Blockchain/Digital Currency as part of 'The Great Reset'

[Belligerent Savant]

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Placemarker thread for future updates on this topic.

Note: as I type this, Bitcoin's at $15.3K per coin, on an upward trajectory over the last several weeks, going back several months.


More info on the so-called 'Great Reset', from the source:

https://www.weforum.org/great-reset/

The list of partners is also worth perusing:

https://www.weforum.org/partners/

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Re: Bitcoin. Don't look now, but it's currently on an upswing, pushing $12k per coin as a hedge against growing volatility and corresponding lack of faith/trust in FIAT currency (see the recent rise in value of precious metals - same sentiment). The last high point of Bitcoin was about $20k back in 2017. Let's see if it touches it again, if at all, before we scoff. Money's being made as we type.

What you or I think of precious metals or Bitcoin as a legit store of value/exchange is irrelevant. It's all about consensus perception and confidence in a given currency.

The question then becomes: who (or which entities) are largely responsible for managing/shaping such perceptions?

Also: we shouldn't assume a move to digital currency isn't part of longer-term plans. Far easier to control transactions. Far less opportunity for 'under the table' transactions, at least when it comes to business, when there's an electronic ledger involved each time a transaction occurs.
As it is, the majority of transactions today, regardless of currency, are performed via highly traceable credit/debit cards, but there remains the option to conduct business, or at least more discrete business, in cash, which is more tedious to trace (or otherwise, easier to launder).

If the objective is more control of a populace, the move away from cash is inevitable. With digital currency, not only can transactions be far more readily traceable, but accounts can also be seized/frozen more easily as well, particularly if cash as a reserve/backup option is no longer viable.

An extreme take, perhaps. 2020 may be the first step towards this future. Destabilization and economic collapse -- a cleansing process -- clearing way for phase II: the new totalitarian frontier.

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[Edit: my earlier posting from 2017 at the top of this page, sourcing comments from Zero Hedge, is no longer nearly as 'interesting' as I may have found it to be at the time. Back then, cryptocurrency was still viewed as an authentic alternative to central banks/FIAT -- and in certain instances, that may still be the case -- rather than another method of currency 'management' by larger interests, as the below news items demonstrate.]



https://www.wsj.com/articles/facebooks- ... 1560463312

Facebook’s New Cryptocurrency, Libra, Gets Big Backers

Visa, Mastercard, PayPal and Uber are among firms that will invest around $10 million each in consortium that will govern digital coin

Facebook Inc. has signed up more than a dozen companies including Visa Inc., Mastercard Inc., PayPal Holdings Inc. and Uber Technologies Inc. UBER to back a new cryptocurrency it plans to unveil next week and launch next year.

The financial and e-commerce companies, venture capitalists and telecommunications firms will invest around $10 million each in a consortium that will govern the digital coin, called Libra, according to people familiar with the matter. The money would be used to fund the creation of the coin, which will be pegged to a basket of government-issued currencies to avoid the wild swings that have dogged other cryptocurrencies, they said.

The Wall Street Journal reported last month that Facebook was recruiting backers to help start the crypto-based payments system and was seeking to raise as much as around $1 billion for the effort.

In the works for more than a year, the secretive project revolves around a digital coin that its users could send to each other and use to make purchases both on Facebook and across the internet.

Talks with some of the partners are ongoing, and the group’s eventual membership may change, the people added.

It has been a decade since bitcoin was born, yet consumers hardly use it—or the hundreds of other cryptocurrencies—to pay for things. Facebook is betting it can change that with a crypto-based payments system built around its giant social network and its billions of users.

It isn’t known, even to some members of the consortium, how the coin will work or what their roles will be, people familiar with the project said. Regulatory hurdles in the U.S. and elsewhere are high. Some members have expressed concerns that the token could be used to launder money and finance terrorist organizations, some of the people said, a persistent problem with bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.

Facebook won’t directly control the coin, nor will the individual members of the consortium—known as the Libra Association. Some of the members could serve as “nodes” along the system that verify transactions and maintain records of them, creating a brand-new payments network, according to people familiar with the setup.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/finance/other ... ar-AACMvu1

The tech giant [Facebook] has long been rumoured to be developing its own virtual currency, with Bloomberg reporting in December that Facebook was planning to allow users to transfer money over WhatsApp.

It appears the rumours may be true as sources told TechCrunch that the digital coin will be unveiled in a matter of days and serve as a safe way to transfer money over Facebook’s chat apps.

