Simple enough question, but in Star Wars, what is a credit? Aside from being a unit of currency, what is it? We see them playing around with what look like gold coins, with Han flipping one to the bartender in ANH for 'the mess', and DJ looting gold coins from his stolen ship in TLJ, while at the same time in the Clone Wars, credits in vaults seem to be some sort of electronic gold bricks, that practically glow. So, how do they work?
Are they physical bitcoins, Are they just shiny metal? Are they representations backed up by something somewhere? Are they like latinum, and some rare material that no one can replicate?
Discuss.
Re: What is a credit?
Posted: 2020-07-01 08:45pm
by chimericoncogene
FaxModem1 wrote: ↑2020-07-01 05:18pm
Simple enough question, but in Star Wars, what is a credit?
It seems to be a currency. There's talk of Republic Credits, Imperial Credits, and Mon Cal currencies in the various films. The little gold bars seem to have no intrinsic value, and are probably not made of precious metals (Republic Credits are not acceptable currency in Hutt Space as of TPM), and the Mandalorian turns down Imperial Credits after Endor.
The little gold bars seem to be the equivalent of cash. Presumably, Star Wars never invented paper money, and stuck to coins shaped like little bars. Knife-shaped and boat-shaped coins were a thing in ancient China before they standardized on the "circle with a hole in the middle"; coins come in all shapes and sizes, after all. We see bounty hunters receive entire briefcases filled with little gold credit chips in TCW (heavy as frick, Song dynasty paper money rulez!).
Digital credits are just digital money in bank accounts. It's probably a graphical interface.
Re: What is a credit?
Posted: 2020-07-01 10:51pm
by Galvatron
I always wondered what sort of reward the rebels gave to Han in ANH. It looked like crates full of stuff and I'd imagine he fleeced them for as much as he could after Luke and Leia promised him so much.
FaxModem1 wrote: ↑2020-07-01 05:18pm
Simple enough question, but in Star Wars, what is a credit?
It seems to be a currency. There's talk of Republic Credits, Imperial Credits, and Mon Cal currencies in the various films. The little gold bars seem to have no intrinsic value, and are probably not made of precious metals (Republic Credits are not acceptable currency in Hutt Space as of TPM), and the Mandalorian turns down Imperial Credits after Endor.
The little gold bars seem to be the equivalent of cash. Presumably, Star Wars never invented paper money, and stuck to coins shaped like little bars. Knife-shaped and boat-shaped coins were a thing in ancient China before they standardized on the "circle with a hole in the middle"; coins come in all shapes and sizes, after all. We see bounty hunters receive entire briefcases filled with little gold credit chips in TCW (heavy as frick, Song dynasty paper money rulez!).
Digital credits are just digital money in bank accounts. It's probably a graphical interface.
Also possible that gold bars the SW equilevant of coins and higher dominations are handled exclusively via digital methods, thus for the general public the need for paper money has disapear (I mean I carry cash only because some places still don't take cards or cards might not work for what ever reason, so I'll have back up). I mean if you'll generally have carry around only the SW equilevant of (local) buss ticket having a few gold chips isn't that bad.
Bounty Hunters seem to work at legal grey area so them getting paid in "cash only" (so there's less of a paper trail) makes sense.
We got to remember that bounty hunters, smugglers or rebel agents would account for a minority of the galactic population and especially for towards the wealthier Core Worlds there would infrastructure in place to handle most transactions digitally.
Re: What is a credit?
Posted: 2020-07-02 06:11am
by chimericoncogene
Lord Revan wrote: ↑2020-07-02 03:48am
Also possible that gold bars the SW equilevant of coins and higher dominations are handled exclusively via digital methods, thus for the general public the need for paper money has disapear (I mean I carry cash only because some places still don't take cards or cards might not work for what ever reason, so I'll have back up). I mean if you'll generally have carry around only the SW equilevant of (local) buss ticket having a few gold chips isn't that bad.
Bounty Hunters seem to work at legal grey area so them getting paid in "cash only" (so there's less of a paper trail) makes sense.
We got to remember that bounty hunters, smugglers or rebel agents would account for a minority of the galactic population and especially for towards the wealthier Core Worlds there would infrastructure in place to handle most transactions digitally.
Well, it seems Qui Gonn was expecting to buy a hyperdrive with cash, so I suspect credit coin denominations can be rather large. 100s of credits, maybe 1000, not merely 10s.
Re: What is a credit?
Posted: 2020-07-02 06:26am
by Solauren
Probably a metal or other physical form (plastic?) of modern paper money. It's given a value, but it's not worth anything except to those that accept it at that value.
Re: What is a credit?
Posted: 2020-07-02 07:17am
by Galvatron
There are lots of intrinsically valuable substances in the new canon (e.g. thorilide, doonium, coaxium, etc.) so maybe there's something like gold-pressed latinum from Star Trek when credits are not an option.
Re: What is a credit?
Posted: 2020-07-02 10:52am
by Khaat
Just got a copy of the Star Wars Visual Dictionary, which included a picture and write-up on the coins in TLJ. Precious metal in various struck coinages "valuable as they can be rendered down". So: precious metals in that source.
In TPM, Republic Credits sounded more like "paper money" or bank drafts, which would have questionable value in the Outer Rim, since who runs coreward to spend them? There aren't enough of the denominations present in the Outer Rim to use as regular currency, though a local Al Swerengen-type character could maybe discount your Republic Credits for the local equivalent (while taking you for a ride and robbing you blind)....
Re: What is a credit?
Posted: 2020-07-04 08:31am
by Galvatron
Also worth mentioning is the beskar that the Empire smelted and refined into bars. I doubt it was done simply to pay a Mandalorian bounty hunter with so that must mean it's intrinsically valuable throughout the galaxy as well.