Advantages of physical currency: It has value and use value in itself; Disadvantages: When divided, its value is greatly reduced and the transaction scale is smaller.

Advantages of metal currency: relatively stable value, easy to divide, easy to save, easy to carry, etc.; Disadvantages: with the further expansion of production and circulation, the quantity of precious metal coins cannot meet the needs of commodity circulation, and It is inconvenient to carry metal currency for long-distance bulk trade.

Alternative currency mostly refers to paper currency. Its advantages are: convenient transactions and high credibility. Disadvantages: Due to its close connection with fiscal deficits, it can easily lead to chaos in currency circulation.