But individual banks of no particular affiliation - just "bank" banks - can create all the "currency" you want to the limits of regulation. They're really creat

But individual banks of no particular affiliation - just "bank" banks - can create all the "currency" you want to the limits of regulation. They're really creating abstract money that can be exchanged for currency. The story of the Scots Free Banks being busted out by the Bank of England is poignant and interesting, but we simply don't know what would have happened had it gone the other way. The way we use banks now, having a bank go insolvent and all the depositors and other interested taking a haircut doesn't sound very appealing. Non-monopoly currency is a pain in the neck.