Decentralized Currency

Apropos to the the scope of this subspace, let this serve as a forum for the discussion of the role and the proposed systems of decentralized currency(ies) as a facilitator of free market economy.

I ask that we please maintain a focus on mediums of exchange which may align with philosophies describing what is generally considered to be the free market. That is to say, this post is most certainly not intended to be a place to promote or discuss speculative pursuits of profit.

As a guideline:

With the seventeenth anniversary of the publishing of the Bitcoin whitepaper upon us, I would like to recall how early proponents of such a protocol believed that it would allow for the means of exchange to be placed more directly into the hands of the entirety of the participating market while removing the ability of any central entity to govern the issuance of the currency.

Bitcoin: A Peer-to-Peer Electronic Cash System

From the first reference cited in the above whitepaper:

I am fascinated by Tim May's crypto-anarchy. Unlike the communities

traditionally associated with the word "anarchy", in a crypto-anarchy the

government is not temporarily destroyed but permanently forbidden and

permanently unnecessary. It's a community where the threat of violence is

impotent because violence is impossible, and violence is impossible

because its participants cannot be linked to their true names or physical

locations.

Until now it's not clear, even theoretically, how such a community could

operate. A community is defined by the cooperation of its participants,

and efficient cooperation requires a medium of exchange (money) and a way

to enforce contracts. Traditionally these services have been provided by

the government or government sponsored institutions and only to legal

entities. In this article I describe a protocol by which these services

can be provided to and by untraceable entities.

http://www.weidai.com/bmoney.txt

We are still in the infancy of the emergence of such systems. Perhaps it is more fair to say that we are still in an embryonic stage of a system which may or may not come to fruition as a widely adopted economic model. It is worth noting that such a system pertains directly to the scope of an economic medium for exchange of value and does not inherently replace other functions of government. Governments still maintain enforcement of their authority over their claimed jurisdictions. That authority has yet to evaporate by the introduction of cryptocurrency protocols.

What we do have now are the seventeen years of discussion, application, and state policy prompted by Bitcoin's rise to prominence. We have many derivative and alternative protocols. Governments are proposing a need for digital currency and establishing Bitcoin reserves.

There is a lot going on with implications that go far beyond a single cryptocurrency which spearheaded the penetration of mainstream discourse. The broader discussion and the policies established fundamentally impact whether humanity retains, or gains, any significant level of autonomy. Let us resurrect the spirit of liberty in this discussion.

Posted in: s/anarcho-capitalism

🛞 MaAkThRsYoOySrHtKaAm

2025-10-31 · 6 months ago

18 Comments ↓

🛞 MaAkThRsYoOySrHtKaAm [OP] · 2025-10-31 at 07:51:

Topics of Interest

Some topics I might like to explore which may spark your own points of discussion:

👻 darkghost · 2025-10-31 at 17:30:

Cryptocurrency, in its current form, isn't currency. Its a speculative investment as treated by the broader marketplace. It is the only major decentralized currency available, as far as I know. Any embrace by nation states are done so to reap taxes off of it and in those instances, it is treated like an investment.

I'm a simple minded fool, so I like to think about how one builds the trust in a decentralized currency such that one can get the local pizza place to accept it. There are tons of lessons from history here including the early United States which had 2 domestic and 4 national currencies circulating freely. (Federal, state, Mexican, Spanish, and British.)

🚀 stack · 2025-11-01 at 19:17:

Agreeing with @darkghost, with a hope/fantasy that once 'fully-inflated', bitcoin may become a stable means of exchange. But as previously discussed by better minds than mine, bad money will always have higher velocity than goodmoney, and ledger money created at will and enforced by the state will circulate while better stores of value will be accumulated (hoarding is a propaganda term, as if saving is a bad thing... With shit fiat which is purely velocity driven, savers must be punished)

Instead of looking at a 'bitcoin bubble' in dollar terms, look at the graph of the dollar collapse when expressed in bitcoin (or to a lesser extent, silver, real estate, eggs, or anything, really). Would you exchange bitcoin for dollars or eggs?

🚀 stack · 2025-11-01 at 19:49:

Having said that, within our 'capitalist' framework, stablecoin backed 100% by treasuries is a perfectly reasonable proposition for means of exchange, if the counterparty risk is acceptable.