With Libra’s announcement seemingly on the horizon, here’s what we know about the virtual currency:
When does it come out?

A source familiar with the project told TechCrunch that the Libra coin will be announced on 18 June, along with a white paper explaining how the cryptocurrency works.

Another insider claims that the virtual coin won’t be available to the public until 2020, when a more “formal” launch will take place, the tech site says.
How is it different to bitcoin?

While Libra and bitcoin both fall under the cryptocurrency umbrella, they serve different purposes in the wider market.

Libra, which is also referred to as GlobalCoin, will be “pegged to a basket of currencies”, such as the dollar and the euro, to prevent prices from escalating to the heady heights of bitcoin and Ethereum, The Independent reports.

Initially, the virtual currency will be available only through Facebook’s chat apps, including WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and the chat section of Instagram, the online news site says.

However, The Verge says that Facebook plans to install physical cashpoints for people to manage their Libra coins while out and about. It’s also rumoured that Facebook will offer “benefits” to shopping outlets that accept the company’s cryptocurrency as payment.

By launching a bespoke and highly secure virtual currency, Facebook is essentially creating its own shopping ecosystem where users can buy and sell products on its platforms without needing to go through web payment systems such as PayPal.

Interesting timing, as the price of Bitcoin [and other cryptocurrencies in the top 5, such as Litecoin, Ethereum and Ripple] is beginning to cycle back up again, nearing $9K..

From May 15, Yahoo Finance:

[Bitcoin] has risen by over 100% against the dollar since the start of the year and over 50% since the start of the month. As of Tuesday, bitcoin was trading at a 10-month high above $8,000.

https://www.worldcoinindex.com/


Cross-post from the MMT thread:

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Both cryptocurrency and MMT are a response to what both communities believe are an inherent fault with the world's economic system since Nixon took the US dollar out of the gold standard. Aside from theoretical frameworks and distribution of powers, there is essentially nothing that prevents a government with a floating currency to print or create "value" out of nothing.

Economics has always been an art of constraints: telling a prince or king that they couldn't simply create money in the first place because that money would erode in value in time. What MMT accomplishes is a theoretical framework for why many modern-day constraints on government spending (deficit/debt theory) simply don't matter.

MMT focuses on centralizing economic power for nation-states. Cryptocurrency focuses on distributing economic power and allowing people to resolve conflicts without needing the power of that same state.

Bitcoin is built on the idea of a limit in the number of Bitcoins that can be mined (21 million) along with other imposed constraints. The number limit on Bitcoin was an exogenous constraint, and not one that was technologically imposed but a political choice. The genesis block of bitcoin illustrates this thinking most sharply. The coinbase parameter for it reads "The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks". The response to the global financial crisis was very much on Satoshi's mind when he first crafted bitcoin.

Bitcoin is a technological revolution but an actual political retrospective: a harkening back to the norms of the gold standard where a government relied on the amount of gold mined in a certain area to limit its spending powers. Bitcoin allows for the theoretical creation of infinite value, but restrains itself due to its exogenous limit and through a cultural ethic of non-political intervention in governing protocols to create an internal check on inflation and value erosion.

...

[Elvis]

Good thread to start, thanks!

Fortunately, "Libra" is dead before arrival.

I've been interacting some with Bitcoin enthusiasts. Hardcore Bitcoin enthusiasts are a particularly deranged species of libertarian, government-hating misanthropes who are really only concerned about getting rich, the quicker the better with the least effort. They're convinced that Bitcoin is going to replace the U.S. dollar, and no amount of reasoning will get them to realize that will never happen. They hate you.


About digital currency proposals. Designed properly, a central bank digital currency (CBDC, also "DFC") would be a big improvement and reduce private banks' role as intermediaries. That's the thing about money—it's an engineering project, you can design it any way you want. The world is still figuring out the best designs.

The very little I know about CBDCs are mainly from talks & writings by the author of this paper, which includes a good background of how payments work and his design proposal for a "digital fiat currency":

https://rohangrey.net/files/banking.pdf

Banking in a Digital Fiat Currency RegimeRohan Grey

I. Introduction

In recent years, policymakers around the world have begun to experiment with new forms of central bank-issued digital currency technology.1 At the same time, there has been growing scholarly and political interest in the direct public provisioning of digital payments and basic banking services to both retail and wholesale non- bank customers, either through the expansion of central bank services to non- bank actors,2 or the creation of new public or postal banking institutions.3

Together, these developments point towards a possible future in which both retail and wholesale transactions are settled directly via a universally accessible, public digital payments network, without recourse to the current bank depository system.4 Such a digital fiat currency (‘DFC’) regime could significantly increase payment efficiency and access to payments services amongst the unbanked and underbanked,5 while improving transactional privacy by preserving the possibility of decentralized, anonymous, cash-like digital payments.6

[Belligerent Savant]

Fortunately, "Libra" is dead before arrival.

