In this article we argue that european monetary unification cannot be defended on theoretical grounds, and as a matter of fact, it has not been advocated from these reasons. The birth of euro is, from an historical perspective, the last major consequence of state intervention on money. The state seek to increase its revenue by controlling the money supply. Competition among states leads eventually to a worldwide centralization of money production. Monetary cartels like EMU are, therefore, a natural outcome of this process.