Read_919 - Frédéric Bastiat: The Unseen Role of Intermediaries

Dec 7, 2025

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"What role do intermediaries—such as merchants, distributors, and traders—play in the market? Far from being mere profiteers, these intermediaries play an essential role in the division of labor. Without them, society as a whole could not function."
~ Ulrich Fromy

I dig into Bastiat’s forgotten defense of “middlemen” and ask: are banks, platforms, and merchants really the villains, or is the problem that we let them own the networks they run on? Using Bitcoin, Lightning, and Nostr as examples, I explore whether we can keep the convenience of intermediaries while stripping them of control—and what it would actually take to build that world.

Check out the original article The Unseen Role of Intermediaries by Ulrich Fromy. (Link: https://mises.org/mises-wire/frederic-bastiat-unseen-role-intermediaries)

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