.
Currencies may die and be born and reborn over the next 100 years but the advent of "one to rule them all" is far from reality. Given the new systems that specialist foreign-exchange companies have in place, there is really no need for an integrated unit of money for all to emerge.
However, as recent events in Europe have shown us, if anything the trend is actually in the other direction.
Ben Mitchell is an international currency specialist at foreign exchange company, World First
To get more from Life, click here to sign up for our free Life newsletter.