Because one of the most important measurements of money is velocity, we want capital to be flowing, moving from place to place being used in transactions. If the USG just sets up a wallet or set of wallets and tries to fill them with as much Bitcoin as possible, it will decrease the supply available and that will likely boost the price, but that's the ONLY thing it will do. That helps people and institutions that already own Bitcoin by strengthening their balance sheets, but it also makes it harder and harder for people who have yet to join the network to buy in and participate.
A Strategic Reserve is FIAT thinking. We did that with Gold because we issued paper currency or bonds that was backed by the gold at a set price, and for a physical material that required storage and was expensive to transport and utilize that made sense. But that's not the reality with Bitcoin, it costs just as much to store 0.001 BTC as it does to store 1,000 BTC. And I do NOT want the government to issue paper currency "backed" by Bitcoin because I won't be able to trust it.
I want Bitcoin to be USED by the government, not just shoved into a wallet. I want it used internally to track capital, from the Taxes that are raised to the Expenses that are paid. I want every department and office of the Federal, State and Municipal governments to track balanced budgets and support real efforts to secure our infrastructure, provide a foundation for our legal systems, ensure that our financial rules are followed and hire contractors to repair and build new physical infrastructure for our utilities and transportation systems that are far more efficient than what we have now.
Wealth and income inequality is something that we should be aware of, and it will get worse if we make it harder for people who live paycheck to paycheck or even credit card payment to credit card payment to get onto the new Bitcoin train. The only way to make it really fair would be to let the value of Bitcoin get to $100,000 and then LOCK the USD to Sats exchange rate at 1000 sats per dollar. But that's not going to happen. Maybe when it reaches $1M in BTC price we can revisit, but I won't hold my breath. Just increasing the fiat exchange rate by holding large amounts in a Strategic Reserve will help the people who already have Bitcoin. I'm thinking about everyone else.
For sure. So it sounds like as a store of value it’s good for the country as an entity (in fiat thinking).
I was specifically asking about that. I totally agree with you on wanting bitcoin to be used as MoE.
Although I think at that point it will be because very few people will be holding on to fiat in the future when they experience dollar devaluation. Even the gov will eventually have to move. Maybe I’m optimistic.
Right now, us using it as a MoE helps create an environment for the infrastructure (Lightning, spark, arc, ecash etc) to evolve in time for mass adoption.
Totally on the same page with you about what I want to see for everyone!
Just wanted to clarify that one specific point - that they could just hold as SoV and benefit from price appreciation (possibly at the expensive of others).
The US Dollar isn't going anywhere. Even Putin in Russia came out after Trump secured his victory that Russia would not stop using the US Dollar for international trade, something that is honestly very good for the US. The less we can see divisions in the world, the better.
The government is going to do what the government is going to do. It doesn't matter what I think or what objections I have. I just wanted to put them on the table. Fiat thinking is where most of our real problems come from, and I'd love it if we stopped thinking in those terms entirely. But that won't be for another few decades.