*Disclaimer: the content of the article reflects only the views of the author and not necessarily LëtzBlock’s view.
We are living one of the most exciting times of our era. We might witness the slow demise of fiat currencies. Goodbye dollar, euro and yuan! Really? Maybe. Or maybe not. Anyway, the stalwarts of the system have been shook to their core recently. This threat can be summed up in one word: Bitcoin. Or one technology: blockchain. Everyone knows the bitcoin, less the technology that lies behind it. Most of the pundits do not see the bitcoin replacing the US dollar anytime soon because of its limited number and the slowness of the transaction process. But that’s from a pundit point of view. Millions of people are already one step ahead of this judgment call and have adopted it. They consider the crypto-sphere as the new world, their new world. Today we still value cryptos in dollars or euros but what about tomorrow? We might convert bitcoins for Ethereum, or swap them for Cardano… And these cryptocurrencies might become our daily currencies.
A switch to cryptocurrencies
Everyone talks about it, everyone has some in its wallet, you have ads lauding it everywhere and in the meantime, the appeal of traditional fiat currencies that we know is fading, slowly but surely fading. Who would have thought that someday we could buy a fancy car with bitcoins. In the country where I leave, Luxembourg, some are selling their houses for a (hefty) bunch of bitcoins. If you want to watch a match of the Dallas Mavericks, you can buy your tickets using Ethereum. I just registered for a training by transferring Litecoin from a private wallet to another. More and more, the use of cryptocurrencies is increasing and it will soon become an ordinary habit. But this won’t go without a cost: just like for fiat currencies, you can have them stolen, you can lose them, they might not be accepted everywhere, they might be worth nothing overnight… Just like fiat currencies.
The distrust of fiat currencies
The parallel between crypto and fiat stops where the main reason why the crypto exists. No centralization, no creation from any central bank, no intermediary. And that’s where a chasm arises as current power holders don’t want to lose their exorbitant privilege of creating and manipulating the money supply. States, financial institutions cannot afford to lose that privilege because it would lead to their demise and the loss of everything they long for: power and carefree enjoyment. If you control the money, you have the power and you can make use of it however you want without suffering the consequences. You will never be punished if you fail or if you act bad. You will always be saved by the system. You don’t believe me? Look at the banks after the Lehman crisis. Did they lay low? No, they are even more powerful and that’s because they kept control of money and the system, with the collusion of the administrations of course.
When you see how money is created and for what purpose, you have the right to question the judgment of the policymakers. Currently, in the US, rescue plans follow one another with astounding amounts involved. Please let me list them: American Rescue Plan = $1.9 trillion; Fed injection = $2.3 trillion; American Families Plan = $1.8 trillion. But wait a minute… where does all this money come from??? It’s a genuine question and the answer is as simple. From nowhere. It’s created out of thin air and that’s a huge problem for a raft of reasons. First, make no mistake, this money will flow back through the financial markets and it won’t be used for ‘real economy’. Secondly, make no mistake again, you won’t get a piece of it or at best, a tiny piece: the elites will be able to draw this money and keep it for themselves. Not you, poor thing. Thirdly, how worth is a currency when you can multiply it at will? What is the point in going to work when the Fed can send paychecks directly in your mailbox? Why not stop working and wait for a monthly-million-dollar paycheck from the Fed? And last, and in my opinion, the most important one, all these plans are based on huge amounts of debt that will have to be reimbursed someday and guess who’s gonna pay? You obviously, taxpayer, but did you get to decide on paying it or not? All this money which is supposed to save the country or the mainstream people is only a poor excuse to keep this unfair system afloat. A system that maintains the same guys at the top forever and ever and the same guys at the bottom forever and ever too. Oh yes some might manage to get at the top but at what cost?
So I recap: the elites decide to launch trillion-dollar rescue plans that they will mostly benefit from and that mainstream people will have to finance or reimburse when they have no say. How is that to you? How can we trust this kind of system? How can we trust this people? How can we trust their currency? A new money like the crypto is like a new power that challenges and threatens the one already established and that thrived at the hands of the elites. The arrival of the Bitcoin is that kind of threat. Now they are afraid to lose their power and privilege. It might sound ridiculous but in some emerging countries, the phenomenon has already started to gain momentum. Here is a short list of countries where crypto are supplanting local currency: Nigeria, Vietnam, Philippines, Turkey, Peru, Switzerland, India… and despite some of these countries are banning the use and the detention of cryptos, they are even more held and used. People don’t want fiat currency anymore because it appears to them to be a poor store of value. By the way, how can you ban something you don’t have control over? So you see, I’m not daydreaming because it’s happening. It’s really happening.
