Bottles of liquid Tide laundry detergent became a highly popular alternative street currency for drug dealers and thieves across the United States during the early 2010s because…

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Bottles of liquid Tide laundry detergent became a highly popular alternative street currency for drug dealers and thieves across the United States during the early 2010s because of its universal household demand and relatively high retail cost; organized retail crime rings would brazenly steal dozens of massive detergent bottles from local supermarkets and directly trade them on the black market for hard narcotics at a standardized exchange rate, offering incredible liquidity without the typical suspicion that comes with trying to pawn stolen electronics or jewelry, serving as an utterly fascinating example of spontaneous market economics emerging in the criminal underworld and perfectly demonstrating that money does not actually need to be issued by a central bank as long as it excels at removing tough grass stains from your denim jeans