Its a ledger but that's about it. Its not distributed, decentralized or permissionless.
The "oral history" part makes me think the "ledger" exists in the collective memory of a community. Plus, the value is purely defined on how hard the artifact was to get, not on any kind of intrinsic utility.
So not a million miles away from Gold then
Gold has some intrinsic utility. Even before electronics, it was useful as a visible display of wealth and power, which did have very tangible value.
And the whole malleability thing
> The extrinsic (perceived) value of a specific stone is based on not only its size and craftsmanship, but also its history. If many people—or no one at all—died when the specific stone was transported, or a famous sailor brought it in, the value of the rai stone increases by reason of its anecdotal heft.
So, it's Bitcoin.