Who wants to reply to my colleague about bitcoin vs fiat? 💭 I’ll send sats to the responses of course!

“I don't think it's worse, I just don't think it is particularly better. I think that the idea of deflationary money being inherently better is based on a narrow scope of what money is and how deflationary currencies have worked (or not worked) in the past.

The gold standard was incredibly volatile, or at least no less than its absence.

With a Bitcoin standard, credit would be difficult if not impossible. And I doubt that if Bitcoin had mass adoption in a year that the powers that be would redistribute ownership of land/housing etc. Now those things would be permenantly out of reach, more than they are already.

The ability for governments to respond to crises (like during the pandemic with monetary stimulus) would also be completely hampered.

Money that can be backed by debt is better at responding to these things, but is more prone to control, less suitable for international p2p, etc. Btc, at least rn, also has the role of serving as a hedge (kinda) for when shit hits the fan.”

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Ask him, wtf happened in 1971?

https://wtfhappenedin1971.com/

Do not provide an answer. Just ask, show data and wait

Hampering government’s ability to generate debt to “respond” to crises is a feature of a hard money standard, not a bug. Even if I granted that the state should have this authority (I do not), history has proven that state intervention actually makes the highs and lows worse rather than flattening out the volatility. We’ve had tons of bubbles, crashes and mini recessions since the founding of the Federal Reserve in 1913. All their activity does is enrich the politically favored, socialize losses rather than force foolish or nefarious actors to suffers the economic consequences of their actions, and drain purchasing power from the plebs.

Fed monetary policy creates the conditions for irresponsible behavior in the markets. Then those players use their actions to justify why loose money is needed—to protect “the people” (really, themselves) from the consequences of their risky actions. The whole thing is an enormous moral hazard, a circular dependency of crime and moral justifications.

The world has never had a dominant global money like Bitcoin before so the problems of the gold standard may not be repeated under a Bitcoin standard.

Gold - limited supply but not portable at scale with privacy maintained.

Bitcoin - limited supply and portable at scale with privacy maintained. This portability combined with privacy will make it easier for people to migrate away from unjust states. Also, the p2p nature of Bitcoin will make it easier for people to trade amongst themselves and bypass tyranny.

People are ethically impacted by the monetary system they operate under. Fiat is unethical and therefore spreads unethical behaviour amongst its users. Perhaps the opposite will hold true under a Bitcoin standard.

It’s possible that if Bitcoin goes mainstream this will be accompanied by en masse refusal to comply with the dictates of governments who try to re-impose fiat money by force.

Money is a storage of time and work. In perfect, sound money it is neither inflationary or deflationary.

Saying gold is incredibly volatile begs the question, "compared to what?" If you're comparing the volatility of gold to a manipulated fiat currency, then yes, of course gold is volatile because what you're comparing it to is artificially controlled.

Bitcoin's function is to be sound money, not to redistribute wealth. By having sound money, people will be paid what they are valued and will pay the correct value for things that they can't produce themselves. A person doing 8 units of work earns 8 units of money to buy food that is worth 8 units of money.

There can be debt with Bitcoin. That just comes down to whether there are those who are willing to be lenders. The closer we get to bitcoinization that kind of financial instrument will naturally arise.

And, the government not being able to respond to crises? heck, if everyone had a Bitcoin wallet, you could just zap the stim check. The problem is that governments today don't actually have money, they just make money up. When they're able to make it up, they don't have to be accountable to the citizenry. With sound money, they have to provide actual value and be accountable.

government can print fiat

Not possible for Bitcoin