GM

BITCOIN IS NON-GOVERNMENT MONEY Many people think that money has to be issued by the government. But this is not the case, and it never has been. First, consider currency. In London, the pound is money, the euro is money in Paris, and Bitcoin is money in El Salvador: all of these are legal tender, endorsed by the respective national governments. But money can also be whatever currency people agree is money without the government’s say so. The US dollar remains money in Cuba even though the government says it isn’t legal tender, and Bitcoin is widely accepted in Madeira without the government there saying anything much about it at all. The same goes for banknotes. They are of course often issued by governments via their central banks. But notes have historically been issued by private banks as well. In some places they still are, such as Scotland, where Virgin Money subsidiary Clydesdale Bank (amongst others) still issues sterling banknotes, and Northern Ireland, where (amongst others) Danish multinational Danske Bank does the same. And what about ledger money, which makes up most money in circulation today? The world over, this is mainly not issued by governments at all, but is instead created by non-government banks such as Banco Santander and Wells Fargo when they make loans. In the UK for example, retail banks such as HSBC and Lloyd’s create around 80% of the money in the economy in this way. So while some money is government money, most money is not. Yet people the world over still agree it is money. Similarly, Bitcoin is not government money, yet people all over the world agree it is money. Bitcoin is non-government money.

bitcoms.xyz - Bitcoin is non-government money

Many people think that money has to be issued by the government. But this is not the case, and it never has been. First, consider currency. In Lon...

GM

BITCOIN IS THE BANK Say I pay you using bank ledger money: I instruct my bank; my bank grants permission, updates its private ledger and tells your bank; your bank grants permission, and updates its private ledger. But if I pay you with Bitcoin, there are only two steps: I make an entry in Bitcoin’s public ledger, and the Bitcoin network confirms the transaction. And that’s it. I’ve sent you the money, and the transaction is complete. Nothing physically moved: the money stayed where it always was, on the Bitcoin ledger. But now the ledger shows publicly that the money was transferred from me to you. Our names aren’t recorded in the ledger – just our Bitcoin addresses, virtual locations which we control. We didn’t need banks to hold our money, receive instructions, grant permissions, or transfer our funds by updating their private ledgers. Instead, we just used Bitcoin’s public ledger. We didn’t need banks at all. Bitcoin is the bank.

bitcoms.xyz - Bitcoin is the bank

Say I pay you using bank ledger money: I instruct my bank; my bank grants permission, updates its private ledger and tells your bank; your bank gra...

BITCOIN IS A BOOK About five thousand years ago, people invented writing to keep track of their dealings with each other. This started on clay tablets, and eventually moved onto paper bound into books. In accounting speak, such books have a technical name – ledgers. With the advent of money came cash books, or cash ledgers. Just think of them as private diaries for money. Businesses today still maintain their own proprietary cash books. It may be on a computer rather than paper, but the purpose of a modern multinational’s cash ledger hasn’t changed since the paper cash books of old: to record and keep track of payments, receipts, balances and dates. What’s this got to do with Bitcoin? Everything. Because even though it’s public rather than private, that’s essentially what Bitcoin is: a cash ledger, or cash book. Bitcoin is a book.

bitcoms.xyz - Bitcoin is a book

About five thousand years ago, people invented writing to keep track of their dealings with each other. This started on clay tablets, and eventuall...

GM

GM h/t @Bridge 2 Bitcoin

Anyone out there still using @OpenSecret ? I’ve tried a few times to send sats via Lightning over the past week with no joy. I have sats in self custody with Flow/ Voltage as LSP. Any troubleshooting tips?

GM

BREAKING: New fiat scam launched

In other words: IF the US raises corporation tax by a third, AND that doesn’t scare away any corporate profits, AND the government eliminates its spending deficit immediately, THEN it could pay off its debt EXCLUDING interest in 350 YEARS.

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This is the way.. View quoted note →

Writing in the Financial Times (paywall), the Bank of England says stablecoins & CBDCs will make payments efficient and global. Innovate, tokenisation, efficiency, global: lame reasoning obfuscated by jargon. The real reasons (not mentioned): - stablecoins can hugely increase sovereign debt markets -CBDCs can greatly increase surveillance & control

Everything, including stocks snd commodities, has appreciated today, mostly more than bonds. Regime propagandists need to be more subtle.

Much wisdom here. The realistic prospect of not being obstructed or persecuted is the big win. View quoted note →