Hugh Naylor
@hughnaylor
Word dump on Bitcoin & empire: 1/4 Seems we are at an unusual confluence of events in world history in which the empire doesn’t oppose (and in fact encourages) challengers to its globally dominant financial assets — namely, gold and Bitcoin. At any other time in the empire’s history, such challengers would have been opposed/suppressed. In fact, for decades America outright suppressed gold. And if Bitcoin had been created earlier in the empire’s lifecycle, the goverment likely would have tried much harder to quash it. But Trump and team (notably Bessent) have outright encouraged both gold and Bitcoin. Neither asset, for example, was subject to tariffs (and they certainly could have been). But with the empire exhausted, the emphasis now is to weaken the dollar (that is, make it one of a number of reserve currencies, but no longer the reserve currency) and outright deprioritize US debt/treasuries as a global-reserve asset — all to bring the trade deficit down and somehow stimulate domestic industry.
3 replies
4 recasts
17 reactions
Atlas Prime
@atlas-prime
It's the only way out for the 'empire'. $BTC being decentralized means that by acquiring it, or allowing it to become dominant, the US is not empowering any foreign entity. $BTC doesn't care, or take sides, or push large red buttons (launching icbm's). It's potentially the means by which the US can pay down debt while remaining 'the empire' AND not directly supporting any foreign entity.
0 reply
0 recast
1 reaction