Yes, though I believe Libra was more of a pilot program of sorts -- a beta test vehicle for what may be in store in the years ahead. It's the typical M.O. when introducing new measures more broadly.

I've been interacting some with Bitcoin enthusiasts. Hardcore Bitcoin enthusiasts are a particularly deranged species of libertarian, government-hating misanthropes who are really only concerned about getting rich, the quicker the better with the least effort. They're convinced that Bitcoin is going to replace the U.S. dollar, and no amount of reasoning will get them to realize that will never happen. They hate you.

There is indeed a vocal 'cryptocoin' contingent out there -- practically inevitable given Bitcoin's roots as an 'anti-establishment' alternative currency. But my interest lies in analyzing the plans of the Davos set -- the groups that will be influential and involved in pushing this technology to the masses. There is large-scale investment in Blockchain Tech/digital currencies among Central Banks and any entities involved in 'FinTech' services (consultants/advisors/financial institutions, etc.). The WEF's push to include this tech as part of 'The Great Reset' does not inspire confidence it'll be utilized as a benefit to the Average Consumer (though it'll certainly be marketed as such).

About digital currency proposals. Designed properly, a central bank digital currency (CBDC, also "DFC") would be a big improvement and reduce private banks' role as intermediaries. That's the thing about money—it's an engineering project, you can design it any way you want. The world is still figuring out the best designs.

I'd like to share this sentiment, but I remain cynical. How this tech will ultimately be utilized remains to be seen, and given the devastation we've observed (and are currently observing) of the working/labor classes -- in the areas of health care, employment prospects and livelihoods -- due to initiatives/policies put in place by these 'power brokers', future prospects for those outside the upper classes look dim right now.

[Elvis]

A good Twitter thread/rant and discussion by the author of the paper in my post above. The anonymity issue is discussed. A good account to follow, he's a lawyer & academic at the leading edge of this digital currency thing.

https://twitter.com/rohangrey/status/12 ... 0650080261

The messaging consistency by which policymakers discount the viability of genuinely anonymous digital public money in the name of anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism needs to be called out for what it is: political propaganda. It's certainly not a technical argument, and it rarely even bothers to articulate the underlying political argument, yet alone defend it.

[Belligerent Savant]

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In-line with my earlier commentary:

https://news.bitcoin.com/a-look-at-the- ... ropaganda/

A Look at the Fascist Agenda Behind the 'Great Reset' and the WEF's Reboot Propaganda


Less than two weeks ago, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director called for a “new Bretton Woods moment.” Meanwhile, the IMF is not the only entity pushing for a “great reset,” as the World Economic Forum (WEF) and other mainstream entities have been promoting the financial reboot propaganda.

The Status Quo Preps for the ‘Great Reset’ Via Intense Propaganda

2020 has been a wild ride and during the last ten months, the world moved in lockstep in order to avoid the coronavirus outbreak. The government’s reaction to Covid-19 created a different world and the global economy has seen better days. During our last report concerning the IMF’s call for a “new Bretton Woods moment,” news.Bitcoin.com’s findings discovered some of the “great reset” doctrines. The great reset concept is very similar to George Orwell’s famous dystopian novel 1984, and some believe the subject is a borderline ‘conspiracy theory.’

Unlike the agricultural revolution, the industrial revolution, and the information age, the great reset, otherwise known as the ‘fourth industrial revolution,’ will be invoked by governments in a forceful manner without consent.

For instance, a website called greatreset.com has been floating around the web catching people’s attention this year. Additionally, a Youtube video published by the Corbett Report offers a guide to the so-called reboot. The great reset conversation is also quite topical and discussions can be found on many social media avenues like Twitter, Reddit, and Facebook.

Likewise, websites like the greatreset.com have sparked intense speculation about an upcoming financial reset where the global elite forcefully invoke the ‘fourth industrial revolution.’ The coronavirus measures coupled with purported climate change and statist propaganda are considered the primers of this great reset concept.

In fact, the World Economic Forum (WEF) has been promoting the concept for years, and back in November 2016, the WEF tweeted about eight predictions for the year 2030. The WEF predicts a world where, “You’ll own nothing, and you’ll be happy” and the short clip says that everyone will rent everything they need.

