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You'd think that, wouldn't you, but surprisingly doing payment processing doesn't necessarily involve any fundamental understanding of the nature of currency, h
by jariel 6y ago
You'd think that, wouldn't you, but surprisingly doing payment processing doesn't necessarily involve any fundamental understanding of the nature of currency, how it's backed, Fed operations, how they related to the Treasury.
Elon makes a lot of questionable statements about BTC and currency.
A few weeks ago:
"Having some bitcoin, which is simply a less dumb form of liquidity than cash, is adventurous enough for an S&P 500 company ... When fiat currency has negative real interest, only a fool wouldn’t look elsewhere. Bitcoin is almost as bs as fiat money. The key word is 'almost.'"
His concerns about the funny money nature of the Fed etc. are reasonable - no doubt, but at the same time, almost everything he says about BTC undermines his credibility on those things.
BTC is not a currency or a 'store of value' just because a bunch of people say it is. It's just list of numbers people are trading because they want to. The Fed has problems, but BTC is a populist fiction.
- not_knuth 6y agoIs a "populist fiction" not precisely what any currency, that is traded in place of tangible things, is?
- jariel 6y agoUnless you think your government, your constitution, you financial system are a 'populist fiction' then no. USD is legal tender, a contract, backed by assets (US TBills), with a ton of laws, rules and regulations. BTC is digital Monopoly Money.
- hfsp 6y ago>USD is legal tender, a contract, backed by assets (US TBills) So the USD is backed by USD equivalents? Circular logic error found. The USD was backed by gold. Until it wasn't. >BTC is digital Monopoly Money. The USD is the definition of monopoly money. By definition, printing of monopoly money costs peanuts, which eventually creates inflation. Creation of free market money like gold, or btc on the other hand requires economic input, which does not cause inflation. The above does not take away the medium of exchange status of the USD, at least locally. It does however signal that it would behoove one to consider if the USD can be used as a savings instrument.