#AES #Bitcoin §32 Double-Entry Ledger
During the 14th century, merchants in Venice and other Italian merchant cities developed a double-entry accounting method. Instead of exchanging gold for goods, merchants would orally describe the transaction to a scribe while the gold remained at a safe location. The debits were on the left half of the page, and the credits were on the right half of the same page. Each transaction recorded both sides of a transaction, so the total of one side had to equal the total of the other side. Traceability helped improve the accuracy of the records.