How does it being a currency allow these people you’ve identified above to access it?
Discussion
Ps - it’s a reserve asset for anybody.
Totally, exactly why it needs to be in more hands at all times. Lengthen the time preference of everyone who touches it. More thoughtfulness behind spending.
If small amounts are usable for day to day living… or better if these small amounts become superior for easily accessing daily needs… then the “cash” (or sats) in their wallets/under their mattresses becomes a valuable savings asset as well, giving the option (to those who realize it) to hold onto slightly more than they spend since it will be worth more tomorrow than yesterday. Rather than something that is worth less tomorrow and every day after. I suppose this would be my long winded way of saying if BTC can become THE medium of exchange as well as a reserve asset, it will lengthen the time preference of far more people than if it is just a reserve asset for those who already can access cash, cheap credit, etc.
One place I’ve repeatedly gotten stuck, is on the fact that there will not be enough UTXOs for every person on earth to own even one.
Layer-2 and 3 (and 4, 5, etc) solutions are the only ways to “reach” everyone, and some of those implementations will invariably involve trust, fractional reserve banking, and custodial third parties.
Humans are amazing, but we’re also short-term opportunists by default, and there will always be “fiat” pursuits. At least until we are all collectively so enlightened that the need for a medium of exchange ceases to exist (lol, different rabbit hole).
Real, actual bitcoin won’t (can’t) be the way that everyone manages their daily transactions — even in a “post-hyper-bitcoinized” world. It’s not possible (at least as I understand it, based on the minimum UTXO size for a transaction).
But also, I think that’s okay…
I think it will be “enough” for Bitcoin to be recognized and implemented as a global monetary base layer. A transparent and free market for money can force participants (banks) to be transparent about risk tradeoffs. It can force governments to only spend tax revenue on things the citizens actually want and approve of, at risk of being “busted” and voted out. It can still give every user the ability to save in a money (or a monetary “layer” atop a consistent base) that can’t be devalued — and when a bank or government tries to devalue it, the citizen retains their permissionless freedom, to chose a better custodian.
I don’t think every global citizen needs to hold Bitcoin for this to work. Bitcoin just needs to work.
Everyone can’t own a whole oz of gold either :/
What’s wrong with lightning ?
To use it in a permissionless way you need your own channel, which requires some UTXOs, if not everyone can have a UTXO then most people need to use a custodian.
Ideally every person could do an on chain transaction at least once a year. This would ensure that minimum amounts were held in custodial accounts.
Hal finney interpreted satoshis mission as a return to open banking.
As it stands now there are only a few banks that are backed by promises and collude with each other like a mafia. Having thousands of banks that can operate truly independently of each other, and that are accountable to the free market of choice due to self custody of a bearer asset instead of a promise, would change the world in ways we can't imagine.
It's my opinion these banks will interact with each other over lightning or some method of secure global transmission, kind of like fed wire today.
Most customers of these banks I think will use ecash denominated in sats to show their relevant worth to the base money. This comes with its challenges and benefits, and I'm not saying this is ideal, but I believe it's what will happen given human nature.
I think there is a real need for individuals with strong autonomy and a solid WOT in their community to run these banks/mints.
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I agree this has to happen on layer 2. No way everyone is holding base layer.
There’s no problem with having credit and fractional reserve banking in my mind- parallel to a BTC system. Risk is necessary for investment and growth and credit is our way to speculate on the future. Also, if fractional reserve banking keeps fees low then people will take risks and use it.
The issue is the bailouts with non-existent money to banks that are so big they are systematically important. Having an effective BTC transactional layer prevents over-centralization and keeps banks small, specialized and local- as they should be.
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If there is no possibility of a bankrun, banks will fractionally reserve