We tend to think of money as something that holds value.

It sits in accounts, accumulates over time, and can be measured at any moment. We check balances as though they represent something real and present—a quantity of value that exists, waiting to be used.

But what if this intuition is misleading?

What if value does not exist in money at all?

What if value does not persist—but only happens?

This requires a subtle shift. Instead of asking how much value is stored, we ask: when does value occur?

The answer, again, is narrow.

Value appears only at the moment of exchange.

Before a transaction takes place, what we call “money” is not value in any active sense. It is a claim, a possibility, a structured expectation that something could be obtained. But nothing has yet happened.

A balance is not an event.
A price is not an event.
A possession is not an event.

They are all suspended states—defined, recorded, but unrealized.

Only when money is actually used—when a payment is made and accepted—does value briefly come into existence. In that moment, something is transferred, something is relinquished, something is received. The structure becomes real.

Then, immediately, it dissolves again.

What remains after the exchange is not the same value persisting elsewhere, but a new set of conditions: new balances, new positions, new potentials. The previous value does not travel. It is completed.

This perspective diverges from the common assumption that value is something conserved and stored. Instead, value is episodic. It is produced in discrete events and does not exist outside of them.

Money, then, is not value itself. It is a system designed to enable the repeated realization of value.

It functions by stabilizing expectations—by making it likely that an exchange can occur—but it does not contain the value that will emerge from that exchange. It only prepares the conditions.

This is why accumulation can feel paradoxical. Large amounts of money appear to represent large amounts of value. But in reality, they represent a large number of possible future events.

Until those events occur, nothing has been realized.

This also explains why value can collapse without physically disappearing. A market shifts, a currency devalues, a demand vanishes. What changes is not a substance being destroyed, but the probability that future exchanges will occur under expected terms.

The structure of expectation changes—and with it, the field of possible events.

Seen in this way, economic systems do not operate by storing value, but by continuously generating and completing acts of exchange. Their stability depends not on what is held, but on what keeps happening.

Transactions, not balances, are the true units of economic reality.

This reframing brings us back to a more general point.

Just as power exists only when actions are completed, value exists only when exchanges are completed.

Between those moments, there is no active value—only the structured anticipation of it.

And this anticipation, however precise, however quantified, is not the thing itself.

Value does not wait.

It happens.

We usually think:

👉 “I have money, so I have value.”

But try flipping it.

Imagine your bank account.

• You have $1,000 sitting there

• It feels real

• It feels like stored value

But nothing is actually happening.

No exchange. No transfer. No realization.

It’s just a number representing what you could do.

Now compare two moments:

Nothing happens.

Money leaves → something arrives

👉 That’s when value appears.

So:

• Before payment → potential

• During payment → value happens

• After payment → new state

The “value” isn’t sitting somewhere the whole time.

It only exists in the moment of exchange.

This also explains weird things like:

• Why markets can crash “overnight”

• Why something valuable can suddenly become worthless

• Why prices change without anything physical changing

Because value isn’t a substance.

It’s an event.

Think of money like a ticket, not the show.

Having tickets doesn’t mean the experience already exists.

👉 The “value” only happens when the event actually takes place.

So the uncomfortable version is:

Your money doesn’t contain value.
It contains the possibility of future value events.

And until those events happen—

nothing has actually occurred.

Value exists only when exchange is completed.

To the extent possible under law, this work has been waived of copyright and dedicated to the public domain. For details, see the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.

We tend to think of money as something that holds value.

It sits in accounts, accumulates over time, and can be measured at any moment. We check balances as though they represent something real and present—a quantity of value that exists, waiting to be used.

But what if this intuition is misleading?

What if value does not exist in money at all?

What if value does not persist—but only happens?

This requires a subtle shift. Instead of asking how much value is stored, we ask: when does value occur?

The answer, again, is narrow.

Value appears only at the moment of exchange.

Before a transaction takes place, what we call “money” is not value in any active sense. It is a claim, a possibility, a structured expectation that something could be obtained. But nothing has yet happened.

A balance is not an event.
A price is not an event.
A possession is not an event.

They are all suspended states—defined, recorded, but unrealized.

Only when money is actually used—when a payment is made and accepted—does value briefly come into existence. In that moment, something is transferred, something is relinquished, something is received. The structure becomes real.

Then, immediately, it dissolves again.

What remains after the exchange is not the same value persisting elsewhere, but a new set of conditions: new balances, new positions, new potentials. The previous value does not travel. It is completed.

This perspective diverges from the common assumption that value is something conserved and stored. Instead, value is episodic. It is produced in discrete events and does not exist outside of them.

Money, then, is not value itself. It is a system designed to enable the repeated realization of value.

It functions by stabilizing expectations—by making it likely that an exchange can occur—but it does not contain the value that will emerge from that exchange. It only prepares the conditions.

This is why accumulation can feel paradoxical. Large amounts of money appear to represent large amounts of value. But in reality, they represent a large number of possible future events.

Until those events occur, nothing has been realized.

This also explains why value can collapse without physically disappearing. A market shifts, a currency devalues, a demand vanishes. What changes is not a substance being destroyed, but the probability that future exchanges will occur under expected terms.

The structure of expectation changes—and with it, the field of possible events.

Seen in this way, economic systems do not operate by storing value, but by continuously generating and completing acts of exchange. Their stability depends not on what is held, but on what keeps happening.

Transactions, not balances, are the true units of economic reality.

This reframing brings us back to a more general point.

Just as power exists only when actions are completed, value exists only when exchanges are completed.

Between those moments, there is no active value—only the structured anticipation of it.

And this anticipation, however precise, however quantified, is not the thing itself.

Value does not wait.

It happens.

We usually think:

👉 “I have money, so I have value.”

But try flipping it.

Imagine your bank account.

• You have $1,000 sitting there

• It feels real

• It feels like stored value

But nothing is actually happening.

No exchange. No transfer. No realization.

It’s just a number representing what you could do.

Now compare two moments:

Nothing happens.

Money leaves → something arrives

👉 That’s when value appears.

So:

• Before payment → potential

• During payment → value happens

• After payment → new state

The “value” isn’t sitting somewhere the whole time.

It only exists in the moment of exchange.

This also explains weird things like:

• Why markets can crash “overnight”

• Why something valuable can suddenly become worthless

• Why prices change without anything physical changing

Because value isn’t a substance.

It’s an event.

Think of money like a ticket, not the show.

Having tickets doesn’t mean the experience already exists.

👉 The “value” only happens when the event actually takes place.

So the uncomfortable version is:

Your money doesn’t contain value.
It contains the possibility of future value events.

And until those events happen—

nothing has actually occurred.

Value exists only when exchange is completed.

To the extent possible under law, this work has been waived of copyright and dedicated to the public domain. For details, see the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.