Ever since the #greatreset hashtag started trending again this week, people have also been responding to the 2016 WEF tweet. Today, the WEF website and its founder Klaus Schwab are still heavily promoting this idea.

“Do we aim to get back to where we were before, or should we take the opportunity to make society fairer, smarter and greener, and get humanity off the road to climate catastrophe – a ‘great reset’?” one of the WEF’s reboot editorials states. The editorial is the subject of Klaus Schwab’s book called: “Covid-19: The Great Reset.” The book describes how the virus disrupted both economic and social infrastructure and “what changes will be needed to create a more inclusive, resilient and sustainable world going forward.”

Moreover, the publication Time Magazine has dedicated a lot of time to get its readers to understand the great reset as well. Time has partnered with the WEF and hosts a whole section towards the reset ideas. Similar to the book and WEF’s stance, Time’s new collection of great reset editorials discuss topics like the coronavirus, climate change, and reimagining capitalism.



The Time articles are also filled with equality boosterism and environmental destruction cues from the progressive left. Oddly enough, one editorial notes that some “segments of society” can’t “make this great leap for­ward” in regard to the great reset. However, the author says that “governments can rewrite the social con­tract to provide for as many as possible remains urgent and vital.”

The Elite’s Great Reset Doctrine Is Considered an Advance Toward a New Type of Political Globalism and Fascism


Not everyone is too keen on the great reset concept, and there’s a number of hit pieces against the idea trending on the web. For a case in point, an editorial published by the publication, Winter Oak, calls the new trend Schwab’s “fascist reset.”

“This new fascism is today being advanced in the guise of global governance, biosecurity, the ‘New Normal,’ the ‘New Deal for Nature’ and the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution,’” explains the Winter Oak article.

The author adds:

The original fascist project, in Italy and Germany, was all about a merger of state and business. While communism envisages the take-over of business and industry by the government, which – theoretically – acts in the interests of the people, fascism was all about using the state to protect and advance the interests of the wealthy elite.

On Twitter, one of the authors of the “HPV Vaccine On Trial,” Eileen Iorio, told her 15,000 followers that the founder of the WEF “wants to take this unprecedented opportunity to ‘Reset’ the world.”

“#TheGreatReset was founded in Davos and you don’t get to vote on it. Climate Change policies will be the cover story. [Time Magazine] LOVES it,” she added.

For quite some time now free-market advocates and Austrian economists have warned about the infectious political globalism spreading throughout the world. Meanwhile, central banks and politicians have been creating money out of thin air and feeding trillions to special interests.

Winter Oak says that Schwab’s agenda is based on his theory dubbed ‘stakeholder capitalism,’ which has a number of extremely fascist elements. In a stakeholder capitalist-based world, the private sector is tightly tethered to the government and “the notion that a firm focuses on meeting the needs of all its stakeholders: customers, employees, partners, the community, and society as a whole.”

[JackRiddler]

Fortunately, "Libra" is dead before arrival.

Yes, though I believe Libra was more of a pilot program of sorts -- a beta test vehicle for what may be in store in the years ahead. It's the typical M.O. when introducing new measures more broadly.

Not at all. Libra was a completely serious attempt to take over this coming market by a well-positioned megacorp that failed. They may have known its weaknesses but figured it was their best shot at full capture before anyone else tries it. They announced quite the partner set on the credit-card side, and then it fell through in a day or two. It becomes a test case only in retrospect, potentially informing others who will try the same thing. For all you know, it's delayed others with similar plans. The future is predictable in the sense that we are usually able to foresee some of the likeliest developments in outline, and model how they might converge, but it's not set in stone and the various total plans (there are more than one) aren't guaranteed to happen, and almost never happen exactly in the way planned.

Elvis: Rohan's main presentation at MMT III last year was a thorough dismantling of Libra and an analysis of it in the larger context. Wish I'd taken better notes, as opposed to none, ha. He's probably written it up in the meantime. A phenomenal laborer.

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[Belligerent Savant]

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They announced quite the partner set on the credit-card side, and then it fell through in a day or two. It becomes a test case only in retrospect, potentially informing others who will try the same thing. For all you know, it's delayed others with similar plans. The future is predictable in the sense that we are usually able to foresee some of the likeliest developments in outline, and model how they might converge, but it's not set in stone and the various total plans (there are more than one) aren't guaranteed to happen, and almost never happen exactly in the way planned.

