The Privatization of Money

I wanted to start from a desired end result (bitcoin becomes world money) and examine a scenario under which it could happen.

The main thesis of bitcoin supporters is that governments cannot stop it. I don’t agree. If the governments could put people on the moon, stop the nazi regime that at some point ruled a huge chunk of the world, and destroy the USSR - a government that had lots of nukes and sent the first man into space and back, they can stop bitcoin.

Another thesis is that governments are not efficient, lazy, lack political will, don’t have the resources to commit, and that’s why they won’t stop it. This is a more believable argument, but it assumes that bitcoin is not significant enough, in which case it’s not very interesting. If bitcoin fulfills its promise and becomes world money, and becomes a threat to government revenues, a cost/benefit analysis would justify committing the resources required to stop it.

This episode explores a scenario under which governments will choose to not stop bitcoin. The only way under which this could happen (given bitcoin being significant enough) is if it increases the government's tax revenue.

At first glance it sounds ridiculous, but this is exactly why I wanted to record this episode. Buckle up.

The Privatization of Money - Part 1