On August 15th, 1971, President Nixon reneged on the Bretton Woods agreement to redeem foreign holdings of dollars for gold. Nixon's actions permanently changed the international monetary order. With money no longer redeemable for gold, the entire system switched to pure fiat currencies, redeemable for nothing but more paper money or IOUs.

In theory, a central bank can effectively manage the supply of fiat money, but in practice, they all succumb to the allure of politics. Since the end of Bretton Woods, the fiat system has not lived up to its promise. Central bank monetary mismanagement drives crisis after crisis across the globe.

Unfortunately, convincing central banks to give up their discretionary power seems out of the question. For example, the Bank of International Settlements recently stated that the future of money remains with central banks because “trust in the monetary system is ultimately grounded in trust in the central bank.”

Fortunately, we know that trust in the monetary system doesn’t have to come from central banks. 51 years after Nixon’s fateful decision, we have another option. Bitcoin allows individuals and businesses to place their trust in a monetary network untethered from politics. Thanks to bitcoin, our money is finally free from the whims of central bankers and the effects of presidential decrees.

News

🏦 Blackrock announces spot bitcoin private trust

Responding to strong client demand, largest asset manager in the world is offering a Bitcoin Private Trust to their institutional clients through a partnership with Coinbase. As recent as last year, however, CEO Larry Fink is on record noting the lack of interest from clients in bitcoin. The company now states "We are still seeing substantial interest from some institutional clients... Bitcoin maintains close to 50% of the industry's market capitalization."

🌪 Tornado Cash sanctioned, developer arrested

The DeFi world was shocked this week when coin mixing service Tornado Cash was been sanctioned by the US Treasury. A developer of the protocol has also been arrested in Amsterdam. Coin mixing anonymizes digital asset transactions to enhance privacy. The government's claim is that criminal groups, including those associated with North Korea, have used the service to launder crypto worth billions of dollars. This is the first time the government has ever sanctioned a protocol, as opposed to an entity or person. In one fell swoop, any addresses that have ever interacted with the mixing service have been deemed illegal. As code is considered speech in the United States, expect legal fallout over this move.

📲 Bitcoin without internet? Yes.

A South African developer appears to have a solution for bringing bitcoin to people without internet access: bitcoin via text. Developer Kgothatso Ngako, known as KG, noticed that while Africans have an ample access to cell phones, many still lack internet access. Realizing bitcoin's potential in advancing human rights and economic freedom, he set out to find a solution. His service, known as Machankura, essentially turns a cell phone number into a lightning address. Users can send, receive and store bitcoin on their phones via text message, with no data service necessary.

🚀 Sovereign wealth funds want bitcoin, says Mr. Wonderful

Shark Tank favorite Kevin O'Leary made headlines this week discussing bitcoin demand at the nation-state level. The famous investor mentioned conversations he's having with SWF's of certain countries and made clear when choosing between digital asset options "99% of them want bitcoin." O'Leary then denounced ethereum, saying "gas fees are a joke." He said regulatory clarity in the U.S. will drive overseas adoption. "Right now, if we had policy on Bitcoin, I swear to you the price would be sixty thousand dollars in two weeks."

BITCOIN ADOPTION CONTINUES

The NFL's Houston Texans now accept bitcoin for tickets to stadium suites.‍

Ukraine received over $100MM in bitcoin and digital asset donations. U.S. Senator Pat Toomey stated, "Ukraine has been actively using cryptocurrencies to do tremendous good."‍

European Digital bank Revolut received approval to offer bitcoin and digital assets to its 17 million customers. ‍

Union Bank in the Philippines is set to offer bitcoin and digital assets to users directly from their app.‍

Latin America's largest investment bank, BTG, launched their new bitcoin and digital asset exchange, Mynt. ‍

Europe's largest tire retreading company announced they are taking payments in bitcoin, stating, “We believe that all companies will have to accept cryptocurrencies in the near future and we are proud to be the first retreader to do so.”‍

Luxury resort Soneva, with locations in the Maldives and Thailand, announced they now accept bitcoin for payment from guests.‍

More than 440 retail locations in Australia now accept bitcoin payments after an announcement by gas station and convenient store giant Peregrine Corp.

HOW BITCOIN WORKS

Learn one key idea about bitcoin each week. This week: Bitcoin is the digital gold standard.‍

Few things have more impact on our everyday lives than money. We exchange time and energy, our most precious, finite resources, for money.

This money then determines what we can and cannot buy, the quality of our experiences, and even where we can live.

That's why it's so important that money be tethered to some sort of economic reality.

This economic reality started deteriorating in 1933 when the American public could no longer exchange dollars for gold. However, as issuer of the world's reserve currency, the U.S. held other countries’ gold reserves, and these were still convertible for dollars at the state level.

That is, until some of these countries started asking for their gold back, prompting then President Nixon to suspend the gold standard for everyone on August 15, 1971. Just like that, the U.S. dollar was no longer backed by anything but government debt.

In the 51 years since, this de-pegging has had wide ranging effects across society.

After dollars were no longer redeemable for gold, blowout deficit spending became the norm. This has led to rampant inflation and a loss of purchasing power, wealth, health, and quality of life for everyday people.

Beyond just inflation, however, corrupted incentives have also driven increasing wealth inequality and malinvestment. Hourly compensation has decreased significantly compared to productivity. Wealth concentration is at levels not seen since the 1930s. And, home prices have exploded relative to income. To go deeper on this topic, we recommend visiting wtfhappenedin1971.com.‍

So how can we get back to sound money and fiscal responsibility?

Unfortunately for gold, history has shown that its lack of portability inevitably leads to its centralization – that is, it's so costly and risky to move gold around, that it tends to accumulate in certain geographical locations, allowing those who control those locations to grow more and more economically powerful, regardless of how much value they create for others.

But, could some of the qualities of gold be combined with digital technology to invent “digital gold”?

Bitcoin is this invention – it's a commodity-based money that is digital, hard-capped in supply, and not controlled by any single person or entity. No one can create more bitcoin at will. This means that everyone, from single individuals to powerful government entities, face the consequences of making good, or bad, investment decisions.

By enabling responsible, transparent capital allocation for the entire world economy, this “digital gold” contains within it the potential to stabilize prices and protect the purchasing power of every single wage earner on Earth.

Ready to get started with bitcoin? Coinbits is the best option. It's fast, safe, and free to create your account.

COIN CHECK

What makes bitcoin superior to gold as a reserve currency?

1. Portability

2. Divisibility

3. Absolute scarcity

4. All of the above

Check your answer at the end of the page.

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ANSWER

4. All of the above

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