The "What is Money?" Show WiM047 - The Saylor Series | Episode 11 | The Failures of Fiat
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Sep 13, 2021 AI Snips
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Fiat's Advantages over Gold
- Fiat currency emerged as a faster, stronger, and smarter alternative to gold, enabling efficient value transfer across distances.
- Features like letters of credit and checks made transactions quicker and more complex, boosting economic productivity.
Traveler's Checks: An Analogue to Multi-Sig
- American Express traveler's checks served as a pre-credit card era solution for secure international transactions.
- The checks offered a form of multi-signature security, reducing theft risk and facilitating replacements.
Inflation: Fiat's Fatal Flaw
- Fiat's primary failure is its inherent inflationary nature, a major problem compared to gold's occasional spikes.
- Constant inflation, often between 7-11% annually with occasional surges to 30-40%, depletes fiat's value over time.