The Promise of Bitcoin

It’s clear that governments can use financial censorship to squeeze worthy and unworthy targets alike for the time being, but it’s less clear if governments can maintain this power for much longer. The moment raises a pressing question for cryptocurrency enthusiasts: Does bitcoin solve this?

Does a global, decentralized monetary system that nobody can manipulate or control take away the power of the state to use financial censorship as a weapon, for good or for ill?

A surprisingly successful bitcoin-based crowdfunding campaign called “Honk Honk HODL,” which raised more than $1 million worth of bitcoin for the Canadian truckers, shed some additional light on that question. And the answer appears to be, “eventually, maybe, but there’s more work to be done.”

This is from Zach Weissmueller, “The Canadian Government Couldn’t Stop Bitcoin,” Reason, March 11, 2022.

Having never bought or sold Bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency, I don’t claim to understand all the ins and outs that Weissmueller discusses, but I kind of get them.

The bottom line is that there is some reason for hoping that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies will protect us from some of governments’ worst assaults on our financial liberty.

The whole thing is worth reading.

(6 COMMENTS)

Read the Full Article here: >Econlib