Next stop: Germany. The year, 1550 odd.

Andreas Ryff, a merchant, bearded and fur-coated, is coming back to his home in Baden; he writes in a letter to his wife that he has visited thirty markets and is troubled with saddle-burn. He is even more troubled by the nuisances of the times; as he travels he is stopped approximately once every six miles to pay a customs toll; between Basel and Cologne he pays thirty-one levies.

And that is not all. Each community he visits has its own money, its own rules and regulations, its own law and order. In the area around Baden alone there are 112 different measures of length, 92 different square measures, 65 different dry measures, 163 different measures for cereals and 125 for liquids, 63 special measures for liquor, and 80 different pound weights.

Look at the section ofNext stop: Germany. The year, 1550 odd.Try to postulate why western Europe adopting the Euro was such a big deal.What is going on in today's market that could be equally as big and what is stopping it (think crypto)?