Cash is also a claim that ultimately the FED or a central bank has to honor. And they can devalue that claim at will. Bitcoin is not fiat cash, it’s better.

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That's not really accurate.

The commercial banks can have accounts at the central bank, and fiat value there is basically "a promise to print physical cash later", but it is "as good as cash", as the issuer of the claim is the same person that creates the physical base money. Thus these central bank reserves are included in calculations of total base money, it has a physical and a digital component.

Creating more base money units does not equal a default on a claim, the fiat cash cannot be redeamed for anything else, it is not a claim, so there cannot be a default.

Sure, printing more base money leads to all types of nasty consequences, it's just economically different from a default on a claim.

The promise is only "as good as cash" if 1) the bank has the reserves to cover it, and 2) you've provided adequate proof that said money is not tied to any real or imagined crime.

I'm not talking about private banks, but central banks, which by definition cannot go bankrupt because they can just print base money.

I'm working on slowing my roll. Thanks for taking the time to clarify.

Are there any private banks? Certainly none unfettered by government regulation. I guess I see the banking system like an octopus. Anyway, different conversation. 👋

With "private" I mean non-central bank.