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Comment by schwarzrules | Hacker News Reader

Was curious if a maple reserve existed. looks like Canada is leading the charge on that one: https://ppaq.ca/en/sale-purchase-maple-syrup/worlds-only-res...

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Strategic reserves for actual physical commodities makes some sense. Then can reduce the volatility in markets due to sudden unexpected market shocks. In the case of maple syrup that might mean a stretch of really bad harvests.

But digital currency is made up. It isn't 'needed' for anything. So there is no sense to have a strategic reserve.

> there is no sense to have a strategic reserve

FX reserves. (Doesn’t apply here. But stockpiling social constructs can still make sense.)

I think the closet example here would be if the Federal Government had started a "beanie babies" strategic reserve back in the 90s.

All currency is made up, and even physical reserves (gold) have very little intrinsic value. Bitcoin is just another one.

Yes, this is true. The federal government already has the US dollar. It does not need "another one". Why would it?

It's not about "needing" another one. The "other one" is already here, whether you think you need it or not. Will America play the leading role in how the world reacts to its existence, or will someone else beat them to being first? The answer was already decided. Welcome to the future.

Beating them to being first at what? The first to sink taxpayer resources into buying the latest meme coin? The first to provide a taxpayer funded bailout for crypto-bros? This is precisely the sort of 'waste and corruption' that the new administration should be getting away from, not diving into.

Famously subject of the biggest heist in Canadian history: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Canadian_Maple_Syrup_Hei...

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