It should be clear, nothing has value in itself, only the naïve would think this.  In other words, value is subjective, not objective; value is in you, not in things.  As Nietzsche pointed out, “The utile is always just a means, its end in any case is the dulce.  Utilitarians are stupid.”  Value is the dividing line between a commodity money and a paper money.  If it is assumed value is in things, you agree with paper money.  If it is understood value is in you, you agree with a commodity money.

While a sandwich may have utility, it would be absurd to assign a util (or utile) to that.  Say the sandwich is assigned 10 utils and a drink is assigned 8.  Does this mean every single person on earth will value the sandwich higher because it has more utils?  No!  Some may be hungry, others may be thirsty, others may be neither, etc.  The value comes from the individual, not the thing itself.  It’s clear that the value of money is subjective, and the idea of a util is absurd. 

In order for money to be valuable, it must have had value during barter.  We use good X as money because it had value yesterday.  It was used yesterday as money because it had value the day before.  This can be done all the way back to the first day a money was used.  It was used because it had value yesterday, and yesterday barter was used.  Money had to emerge as a useful commodity.  This is properly known as regression theorem.

Would Crusoe and company be able to use sand rather than berries?  They couldn’t! Of the few people on the island, one could sneak off to the beach at add sand to his own balance.   This will benefit him at the expense of everyone else on the island.  Using sand rather than berries can be put into modern day.  The one who sneaks off to add sand to his cash balance benefits, he’s the early receiver.  The early receiver benefits with the creation of new money.  Thanks to Murray Rothbard, this is easily explained by the angel Gabriel model.

Who are the early receivers of the newly counterfeited money?  Seems obvious!  Who is harmed?  Everyone else!  Money is taken from your bank account, retirement account, future checks, and it goes to the early receivers.  Prices will rise with the anticipation of inflation, so prices can rise before the new money spreads throughout the economy.  Nearly everyone should be against paper money and counterfeiting.

Reference

Ludwig von Mises; Money, Method, and the Market Process