Netherlands must ban cryptocurrencies immediately: CPB head

Post by throwawayffffas » Fri, Jun 11, 2021, 3:08 PM UTC

bko wrote: post #77

jokethrowaway wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fiat is backed by weapons. The same weapons that defend your house from other countries and force you to give up half your salary. My main criticism to cryptocurrencies is that they're mostly unbacked. The ones that are backed by Fiat have similar problems to Fiat currency (why would I need that?), the ones that are backed by physical assets are much more interesting - but they don't seem to be the mainstream ones, p…

> Fiat is backed by weapons. What does this mean? It's the currency of a country that has weapons. If someone steals my USD, will US use their weapons to get it back for me? If the value of their currency drops substantially, will they go to war with some unknown power that's causing this drop and reverse the change? Countries also change currencies, often during times of inflation. This is an effectively meaningless…

Post by shkkmo » Fri, Jun 11, 2021, 3:10 PM UTC

Tenoke wrote: post #34

yunohn wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Maybe a tiny minority Wait, what? That’s like the main reason people give when pumping it - “Bitcoin will replace fiat and it’s a good hedge against normal money.”

For quite a while the prevailing sentiment has been that bitcoin is a store of value and more akin to gold not dollars. At any rate, there's plenty of crypto with much different aims.

Post by michaelscott » Fri, Jun 11, 2021, 3:11 PM UTC

jokethrowaway wrote: post #63

md_ wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the parent is talking about chartalism ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chartalism ), which is essentially the idea that fiat currencies derive their value from the fact that taxes must be paid in them. A sort of "just so" story about this would go something like (with much credit to David Graeber): "Way back when, some Assyrian king got the great idea to, instead of giving their soldiers food and drink, give…

I think the value of a currency comes from the creditworthiness of the country issuing it. If someone nuked the USA and burn down the entire USA army and economy, the dollar wouldn't have much value. The USA army protects the states. Switzerland, as per parent's post, has defense agreements with other countries. The likelihood of Switzerland being attacked or destroyed is also very low. What would the international c…

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Jun 11, 2021, 3:14 PM UTC

rustybelt wrote: post #121

Hoasi wrote: post #84

> "Cryptocurrencies are essentially neither money nor a financial product, but an example of what Nobel laureate Robert Shiller calls a 'contagious narrative': a contagious story in which people believe because other people believe in it." Which is exactly what money is, to begin with.

That tax bill I get every year payable only in dollars isn't imaginary.

Post by lurquer » Fri, Jun 11, 2021, 3:15 PM UTC

anonymouse008 wrote: post #101

paulsutter wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Like the stop sign bubble. Those stop signs dont actually stop cars, they just work because of the contagious narrative

This is so deep I can't tell if you're joking or not. There are rural towns that have a completely different concept for a stop sign... backed by a lack of enforcement from officers.