We often ask why money evolved so slowly compared to communication. The telegraph could send messages across continents in the 1800s, yet people still had to walk into banks a century later just to move value. That gap wasn’t technological ignorance. It was a trust problem. Information is cheap to move. Value is not. Money requires security, finality, identity, and accountability. Without cryptography, digital ledgers, and clear rules of ownership, instant money transfer would have meant instant theft. Banks solved this by inserting humans, paperwork, and delay. Trust wasn’t built into the system; it was enforced socially and legally. That’s why settlements took days and access was restricted. Speed was sacrificed for control. The internet changed communication first, not money. Only when cryptography matured did it become possible to move value safely without intermediaries. Bitcoin didn’t invent money—it solved the trust layer money was missing. It made verification cheaper than trust. This is the real breakthrough. Not faster payments. Not digital wallets. But money that moves at the speed of information because it no longer asks for permission. Sound money always arrives last.