[Bold added by me]

I fully agree with the bolded bit, and if my commentary here gave an impression otherwise it's a failure on my part. My allusion to a 'test case' can be taken both proactively or reactively. As with any would-be plans or initiatives, there is an element of gauging the temperature for mass adoption that often aids in subsequent fine-tuning, recalibration of near-term 'softening' of how mandates may be carried out in the months/years ahead.

See the current 'Great Reset' campaigns for one of many examples of this.

Libra's demise may have arguably been due primarily to a premature launch date:
I wonder how Libra would have fared if it was launched today, or, say, in Q2 2021. Surely a version 2.0 (in re-branded form) will be pushed forward soon enough.

[JackRiddler]

Maybe, maybe and maybe. They made their move and it was serious. Like 25 huge corporate sponsors, most importantly the credit-card cos. They may revive the effort. For all we know, they believed they were pre-empting others with a bold takeover bid, or that they had to do it or lose, and for all we know, its failure has delayed others from trying it. (We don't know.)

[Belligerent Savant]

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We Don't Know. Quite right.

Hence: the endless theorizing from afar via the interwebs (and/or perhaps -- dare I suggest -- in real world interactions with other humans, an activity already frowned upon, soon to be seen as practically taboo, though I hope this never comes to pass. I hope the majority will push back while there's still time. In any event, I plan to continue to meet with strangers, friends, and peers 'in the real world', regardless.)

The double-edged sword of fast internet speeds, eh.

[Belligerent Savant]

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https://cointelegraph.com/news/what-rol ... reat-reset

What Role Will Crypto Play During ‘The Great Reset?’


A global pandemic, massive and worldwide protests, job automation, environmental issues and geopolitical tensions are just a few of the challenges facing humanity today. Amid the chaos, keystone global institutions and bureaucrats have openly discussed the present day as an opportunity to remake the world. “The Great Reset,” as the plan has been called, represents a radical initiative by world leaders — many of whom are unelected — to transform the global economy.

The World Economic Forum, for instance, claims there is an “urgent need” for “global stakeholders” to manage the direct consequences of what the International Monetary Fund has called “the Great Lockdown,” referring to the quarantines and social distancing practices implemented to contain the pandemic. At a WEF meeting in early June, the world’s most powerful business leaders, government officials and activists first announced the proposal to reset the global economy in the aftermath of the COVID-19 lockdown.

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Many details of the Great Reset won’t be rolled out until the WEF meets at Davos, Switzerland, in January 2021. It is clear, however, that world leaders have big plans of a new world order and, contrary to the founding principles of Bitcoin (BTC) and crypto, centralization appears to be a big part of it.

“Every country, from the United States to China, must participate, and every industry, from oil and gas to tech, must be transformed,” wrote Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, in an article published on the WEF’s website. He added:

“In short, we need a ‘Great Reset’ of capitalism.”

Schwab said that “all aspects of our societies and economies, from education to social contracts and working conditions” must be “revamped.”

The cryptocurrency industry has been planning its own “Great Reset” as well — one based on decentralization. While global governments want to put the world on a distributed ledger in order to digitize finance so governments can have more control, there are very smart people on this planet who have their own plans. We in the crypto industry, for example, want to put everything on a blockchain. Instead of social credit systems and centralized fiat currencies, we want each individual to be in control of their own money, to be less dependent on banks, and to be in control of defining what money and real value is.

The Great Reset will be a revolutionary upheaval. It will create many hardships but also opportunities for companies, which recreate financial products in a decentralized fashion on blockchain, and for individuals, who no longer must rely on the traditional financial system.

As we find ourselves in a digital and technological revolution, hastened by the Great Lockdown, we as an industry cannot underestimate the implications of a crisis that has only just begun. We must now change our mindsets in order to properly bear witness to the Great Reset and turn it into “The Great Awakening.” That’s how we come out stronger on the other side.

We’ll need to reconsider everything, including money. We must ask ourselves questions such as: What is this abstraction we call money? As an industry, for instance, we’ll need to place less emphasis on price. We’ll need to stop celebrating the development of central bank digital currencies as victories for cryptocurrency. The fact is CBDCs are not cryptocurrencies. They’re more like credit cards than cryptocurrency.

More at link.

[Elvis]

"with purported climate change" — This is where I get off the boat. Climate change is quite real, and any site pushing the notion of "purported climate change" leads me to assume it springs from a corporate disinfo well.

