> The original rationale for Bitcoin was that it would do away with the need for trust — you wouldn’t have to worry about banks making off with your money, or g

> The original rationale for Bitcoin was that it would do away with the need for trust — you wouldn’t have to worry about banks making off with your money, or governments inflating away its value. In reality, however, banks rarely steal their customers’ assets, while crypto institutions more easily succumb to the temptation, and extreme inflation that destroys money’s value generally happens only amid political chaos. 1. Bitcoin does away with the need for trust. 2. Some institutions that had bitcoins entrusted to them breached that trust. This paragraph tries very hard to create the impression that #2 refutes #1, without making it quite explicit. "Extreme inflation that destroys money’s value generally happens only amid political chaos" — is this some kind of straussian case for bitcoin? In other columns, Krugman writes about the "crazy" GOP, extremists and election deniers — seems like a recipe for political chaos.