I was watching two people buy ice cream using their phones today. It occurs that they can only do that because the central bank that controls their phone apps/bank account hasn’t frozen their favors.
If money represents personal favors between two people, introducing a third party into money means someone else can show you disfavor (heh)
Fiat money is “controlled” centrally, but not each transaction.
Digital Fiat money is both “controlled” centrally, but each transaction must be approved by a third party (outside of some fringe distributed ledgers).
Like if you were a human rights reporter in a war torn country, and you tried to buy ice cream… maybe you couldn’t anymore, all your favors have been expired.
Full Disclosure - I’ve been influenced by this great book https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Debt:_The_First_5,000_Years
I had this thought in a swimming pool, and not a shower, but a pool is shower adjacent so I thought this might count.
And that’s why Bitcoin was created as a first rough draft, and Monero as the full implementation of Satoshi’s vision. If you can’t buy coke and hookers with it, it ain’t money in the strictest sense. Fungibility matters.
Alas, crypto today is mostly the complete opposite of that, and a complete scam.
Let’s say I milk your cows today so that you can take care of other business today, and now you owe me a favor. Next week, I could ask you to repay me by giving me a enough milk, bread and eggs to last two days. What if the value of that favor changes based on supply and demand? What if I can later ask you to repay me with 10 days worth of food instead? What if that value can drop to just a mug of milk, 1 egg and no bread? Could that sort of value fluctuation even happen? Can’t really wrap my head around that, but in the crypto world that’s exactly what happens all the time.
I’m pretty sure you can buy coke and hookers with Monero today
Yes that is what I’m saying. Could have structured my writing better.
Canadian antivax protests come to mind. They froze transfers in support of the movement. It was a popular move back then but the same mechanism can be used in other instances as well.
If banks started to prevent people from using their money, you would have way bigger problems than buying ice cream.
It happened during canadian antivax protests. Many people cheered that antivaxxers were shown their place while forgeting that every stick has two ends.
They already do, just some people. Like the ICC prosecutor that was sanctioned by the US and can’t have email service, bank accounts with any organization that wants to do business with the USA. I think thats the reason Germany is dropping microsoft.
Great book. Gave me new thoughts about money and avoiding credits/mortgage
As you already correctly pointed out, fiat money is almost as bad as digital currency for largely the same reasons.
There’s gold, silver, and everything else is credit.
The one benefit of Fiat physical cash is anybody can use it, it has no opinions on its owner. But yes, its very much a economic weapon wielded by countries.
