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How is crypto not another fiat? It is not backed by convertability into a commodity either. It's (currently typically) not issued by a state actor but otherwise

How is crypto not another fiat? It is not backed by convertability into a commodity either. It's (currently typically) not issued by a state actor but otherwise just like a typical fiat currency brought into being by something akin to a (community) decree. I know from the US perspective often legal tender concepts are brought into the definition of fiat but the legal tender concept doesn't quite exist in the same way in a lot of other countries.

silentsea90 4y ago
It's true that it's not backed, and that's a pro (we'll get to that), but Bitcoin is better than Fiat for many reasons: 1) impossible to confiscate 2) fixed supply and issuance rate - can't just print it away when the fed wants 3) instant permissionless transfer so the government can't interject. If you think they can be trusted, might want to read about executive order 6102 4) not backed by another asset eg gold (say). This is great because gold is extremely hard to transfer physically and easy to confiscate. Read about how Nixon refused to allow dollar convertibility for gold for foreign nations which was the condition for Bretton woods agreement ie where all nations agreed to use dollar as a global reserve freely exchangeable for gold. Also read about how FDR outlawed private ownership of gold when the US had printed more money than their gold reserves and needed to fix their books. Decentralized community decree is awesome. You don't have a central actor making rules that support themselves. Christine Lagarde has no way to get the euro out of the deficit hole. See this snippet from an interview: https://youtu.be/p-X-mIuDYFw https://youtu.be/p-X-mIuDYFw. In a balanced system, the debt would be loaned from and owed to a market participant who cares about their money being returned, not this bizarre broken system where central banks print and then owe to themselves
- RandomLensman 4y ago
  We'll find out if these things are seen as advantageous by enough or not. I don't necessarily agree that the points are all just pros, but I am open to democratic changes of monetary systems.
  - silentsea90 4y ago
    Agreed. The jury isn't out on Austrian v/s Keynesian economics. We've not had the former play out organically in recent history without Govt. intervention transforming it into the latter. I remain hopeful that there is change enough that technology imposes hard rules (fixed supply, fixed issuance, only taxation no printing etc.). Rules that nations earlier used to comply with (~approximately) with the gold peg but no longer do.

silentsea90 4y ago

It's true that it's not backed, and that's a pro (we'll get to that), but Bitcoin is better than Fiat for many reasons: 1) impossible to confiscate 2) fixed supply and issuance rate - can't just print it away when the fed wants 3) instant permissionless transfer so the government can't interject. If you think they can be trusted, might want to read about executive order 6102 4) not backed by another asset eg gold (say). This is great because gold is extremely hard to transfer physically and easy to confiscate. Read about how Nixon refused to allow dollar convertibility for gold for foreign nations which was the condition for Bretton woods agreement ie where all nations agreed to use dollar as a global reserve freely exchangeable for gold. Also read about how FDR outlawed private ownership of gold when the US had printed more money than their gold reserves and needed to fix their books. Decentralized community decree is awesome. You don't have a central actor making rules that support themselves. Christine Lagarde has no way to get the euro out of the deficit hole. See this snippet from an interview: https://youtu.be/p-X-mIuDYFw https://youtu.be/p-X-mIuDYFw. In a balanced system, the debt would be loaned from and owed to a market participant who cares about their money being returned, not this bizarre broken system where central banks print and then owe to themselves

RandomLensman 4y ago
We'll find out if these things are seen as advantageous by enough or not. I don't necessarily agree that the points are all just pros, but I am open to democratic changes of monetary systems.
- silentsea90 4y ago
  Agreed. The jury isn't out on Austrian v/s Keynesian economics. We've not had the former play out organically in recent history without Govt. intervention transforming it into the latter. I remain hopeful that there is change enough that technology imposes hard rules (fixed supply, fixed issuance, only taxation no printing etc.). Rules that nations earlier used to comply with (~approximately) with the gold peg but no longer do.