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👩🏻‍💻justaskpenny 🖖🤖🛰️⛓🛡️🕳🐇's avatar

Reminds me of a statement once made by Thomas Jefferson - 3rd president of United States.

“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around [the banks] will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs.”

(Thomas Jefferson) 1802.

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Gerardine Hoogland's avatar

I never grasp how government does not understand the most basic principle of, when you allow the citizenry to thrive, the country prospers. Despite the various angles I look to understand how the bureaucracies don’t or won’t acknowledge this, I come back to the same conclusion - they are so ensconced in a bubble that they truly believe they know best, and they can do this because they are detached from real people living real lives.

I’m still grappling with understanding bitcoin, but your article explains it in the best way I’ve read yet, Tyler.

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tracylee's avatar

Well explained Tyler . Definitely food for thought .

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Diana Louis's avatar

Great article Tyler. Solid arguments clearly stated.

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Jade McCallister's avatar

A lot of great points here, and funny enough this strongly resonates with my original reasons for embracing libertarianism, it became clear to me that fiat currency is a scam designed to bleed value out of the citizenry through inflation and endless printing. The cypherpunks are certainly an inspiration, treating the crypto space as legitimate praxis and providing a viable alternative to fiat. Coins like Bitcoin and Monero have a strong use basis, however, I've noticed these days most of the wider crypto space has devolved into a gambling scamfest full of pointless shitcoins, and I feel most modern adopters fail to appreciate the original intent of crypto. I'd be curious to know your thoughts on this.

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Tyler Green's avatar

I am glad you found some value in the piece Jade and I agree that the industry has moved far beyond the initial ideals of the cypherpunks.

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Jade McCallister's avatar

Yeah, I think it would be ideal for more people to learn about the practical uses of crypto especially in terms of financial privacy, hopefully this article can inspire others with a viable alternative to fiat.

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Tyler Green's avatar

Absolutely it would Jade. Further to that I was very proud of the Bitcoin policy The Libertarians took to the federal election this year. It’s a shame it didn’t hit the mark.

https://www.libertarians.org.au/bitcoin

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Jade McCallister's avatar

True. As it stands I'm not sure if the average person feels strongly about Bitcoin, but I think it's one of those things where having conversations with friends and family can help shift minds, I think the first step is pointing out how the fiat status quo is robbing them blind. For now, I think the average attitude is that inflation is a necessary evil, but presenting alternatives could help shift minds.

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