[andruby]

Hadn't thought of it in that way, but there's some merit to that if you include government, police & power in general. Law enforcement needed really high penalties on counterfeiting money and check fraude to make cash and checks work. And I guess some of that is still the case with credit card fraude.

[throwanem]

"Fraud," and there is no historicity to the idea that counterfeiting and adulteration only became a problem with the introduction of paper instruments. Indeed those replaced specie in considerable part to reduce opportunities for chicanery! Gold is gold, after all.