you're paying compound annual interest to the central bank in exchange for nothing. No, you get currency. If you don't want to hold fiat currency then you don'

you're paying compound annual interest to the central bank in exchange for nothing. No, you get currency. If you don't want to hold fiat currency then you don't have to. The problem is that barter is really really annoying and inefficient, so we came up with something better. A reasonable rate of inflation (e.g. < 2%) is a small price to pay.