Crypto and Fiat May Be Intertwined
This post is not written in an overly serious capacity. I am thinking things through as I am writing this. So, you can expect some half-baked ideas. These thoughts relate to the sudden softening the government is having towards crypto. As you may have heard, the Comptroller of the Currency has issued guidance that banks may serve as custodians for cryptocurrencies. This no doubt will make banks less squeamish about dealing with crypto, which they have, until recently, eschewed like the source of all cooties.
Add to this the sudden interest in Central Bank Digital Currencies, an interest in stablecoins, and the development of instant payments in the banking industry. My spider sense tingles because all of these things are happening rapidly and simultaneously in industries that are not known for innovation and creativity. Many of the advances in banking have come from Fintech companies pushing the boundaries of what was allowed and paving the way for new ways of banking. Why, suddenly, all the interest in alternative forms of money?
A couple of weeks ago, I pondered on establishing a dual-currency economy. It is quite possible (as in very likely) that I am slow to the draw. The powers that be may very well be in the process of establishing a dual-currency economy. This would allow people to hedge their savings with assets that would not be affected by money printing. At the same time, the government could monetize their debt. After all, with interest rates at practically zero, they could just as easily buy back old bonds and issue new ones with more favorable rates. Or, they could put the money printing machine to 11 to pay off debt without having to worry about pensions and retirement accounts because they are diversified with crypto.
Watching the news, I am simultaneously pleased to see the advancements that crypto has been making into mainstream finance and alarmed by the sudden about-face. Something isn't right. Or, perhaps, something is right. The geniuses that run things may have figured out that we are hosed if we rely on the dollar alone. They want people to have a place to park their money while they Keynes their way out of the hole they Keynesed their way into.
No doubt I am seeing shadows in the forest, my imagination giving shapes to the movement of shades among the trees. I can't help being suspicious of the rapid deployment and rapid acceptance of cryptocurrencies from the same entities that were openly hostile towards it not long ago. I have my doubts that this is a financial renaissance among the bankers of the world, the least imaginative lot in terms of benefiting their customers. There must be some underlying machinations that are pushing the progress of crypto into the mainstream for bankers to be willing to play along. This is the sort of thing that led to the Federal Reserve on Jekyll Island.
At this point, I don't know that whatever creature is born of this techno finance movement will be beneficial or more malignant than the creation of central banks. I urge skepticism and vigilance in the coming months. Government types are of the sort to not allow a crisis to go to waste. Something is afoot. We are going along with it because we are so enthralled by crypto, being all too pleased that they see things our way. I can't help thinking it is too easy.
On the other hand, it is quite possible that the right people are in the right place to bring forth a new era of financial prosperity. It only took them a decade from the launch of Bitcoin to work their way into positions that would allow them to change the way we exchange value. It is obvious that modern Economics has been disastrous to its practitioners. The Austrians are sitting back chuckling at the foolish exuberance of the Keynesians.
I waver back and forth. I am hot and cold on these issues. Hope and suspicion.
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