We have lost all control of our money.
In the modern economy, banks operate under a fractional reserve system, meaning that the Central Bank has the power to create money out of thin air by lowering interest rates through market operations, the money is then lent out through commercial banks that charge interest for it.
The common assumption is that when banks make loans, they are lending out someone else’s savings, but they’re not, instead they create the money electronically. The more loans people take, the more debt there is, and the more the money supply increases.
Before the world moved from the Gold Standard during the last century, the value of paper money was directly linked to the price of gold, meaning that governments could not manipulate the money supply.
But since the introduction of the fractional reserve system the supply of money has grown exponentially. This is particularly true for the last 2 years, over 30% of all dollars in circulation have been printed over the Covid pandemic.
But who benefits from all of this? Firstly, those that have the power to issue it, governments and banks, then come those companies and very wealthy individuals that get the money early. The newly created money is then invested, enriching the economic elite and creating market bubbles that sooner or later pop resulting in recessions.
But what about the bottom of the pyramid? By the time the money filters out to the rest of us, inflation kicks in, raising the price of goods while wages remain stagnant.
Fractional reserve banking is plain and simple, fraud and wealth redistribution, from the poor and middle class to the rich.
CBDC, The Death Of Privacy
It gets worse, our financial privacy is also under attack. Governments around the world are developing and releasing the new frontier of totalitarian control, Central Bank Digital Currencies or CBDCs, digital versions of government money that are issued and completely controlled by a central bank. With CBDCs all transaction and bank account details are viewable by the State. Today not even the government knows about you buying candy with a $10 physical note, but with CBDC that transaction will be fully viewable by authorities on a centralized database ledger.
Furthermore, if they can track us, they can also control us. In the digital CBDC dystopia, the Central Bank could freeze or limit your holdings for having unallowed opinions, set location and time limits on them and decide what can be bought with your money favoring “friendly corporations” that would grow into monopolies. Governments would also have an easier time controlling the money supply, auto taxing every transaction, as well as issuing and destroying citizens’ funds to promote “economic growth.” The need for Crypto CPAs and accountants to assist in accounting and tax preparation would be lessened in this scenario.
This isn’t a conspiracy theory, it’s already a reality in places like Nigeria and the Bahamas, and over 80 states including the US, China, India, and the EU are openly developing their own CBDC.
Cryptocurrency, A Clog In Their Machine
But all is not lost, Big Brother has not yet won.
Cryptocurrencies and decentralized blockchain technology are the anticathodes to all mighty governmental overreach.
The Blockchain is a public ledger on which all cryptocurrency transactions are recorded, allowing for trustless exchanging between parties. Transactions on the blockchain cut out the third party, the middleman from the transaction, replacing it with peer-to-peer lending. When you send Bitcoin to a friend, your transaction won’t have to pass by an intermediary as it would in the case of a bank wire transfer.
And unlike the dystopian CBDC, traditional blockchains provide varying levels of privacy, from the pseudonymous Bitcoin and Ethereum to the completely anonymous Monero.
By cutting out the third party, power is taken from the oppressive centralized institution and given to you, the individual. Cryptocurrencies aren’t stored in banks; they allow you to become your own bank. But far from only serving as a payment network, the blockchain also allows the offering of services such as insurance lending, borrowing, and much more, through protocols known as smart contracts ,all again, without the need of a third party.
Blockchains introduce a complete decentralization of power. No single centralized institution can control the network and use it for its gains, for example creating currency from thin air to enrich a tiny elite like in today’s system.
The full adoption of cryptocurrencies will revolutionize the world in ways only dreamt of. Elites and states will lose much of their economic and coercive power, being replaced by a system of free exchange between consenting individuals. People will finally be free from the shackles of centralized control, receiving a more efficient and cheaper service with no risk of power abuses from institutions.