“Every country, from the United States to China, must participate, and every industry, from oil and gas to tech, must be transformed,” wrote Klaus Schwab, the founder and executive chairman of the World Economic Forum, in an article published on the WEF’s website. He added:

“In short, we need a ‘Great Reset’ of capitalism.”

All of that part is correct.

The fact is CBDCs are not cryptocurrencies. They’re more like credit cards than cryptocurrency.

CBDC is akin to debit cards, not credit cards.

We must now change our mindsets in order to properly bear witness to the Great Reset and turn it into “The Great Awakening.” That’s how we come out stronger on the other side.

Those words are good, if taken along the lines of the Enlightenment 2.0 I suggested earlier.

Things is—and this comes from ongoing debates with Bitcoin enthusiasts—and I promise you this—the crypto crowd doesn't have a clue. They're mostly economically ignorant, backwards, selfish pricks who don't care how the rest of the world survives. They begin with wrong assumptions and will admit no new information into their clamped-down minds that might conflict with their ideology; it's an antisocial ideology, not a workable social/economic system. And it's sad to see them devote so much time & energy to a model that can't work and will never be adopted.

[Elvis]

It doesn't have to be bad, in fact it can be good—if we know what to refuse and what to demand from it:

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm ... id=3411388

Privacy as a Public Good: A Case for Electronic Cash

Staff Working Paper/Document de travail du personnel 2019-24

42 Pages Posted: 29 Jun 2019 Last revised: 29 Jul 2019
Rodney Garratt

University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB)
Maarten R.C. van Oordt

Government of Canada - Bank of Canada

Date Written: June 27, 2019
Abstract

Privacy is a feature inherent to the use of cash for payments. With steadily increasing market shares of commercial digital payments platforms, privacy in payments may no longer be attainable in the future. In this paper, we explore the potential welfare impact of reductions in privacy in payments in a dynamic framework. In our framework, firms may use data collected through payments to price discriminate among future customers. A public good aspect of privacy in payments arises because individual customers do not bear the full costs of failing to protect their privacy. As a consequence, they may sub-optimally choose not to preserve their privacy in payments. When left to market forces alone, the use of privacy-preserving means of payments, such as cash, may decline faster than is optimal.

Keywords: Money, privacy, social costs, overlapping generations model

Worth the minute to get a free SSRN account.

[Elvis]

Elvis: Rohan's main presentation at MMT III last year was a thorough dismantling of Libra and an analysis of it in the larger context. Wish I'd taken better notes, as opposed to none, ha. He's probably written it up in the meantime. A phenomenal laborer.

I see that I have watched the video of that presentation; I should have notes for it somewhere but here it is (pretty sure this is what you mean)—suggest all interested in this topic watch this as background:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhO9OHxxtYc

I have some other links to Rohan Grey talks on crypto payment systems, etc., and chanced to participate in a Zoom teach-in he did on this very subject (I'll check my notes on it later for any salient points relevant here). He generously helped me with an essay last year, I just reviewed his notes about it for something else; a good teacher who knows his stuff inside out. What's good about his perspective on these payment systems etc., is that it's all about what works for people and the public good.

P.S. It can be entertaining to watch him demolish Bitcoiners & other libertarians on Twitter. Just this morning I laughed my ass off at a couple zingers.

[Belligerent Savant]

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Appreciate the added content shared -- will dig into it as time allows.

Has Rohan commented, broadly or otherwise, on The Great Reset, or the WEF's position along these lines?
Or: to what extent have MMT proponents commented on this? Perhaps they view it as premature at this time to discuss the topic in earnest, or otherwise it's outside of their focus (though the latter would seem odd to me given the agendas proposed).. perhaps they believe it may stigmatize their 'brand' to touch on it? I don't mean this in a cynical way -- it's an earnest inquiry.

[Agent Orange Cooper]

Things is—and this comes from ongoing debates with Bitcoin enthusiasts—and I promise you this—the crypto crowd doesn't have a clue. They're mostly economically ignorant, backwards, selfish pricks who don't care how the rest of the world survives. They begin with wrong assumptions and will admit no new information into their clamped-down minds that might conflict with their ideology; it's an antisocial ideology, not a workable social/economic system. And it's sad to see them devote so much time & energy to a model that can't work and will never be adopted.

Wow, projection much?

Anyway, better to have both sides represented, so here's something from one of these "economically ignorant, backwards, selfish pricks who don't care how the rest of the world survives." Apparently I'm one of those as well as I've been enthusiastically engaging with Bitcoin since 2012.