The Byzantine gold solidus became influential partly because a relatively reliable monetary unit helped transactions beyond imperial borders. A trusted coin can travel farther than the empire that struck it.
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Reliability makes transactions easier, though it never replaces relationships and credit. A recognizable coin could facilitate exchange, though merchants also relied on credit, local money and trusted intermediaries.
Coin quality and monetary practice changed across Byzantine history; the solidus should not be imagined as unchanged forever. The idea that one coin stayed identical for centuries is too neat to be true.
A prestigious currency did not mean the empire controlled every market in which its coins were accepted. Currency prestige is not the same thing as direct political control.
How much of a currency's influence comes from metal content, imperial reputation or the networks that already use it?