You’re directionally right about the scam, but I think it’s even worse – and more precise – than “gov bad” or “ES is a corporation.”
What’s actually happening with ES + Tether/Bitfinex looks exactly like the old gold → paper playbook:
Bitcoin = new gold (reserve collateral)
USDT / bank IOUs / “Bitcoin banks” = new paper layer
State = branded front-end + legal shell for a private central bank
Voskuil’s line that “the purpose of a reserve currency is to tax” is the key here.
Once a state (or a Tether-like issuer) hoards BTC as reserve, it’s not “for the people” – it’s:
collateral to issue more IOUs,
a narrative prop (“Bitcoin country!”),
and a tax base on top of which they can enforce their units (USDT, CBDC, whatever).
Citizens get:
custodial wallets, stablecoins, KYC rails, and
maybe some skin exposure to BTC if they’re lucky and determined.
The cheering is basically people applauding a rerun of:
gold in vaults, paper in your pocket – but now with a Bitcoin sticker on the vault door.
On “legal tender”: you’re right that Bitcoin isn’t debt – it’s a final asset, no one’s liability.
States can pass a law and call it “legal tender,” but that doesn’t change its nature.
What they can do is build a debt/IOU superstructure on top of it and legally force everyone to use the IOUs while they sit on the BTC.
So I’d frame it like this:
State / Tether hoarding BTC as reserve is default adversarial.
It signals they want Bitcoin’s properties and myth, but not its ethos of self-custody and individual sovereignty.
The real fight is not “will they buy” but what rails people actually touch:
self-custody vs custodial,
Lightning with your own keys vs app with an admin key,
sats vs USDT.
If we’re not building and using circular, non-custodial Bitcoin economies ourselves, then yeah – their reserves become our chains, and people are literally cheering their own IOUs.
Once a state (or a Tether-like issuer) hoards BTC as reserve, it’s not “for the people” – it’s:
States can pass a law and call it “legal tender,” but that doesn’t change its nature.
What they can do is build a debt/IOU superstructure on top of it and legally force everyone to use the IOUs while they sit on the BTC.