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Michael Wuensch, Pixabay
The trust in cryptocurrencies
In the end, what differentiates a common fiat currency from a cryptocurrency? I don’t see much difference if the main goal is to use it as a means of exchange and a store of value. You might believe I’m going too far but I don’t. All the fiat currencies are not backed by anything tangible or valuable so why should we trust them more than cryptos? I think that today it’s hard to convince people that the a US dollar or a euro is more legitimate than a Dogecoin or a Tron. Yeah yeah, the US dollar is backed by the good faith of the government bla-bla-bla… I know but I don’t care much. Why not rather considering this: the advent of cryptocurrencies might signal the coexistence of two opposite but similar ways of money. However, one might trump the other and you can imagine which one will do. The world we once knew is about to end. I don’t know how but it surely will.
Tomorrow you could use any crypto to do your shopping, buy a car, buy your house and so on. We, as end-users, don’t see the difference with fiat currencies. But the policymakers and the financial institutions do. They are trying to scare people arguing that cryptocurrencies have been used to launder the profits of online drug traffickers; they’ve been a tool to finance terrorism, like Janet Yellen said. Is she serious? So we have millions and millions of users who are using crypto to deal drugs, finance terrorism or launder profit? No Madam, it’s just a new way to express ourselves, a new way to exchange and yes a new way to make money as you guys carved out the lion’s share of the current financial system. It’s a huge cake everyone wants a piece of. Cryptocurrencies might bring the society to chaos as it would take down the very foundations of stability that supports the system. If tomorrow we are to trust more crypto than our usual fiat currencies we will end up not using it anymore which will destroy their value and their very purpose.
Banks? They already changed sides. Remember what Jamie Dimon said about the bitcoin: “it’s a fraud!” Now JP Morgan is about to offer bitcoin funds to its clients! Please! Whenever you think about money, banks won’t be far away. An analyst from Deutsche Bank summed up the situation very well and said: “the bitcoin has an importance that can no longer be ignored”. And I do acknowledge his words. Plus, it’s kind of cool to talk about crypto and even more to carry some in your wallet. It’s the money of 21st century, it’s our money. We get to decide about it and that’s what is remarkable. Buyer and seller can deal with each other with no exterior intervention.
The reaction of governments and central banks
The future is bright for cryptocurrencies or is it? Wait a minute, if banks are rushing in this promising and lucrative land because they will always be able to create value out of it, the same cannot be assured for governments and central banks. They mostly create and use fiat currency as if their lives depend on it. If we were not to use it anymore, their power would be gone and stability too… If administrations are not able to collect taxes because you don’t have any dollar or euro left in your bank account and because you prefer to have bitcoins or Ethereum in your crypto wallet, this is a bit of a problem to them. So here we are facing a new paradigm and I cannot wait to see the ending.
They have launched the initiatives of competing with their e-Yuan, e-Euro… but these are pale copies of what bitcoin is without its main feature and advantage: decentralization. This move is actually in complete contradiction with the very purpose of cryptocurrencies. No official body can create it, steal it or manipulate it. So how can government can create their own digital currency? It’s just another form of controlling people movements, thoughts and money. Another form of enslavement. Will it succeed? I don’t know, but I just hope that people won’t be fooled. In some countries, they tend to trust their government so bad that they believe everything they say. Everything. I’ll give you a quick example of the gap there is, in the US people are concerned and appealed over the money printing. In Europe except Germany, people don’t care as long as you bring in the money!
No more intermediaries
This system is made to control us, to watch us, to take from us. All these so-called democracies and republics are just, in a way, empty words. We are not free. Especially when it comes down to money. But now, with crypto, we take charge of our future. Certainly, there will be some glitches and crises like in every system but at least it will depend on us. Not on a government or a central bank. We decide what we want to do and how we want to do it. My own words are shocking me. Can you figure this out? We don’t need banks anymore, let alone governments. We can borrow or lend money directly from a counterparty using DeFi, we can negotiate directly with him.
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
LisaAttractLove, Pixabay
The first fruits of a non-violent revolution?
It’s enticing, it’s exciting but it’s also scaring. We don’t know what is going to happen but we are sure that something big is happening, something is gonna change and we can all be part of it. The usual profiteers won’t be around to reap the reward and even if they join in, it’s already too late because the first fruits of a non-violent revolution have started to grow.