The cryptocurrency sector faced one of its most significant security breaches this year as stablecoin banking platform @0xinfini fell victim to a sophisticated cyberattack.
You could say that those liabilities are made-up too, as well as the laws that produced them, or the authority of the lawmakers that penned the laws, or that words can be derived from the scribbles that pen produces, or the notion of words themselves…
But ultimately, you’ll confront the fact that the IRS demands payment in USD or they’ll throw you in prison.
“It has value because the government says so” doesn’t mean any more to me than “It has value because drug dealers and tech bros say so”. If people stopped accepting the US dollar it would be worth nothing, because it isn’t tangible and has no inherent value on its own.
But people won’t stop accepting the US dollar, because they need it in order to pay their taxes. And even if they absolutely refused to accept it, it would still be worth something. Because if you had it, it could still be used to avoid punishment for failing to pay taxes.
Taxes are what give money value. Because being in prison is tangible.
Not really. Currencies are genuinely valuable, in that they resolve non-discretionary liabilities.
You could say that those liabilities are made-up too, as well as the laws that produced them, or the authority of the lawmakers that penned the laws, or that words can be derived from the scribbles that pen produces, or the notion of words themselves…
But ultimately, you’ll confront the fact that the IRS demands payment in USD or they’ll throw you in prison.
“It has value because the government says so” doesn’t mean any more to me than “It has value because drug dealers and tech bros say so”. If people stopped accepting the US dollar it would be worth nothing, because it isn’t tangible and has no inherent value on its own.
Stop paying your taxes and see if that argument holds water in a few years.
The monopole of violence :D
But people won’t stop accepting the US dollar, because they need it in order to pay their taxes. And even if they absolutely refused to accept it, it would still be worth something. Because if you had it, it could still be used to avoid punishment for failing to pay taxes.
Taxes are what give money value. Because being in prison is tangible.
That’s post-state money, pre-state money existed
farway before states even existed