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214 sats \ 3 replies \ @Scoresby 3 Feb \ on: The Hard Problem (of bitcoin) bitcoin
The shapes of letters are so divorced from whatever ideogram-infancy they had that the shapes really have no connection to the sounds we make when we read them aloud nor to the meaning of the words they form.
Languages, too, are just sounds. Where does the meaning come from? It comes from the network of people who also participate in it. It has the utility that it allows us to cooperate better and organize at a larger scale and transfer meaning across time and so on.
Money is also a network. Lots of people want US dollars because it is a very big network, with very many reasons to think it will persist. (USD is produced by a nation with a fairly stable rule of law, lots of resources, huge economic activity).
You might say the only reason it got to be such a big network is that it also can be redeemed for not being thrown in jail (you can pay US taxes with it). However, this is just another attribute of the network, and not the source of the money's value (if the ability to avoid jail by being used to pay taxes was what gave money its value, you might expect the state with the most draconian punishments to have the most valuable currency).
Like the meaning in language, the value in money is not tied to any physical usefulness of the money, but rather to the network of people who use the money and our expectation of its persistence.
A gold coin is not particularly useful in and of itself (it doesn't rust, but neither does stainless steel; it's shiny, but so is gold-flavored metallic spray paint; it's kinda malleable, but so is play-dough -- and yet gold is valued more highly than all these things). Gold is a big network because it has a long track record and people can be fairly confident there aren't going to be massive changes to the stock.
Cookie codes are only as useful as we think it is likely that the network of people who want cookie codes will persist. If they are offered by a lone grocery store in Hillsboro, NC, they may not be a very good money. If they are offered by Walmart, they may be a better money. I don't think it matters if people want cookies or not.
Bitcoin has value because of the network of people who want the attributes such a money can provide (censorship resistance, fixed supply, digitally native).
If you want to trade internationally you need your central bank to hold USD.
Then you can use SWIFT, if you are not sanctioned.
Control of and ability to censor the global tade payments system is arguably the most potent US strategic asset.
Bitcoin provides an alternative not just for global trade but for any trade and exchange between any individual anywhere.
Bitcoin challenges the global fiat hegemony of the USD as it provides an alternative.
No wonder the US banks and government have acted so aggressively to capture and control Bitcoin via US institutional custody, tax rules and AML FUD.
Fiat hegemony is the most powerful protocol on the planet and Bitcoin provides an alternative...anyone who cannot see the inherent and potential value is blind, or deliberately avoiding the truth.
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a nation with a fairly stable rule of law,
Nice try fed...
https://www.offthegridnews.com/current-events/man-imprisoned-for-collecting-rainwater/
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I mean, yes, the US legal system has it's faults, but as a former Business Developer for a PubCo Mining firm, I can tell you that once you step outside of the US, all bets are off.
Like, even Europe has it's own problem and the legal system isn't as strong or business friendly as in the US.
And let's not get started with the rest of the world: Latam, Africa, Middel East, etc. Once you wanna do business there with any sense of legal security or certainty, you start appreciating the US's legal system much more, despite it's flaws.
As the famous genocidal Churchill once said: "Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all others" and I feel the US Legal system fits this quote to a T.
That said, as a European, when I look over to the US or travel there, it doesn't feel AT ALL like the Land of the Free. So completely agree with both pics of yours ;)
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