👻 darkghost · 2025-11-01 at 21:58:

I mean I get my eggs for free. But it is a good point.

🚀 stack · Nov 30 at 19:04:

Watching the goings-on with pop-corn in hand...

Bitcoin is showing signs of becoming collateral.

🛞 MaAkThRsYoOySrHtKaAm [OP] · Dec 02 at 00:28:

How many will default on their 50 year death pledge and lose their bitcoin collateral?

☯️ Hicatrus · Dec 06 at 16:34:

I would like to suggest that bitcoin as an anarcho-capitalist means of exchange has failed, because it has not provided basic fungibility for its users, and infact it has pushed them to prison because of its transparent nature which give the authorities the clues of from to where the money is going eventually companies like chainanalysis managed to build products around this, I believe that for an anarcho-capitalist market the two parts should not be put under such a weak system; after all they must remain anonymous and do the trade in secret.

I've managed to do my own DD on two projects that seem to follow in the steps of satoshi nakamoto and improve their projects; Monero, Grin.

Monero has managed to replace Bitcoin in the anonymous free markets and darknet markets, I've seen last week companies who accept Monero have more than 40% of their payments done in Monero while Bitcoin is less than 25%. in comparison to 2021 monero was less than 15% in their payments.

I would suggest that you guys look into alternatives to bitcoin where the community is not filled with speculation gamblers, Monero was banned from Central Exchanges because it's blockchain doesn't provide any data for surveillance

The issue that I find with monero is the bloatness of the blockchain, which is what Grin managed to solve but the Grin project seems to be somewhat abandoned and very little improvement are being done, while it's privacy was compromised by one node creating a transaction graph, yet the solution mimblewimble provided to the blockchain size wars was elegant.

the community of monero is very hard core anarchist, since they've been banned from the speculator's reach that helped the community to install a very strong sentiment against regulation and for free trade.

as all projects it has problems too, there were news about spy nodes used to de-anonymize transactions but the community managed to create solutions for that by blocking all nodes they've managed to identify and also by using tor and i2p to broadcast their transactions.

currently there's a new market that's thriving to do trades using monero named xmrbazaar.org

you can even buy eggs on there lol

🚀 stack · Dec 06 at 16:38:

I agree. I think btc more of a backing for the banking system, like treasurys.

☯️ Hicatrus · Dec 06 at 16:57:

I agree, the system has managed to absorb bitcoin as it's project, and it managed to hack it's narrative from "bring the banks down" to "omggg I can keep my satoshis in my bank account <3<3"

I think that community project are exactly what they are; *community* projects, if a community is no longer interested in fighting for a goal or shifted it's goals to other goals, the project will simply reflect that.

It is a cultural war all the way down, and the project that is concious of this will win hopefully.

👻 darkghost · Dec 06 at 17:26:

Agree on all points.

🚀 stack · Dec 06 at 18:44:

JPM Chase has announced a Bitcoin based structured product last week

☯️ Hicatrus · Dec 06 at 19:20:

Don't worry, there is no real adoption only containment, do you think those clients of JPM are going to use non-custodial wallets to save their Bitcoin? or even be allowed to use it? they'll simply keep it with what other savings they already have because banks are "safe" and bitcoin is "digital Gold" lol

even if they wanted to trade on a free market, they've already managed to shot themselves in the foot by buying it from a bank, what's the diffrence then from using zelle? zelle is actually faster.

🚀 stack · Dec 06 at 20:30:

huh?

☯️ el3ctron · Apr 16 at 00:31:

free market does not exist.

🚀 stack · Apr 16 at 01:29:

Nothing really exists except for the generational wealth and those who serve them -- be it old Egypt, Rome, Europe or whatever.

🛞 MaAkThRsYoOySrHtKaAm [OP] · May 04 at 11:08:

Not conspiracies. Conspiracy. Singular. Reaching back to ancient Egypt there's been a single cabal of powerful individuals directing the course of human history. But the common man prefers to believe they don't exist, which aids their success.

🚀 stack · May 04 at 16:31:

It's lucky that you and I are in on this secret!