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Comment by eric_cc | Hacker News Reader

Government printing fiat is fantastic for the government. Government controlled currency is terrible for individual freedom and for democracies. We just never had an alternative before. Stripping away this power from the government is another important step in human liberty.

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Getting off the gold standard was also fantastic for governments and has resulted in one of the longest histories of economic stability and growth the world has ever seen[0].

We’ve had plenty of alternatives and most of them have been tried and studied. Having strong central monetary policy has resulted in large societal benefits.

[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_standard#Impact

> Government controlled currency is terrible for individual freedom and for democracies. We just never had an alternative before.

Gold, free banking…state-backed currency is the historical exception.

> We just never had an alternative before.

Please do more research on the ‘Free Banking Era’, private currency was common.

This is not a good comparison to cryptocurrency for many reasons.

Crypto is global, inclusionary, no worry about counterfeits, highly liquid, etcetc

Ah, the libertarian paradise. History tells us exactly what that world would look like: 1% bitcoin trillionaires, 99% indentured serfs. You’re probably imagining yourself to be in that 1%, but my guess is you’re wrong about that.

> History tells us exactly what that world would look like

Source?

> You’re probably imagining yourself to be in that 1%

My dream is much simpler. I’d like more time with my wife and daughter.

And the ruling caste of crypto aristocrats will do a better job of enabling the conditions for that than an elected government, why exactly?

I disagree quite strongly, seigniorage the value created when issuing currency is a huge issue. Privatizing seigniorage a currently a public good (excluding some very dysfunctional government) and making it a private good collectively makes most people worse off. Even a government with problems the wealth from seigniorage is going to be far more widely distributed and spent on common benefits.

It is much better to be controlled by a group of miners in China and a password that anyone with access to gonna ruin your life. Nice!

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