Note that in the latter case, the physical money doesn't even change hands - it's all in a ledger, but the ledger is in people's heads. In fact, you could say it's a proof-of-work system, since making the stones is expensive in terms of amount of effort spent, even though they don't have any utility as such.
Point! But I'd guess the velocity of information and rate adjustments in shell-based economies were slower.
E.g. If someone said "The value of the cowrie has crashed!", then how long did it take for everyone to find out & the cowrie economy to reprice itself?
I'd hazard we deal with much more sophisticated, capable, fast, and aggressively predatory market participants now.
Note that in the latter case, the physical money doesn't even change hands - it's all in a ledger, but the ledger is in people's heads. In fact, you could say it's a proof-of-work system, since making the stones is expensive in terms of amount of effort spent, even though they don't have any utility as such.