Bitcoin advocates can sometimes get out of hand.
Bitcoin is an amazing software, and the technology upon which it’s built has some far-reaching ramifications which can help us re-imagine the way our world works.
One of the often touted reasons for pushing wider adoption of Bitcoin is the fact that it will bring about world peace.
The idea is that when governments are able to print off as much money as they like without any consideration of their reserves or the continued devaluation of said money, they are then able to buy as many bombs, guns, and weaponry as they like. This enables war on a massive scale.
With Bitcoin, however, the number of bitcoins in existence are strictly controlled by computer algorithm, meaning governments are not able to artificially inflate the money supply to buy their bombs.
But Can This Halt War?
The idea that Bitcoin will somehow put an end to war, while noble, is unfortunately misguided.
The whole idea rests on the premise that fiat currency is the cause of war in the first place. But if we look quickly into the past, we can see that fiat currencies have only existed in their present form since 1971 when US president Nixon removed the American dollar from the gold standard.
While fiat currencies have existed intermittently in the past as well, there have been long periods where no fiat currency at all existed. In fact, the earliest known reference to something which could be considered fiat currency is around 1000 AD in China.
But we know war has existed for much longer than that. The conquests of Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Genghis Khan, Atilla the Hun, Justinian, Scipio Africanus, Hannibal Barca, Augustus, Trajan, Titus, Xerxes, Cao Cao, Sun Tzu, Gui Ziyi, and countless other ancient generals and warlords is more than enough evidence.
These men were able to execute war on a massive scale relative to their time. And they were able to do it all without fiat currency.
So Will Bitcoin Bring About World Peace?
Those who believe Bitcoin is the solution to all the world’s woes are setting themselves up for disappointment.
War existed before fiat currencies, and war will exist without fiat currencies. While we like to think of ourselves as civilized creatures, we often find ourselves unable or unwilling to solve our problems without having to resort to war.
What Bitcoin can do, though, is reduce a government’s ability to go to war.
If a government is unable to print off new money in order to fund a war effort, they would be forced to rely on their reserves. This would make the decision to go to war a far more difficult one, not only for governments but also for the common people.
After all, if only so much money exists, going to war would have to mean a reduction in government services and even a reduction in pay for government officials.
If people could feel the financial impact of war directly, they might be more willing to seek a peaceful solution to conflict.
No, Bitcoin Won't Bring About World Peace
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