> it seems to me that a .gov's ability to tax and confiscate wealth - not to mention enforce capital controls - to support a currency trumps pure faith. You m

> it seems to me that a .gov's ability to tax and confiscate wealth - not to mention enforce capital controls - to support a currency trumps pure faith. You misunderstand my point: That's still faith; you have faith that they will support it and not, say, devalue it, change currencies, just decide that a bunch of money is no longer valid[0], etc. That power to confiscate wealth - which you're quite right, they could use to defend the currency - could also be used to destroy it. > If the USD goes to hell I can count on the US .gov and taxpayer to ensure my USD are worth something. You are very likely correct, but it's not a guarantee. History is littered with examples of currency which is no longer worth anything to anyone except collectors, and maybe not even then. Which doesn't mean it's not a safe bet; I think it's clearly true that the USD is more likely to be a stable store of value than any crypto currency, and at least most fiat currencies. But if you think it's 100% safe, you're engaging in faith based thinking. :) [0]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Indian_banknote_demonetisation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2016_Indian_banknote_demonetis...