Bitcoin maximalists have been opining that cryptocurrency will and could have been the fix for Afghanistan against Taliban. Some said that war financing could have stopped had crypto been the norm while others empathisized with Afghans worried about their savings as Taliban took over banks.
News18 explains what the maximalists had to say as part of their argument:
How could Bitcoin come to the rescue?
Dr. Josh Cotton, a Bitcoin advocate and founder of MilitaryToken, said in a tweet that “an enormous amount of cash just fell into the hands of the Taliban because cash can’t be truly secured,” adding of course, “Bitcoin fixes this.”
He was hinting towards the enormously secure blockchain technology used by Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies that do not let access to any other individual.
A report by Vice quoted Jimmy Song, one of Bitcoin’s most ardent public advocates saying, “Bitcoin would have prevented the war in Afghanistan had it been the global reserve currency instead of the greenback. No sane government would have spent explicitly taxed dollars on a war that cost that much and lasted that long.”
“The only reason the US could was because of the dollar’s privileged position as the global reserve currency which allowed stealth taxation of the entire world through inflation.”
What is debasement and how are Bitcoiners assuring countries don’t finance war?
Debasement was practiced in the 16th century by England’s King Henry VIII to help fund wars with France and Scotland. The king replaced precious metal content of coins like gold with cheaper metals like copper, reducing the costs of currency production at the expense of taxpayers. Roman emperor Nero used to employ a similar trickery, cutting down on the silver content in the currency. By some estimates, debasement led to annual inflation of around 1,000 percent at one point in Roman history.
Some countries do something similar today, say the proponents of the debasement theory. The government prints more money than it can back up with underlying assets so that it can fund foreign wars, which comes at the expense of citizens in the form of taxes, according to public statements made by various supporters of the theory.
“Bitcoin doesn’t let governments do this crazy deficit spending as they are forced to get loans on the market to do so,” said Jimmy Song.
The idea of inflation as stealth taxation, and its connection with war financing, is one that’s commonly shared by Bitcoin maxis with a libertarian streak
What about Taliban taking over banks and people worrying about savings?
Afghans have been crowding banks trying to access their savings, but mostly in vain.
Not only would Bitcoin or cryptocurrencies make it difficult to confiscate wealth and to keep it safe but the whole situation could have been avoided had the world adopted decentralized money.
Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies can be stored on tiny USB thumb drive-sized hardware wallets or on online wallets. A user only needs to remember the corresponding passphrase or key to having access to funds.
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