Just as the internet needed web browsers before it could really change the world, Bitcoin needed user-friendly interfaces to grow beyond money and towards being the base layer—the “rails”—for decentralized services built on Bitcoin alone.
If Bukele really wants monetary freedom for El Salvador, he should not have presented them with what, effectively, is a government handout for bitcoin hodlers and the companies behind the Strike app and other potential intermediaries.
Ludwig von Mises viewed sound money as a limit on government power and as "an instrument for the protection of civil liberties against despotic inroads on the part of governments. "
On the fiftieth anniversary of Nixon's gold shock, The Fiat Standard is an amazing explication of how the West fell to its current state. You don't want to miss this show, especially Saifedean's epic takedown of fiat academia at the end!
As FDR’s gold crackdown showed, tyrants know the importance of controlling money in a time of crisis. It appears cryptocurrency could be central banks' next target.
On the one hand, the “no intrinsic value” skeptics are ignoring how Austrians deal with gold, while on the other hand, the “HODL forever” enthusiasts would never allow Bitcoin to become a money.
