Revisiting a old post
If you are a long-time reader, you might remember this
With cryptocurrencies back in view and on a sharp rise in dollar terms, it is wise to revisit the ideas I expressed in the post below.
My friend CJ Wilson on Twitter recently wrote:
The important takeaway for me here is this: valuing BTC or other cryptocurrencies in dollar terms—as though the primary purpose of them is to “invest” dollars so as to yield more fiat dollars—is a category error.
The point of cryptocurrencies (and precious metals) is that they are a “store of value” that is divorced from the dollar. Therefore, it is not so much the case that BTC is “rising” against the dollar, as it is that the dollar is “falling” against BTC.
This post from June 15, 2022 — one of my most read articles— is worth a re-read, if you missed it the first time.
I have no confidence in cryptocurrencies, as they are totally reliant on the power grid, just as Dollars retain value due to central banking. They have been a tremendous speculation vehicle, and I wish I had participated in that! But that horse has left the barn, even if the redouble from here.
I have a spidey-sense that the cryptos are a catspaw of the CBs once again, and a research tool to ascertain who the individuals are who are trying to tear down any organized global financial system.
At the same time, I suspect the current Bretton Woods regime is on its last legs, with nothing at scale to replace it. Europe & Japan in current extreme peril.
CC, you gauzily gloss over the critical fault line of secure power supply. Sure, all we need to do is create distributed power generation nodes scatter throughout the commonweal. How are these many millions of mini power supplies created, distributed, funded, installed, maintained, ad infinitum when the Bretton Woods precipice is NOW?
Musk could supply a few hundred Starlinks to a small region on call for communication purposes, but those batteries need to be recharged too! Multiply that by the millions in a very short time frame! The logistical constructs just don't work, especially when the failure of the CB system will destroy the global supply chain structures for an indeterminate period of time. Pollyanna? Meet reality!!
Utopianism isn't your friend here, and the entire construct sets up a whole new Brahmin class that make CB Elites look like kindergartners! Oh, but they're as pure as the driven snow! RIGHT! Every human alive has a sin nature that seeks personal advantage, regardless how much they feign altruism! So back to the drawing board IMHO.
I do think that blockchain technology will be a huge blessing to humankind, but I'm not sure that putting an On-Off switch on access to assets, real and financial, controlled by that aforementioned Brahmin class is a solution in any sense of the word! It sounds more potentially diabolical than competing CBs!!
I have faith in YOUR good will, but I doubt you'll be the one in control of that switch! More likely it'll be a Bill Gates, a Mark Zuckerburg, or a Klaus Schwab type with a different mask on, but with a heart just as anti-human, anti-American, and anti-spiritual in the end.