Money's Three Faces — Das Kapital

With money in hand, Marx tracks how commodities actually circulate. Money first serves as a measure of value, giving prices a visible form. Then it becomes the medium of circulation, enabling the endless chain of sales and purchases in which commodities constantly change shape from goods to money and back again.

This movement is not smooth abstraction. Marx analyses the metamorphosis of commodities, the possibility of hoarding, and money's role as means of payment when credit stretches the gap between sale and purchase. Coins and paper tokens can represent money because money is already a social relation that can shed its metallic shell under definite conditions.

The chapter ends by stressing circulation's limits. Money keeps commodities moving, yet it can also stall the system when payments fail or hoarding interrupts turnover. Circulation is the visible stage on which value changes form, preparing the question Marx will ask next: when does money stop mediating trade and start expanding itself as capital?

By distinguishing measure, circulation, and hoarding, Marx shows how the same money-form can hide different social powers, which matters when you try to read inflation, debt, or wage payment as neutral mechanics rather than class relations.