It shouldn’t surprise that central banks will be shilling their digital currencies (CBDCs), as the tsunami of central bank digital currency (CBDCs), is approaching. Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, recently stated that crypto is “worthless.” She said that it has “no underlying assets” like the future digital euro. The real scandal is fiat money’s secret source for value.
‘Worthless’ Innovation
Recently, Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank, commented that crypto was “worth nothing” and should be regulated. Nevermind the humor in trying to regulate something worthless, or her failure to understand subjective value, but the once-central banks digital currency (CBDC). She claimed that any digital euro she would guarantee — so the central banking will be behind it, and it’s vastly better.
ECB President Christine Lagarde
The question is: What guarantees the currency’s value? Their value is supposedly determined by decrees of governments, which are groups of individuals like you and I. What then is the “underlying asset”, which gives these currencies their worth? The answer to the question of government money might surprise you.
Guns vs. Cowry Shells, Gold, Silver and Cowry Shells
It is prized for its beauty, rarity and utility. It has been valued by societies across history almost universally. This made it a valuable store and exchangeable asset.
Cowry shells have been a source of great currency in the past. This is due to their small quantity, ease-of-transport and transfer and uniform units. I have previously written an opinion piece on the false notion that money is primarily created by the state. In any society where there is trade, money naturally occurs. I have butter. I need a wagon. Jack doesn’t require butter. Problem. Problem solved if we like each other and have gold, cowry shells, bitcoin, or both.
As Friedrich Hayek, an Austrian economist, points out, states have historically devalued and devalued money. This led to inflation and credit bubbles that were not sustainable. The Roman Empire was an early example. The state gradually decreased the silver content in the denarius, until it was nearly zero. The current global inflation crises is a modern example. It was caused by reckless and almost endless printing of money.
When a population is forced to use certain monies, at the exclusion of other people they like, then we are in the fiat world. There is no escape from bad money. Fiat literally means “by decree” — an arbitrarily imposed order. Merriam-Webster’s third definition “fiat”, which may also be , contains an illustration that might be more illustrative .
According to the Bible, fiat created the world.
Nothing comes from nothing. Central banks are God in the fiat world. It is not possible for anyone to create money for the market. This privilege is only available to the state. This is a real-life example of how this angry, vengeful god acts when people try to create their own currency or coinage, and then use them against the will the almighty.
It doesn’t matter how peaceful you may be. It doesn’t matter how useful your discovery is to humanity. You will be presented with three options if the money you make is disruptive to the closed-market fiat dominance.
Stop production and/or stop using your currency.
Go to jail or die trying to resist being placed in the cage
To grow your economy and to “introduce something they cannot stop,” you need a “sly circular way” Hayek.
The point I’m trying to make should be widely recognized. A gun is the only thing that can guarantee the “value” behind fiat money. A legal monopoly violence.
Inflationary and unsound fiat currencies such as the euro are dominant because it is prohibited to freely use better currencies. You can’t fail if you are a central bank elitist like Christine Lagarde.
It’s her.
Even if it suffered losses from the multi-trillion euro pile of bonds purchased under its stimulus programs, the European Central Bank cannot go bankrupt or run out of cash.
Market Accountability and Crypto Competition
We can contrast the violent nature fiat money models, where people pointing out violations of the law or trying to keep money their own are punished with more voluntary models.
If I make a terrible crypto scam coin and deceive millions of people, I might make a few bucks. But market actors learn something. They learn not to do business with me again, which severely compromises my ability to thrive in any society that is aware of my fraud, even if I am a wealthy man. The people I scammed won’t let me join their markets to meet my needs. Two, they have learned how to identify and control similar scams so that they don’t happen again.
The regulations are made to cover the fraud with government money. The scammer can demand that everyone give up their assets and switch to his sh*tcoin. Although you may laugh at his jokes, it is impossible to ignore him. You literally have a gun to his head.
Every business is required to accept fiat by law. This reckless printing is used to secure and accumulate hard assets before everything collapses.
The Escape from Fiscal Insanity: Action without Permission
Peer-to-peer transactions have been more demonized by mainstream media. Private crypto transactions could be seen as illegal, with the scammer creator (government) having almost entirely co-opted what began as an experiment in freedom.
This may seem unrealistic or paranoid. However, state-associated groups and central bank have been considering implementing measures to make uncustodial and non-hosted crypto wallets unlawful. They also plan for the unified global regulation bitcoin. Lagarde stated that will be in 2021.
This is a matter that must be agreed upon at a global level because there will be an escape if there’s one.
There is no doubt that people want to escape the debasement and maniacal printing of money. They want to avoid being extorted to finance wars and to pay for the extravagant lifestyles of criminals such as Lagarde, who are not punished. Individual market action is the only way to stop it. Markets allow traders to trade freely and in masse, regardless what hypocrites may be saying. Permissionless transactions at every level — from large-scale purchases to small, daily exchanges of value.
There are many ways that scams, violence, and other bad acts can be prevented, even in unregulated, decentralized, or stateless economies. To create this peaceful, rational, and desirable “new normal”, it is important to recognize that the fiat money system is based on violence, ineptitude, and willful incompetence.
What’s Lagarde so worried about? Let the market decide. This is a market that doesn’t require guns.
