The production of coins to lubricate the market, by the fifth century A.D., had become a general feature of all the larger governments in what I’ll call the “central zone” of the Africa-Eurasia landmass. I mean the middle latitudes, above the Sahara Desert in Africa and below the taiga in northern Eurasia.
The Sahara Desert was not as dry in the 6th century A.D. as it is now, but it was still a desert. Below the Sahara, it was cattle, gold dust, slaves, and ivory as the main interests of the economy. In the snowy north, it was furs, slaves, and amber where there was amber to be found. In the middle, the size of the economy required coinage to keep track of things. The miscreants at the top, so they could keep collecting taxes, kept making coins.
Plus, coins were the main way they spread propaganda back then. You wanted the people to know something, you’d put it on a coin. Usually what you, the boss, wanted people to know was that you were the boss. And maybe, if you were a successful boss, that your money was good.
A bad boss would debase the coinage. Everyone would know they were getting cheated, but mostly they couldn’t do anything about it.
Typically, a nation-level government would float a gold coinage of good fineness and weight, because the big cheeses had to be happy. In the Roman Empire, there was a long history of debasing the silver. Silver was for the middle classes, as it were. Skilled workers, soldiers, etc. might get paid in silver. You bought your tools and horses
