3 ms·
I usually see the term "fiat money" used in the context where people are arguing that a central banks ability to control the money supply is either good or bad.
by jshen 14y ago
I usually see the term "fiat money" used in the context where people are arguing that a central banks ability to control the money supply is either good or bad. Fiat money in that context is used as the contrast to something like the gold standard.
In this current context, bitcoin is more like the gold standard that typical fiat money. The supply of bitcoin can not be manipulated to manage the economy.
- parasubvert 14y agoThe one area that Bitcoin is NOT like fiat currency and like the gold standard is that it is (somewhat) finite. However, keep in mind that the programmers behind Bitcoin can change their minds and decide to generate more bitcoins. Or they can create offshoot bitcoin currencies that do this. That's how it's like Fiat money -- there's just people and trust behind it, not shiny rocks in the ground. What's curious is why some think managing the economy (to a limited degree) is a bad thing.