Oddbean new post about | logout
 What's odd is I really like what he has to say....except when he gets into crypto, specifically Bitcoin.  Seems like he goes off-kilter. 
 I've had a long time to think about the things Peter has said.  I came to the conclusion that economies have a physical side and a service side.  During an economic crash, the physical side will reign supreme.  People want food to eat, not food tokens.   People want houses to live in, not house tokens.   However, that does not mean that the service side has zero value, and thus tokens which can not be manipulated by the state will not have zero value either.  The service side will find a new equilibrium to the physical side.   Digital currencies on the service side create an incredible value because they allow people to give their time and effort for currency and finance that is extremely difficult for the state to manipulate and control.  

If a group of people have faith in dollars, and offer goods and services.   They will be punished for that faith, because the government will take their money, they will water it down, they will control who can have it and who can't.  It's a lot harder to tax, inflate, and put currency controls on crypto coins.