oney is one of humanity's greatest inventions, yet most people never ask the most important question:
Why does anything have value?
Why is one painting worth $50 while another sells for $450 million?
Why is a gold bar valuable?
Why can a digital cryptocurrency with no physical existence be worth billions?
Why does a simple piece of paper become legal tender?
This book explores the invisible forces behind wealth: trust, scarcity, psychology, governments, financial markets, technology, and human behavior. It also explains how legitimate financial systems work, how criminals attempt to abuse them, and how investigators detect financial crime.