Bitcoin Forum

People consider Federal Reserve notes, U.S. dollars, to be real money. This includes their digital equivalent in bank and credit card statements and Treasury-issued base metal coins. As a unit of account, all goods and services, and land and labor are priced in U.S. dollars. Declared legal tender, Federal Reserve notes are the country’s medium of exchange.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Federal Reserve System. It is the third central bank in the country’s history. The first two were short-lived compared to the Fed. The First National Bank, chartered in 1791, lasted 20 years, as did the second one, from 1816 to 1836.

When the Fed opened its doors for business in 1914 and for a while thereafter, until 1933, gold was money. People used gold coins to make purchases and pay debts—Double Eagles ($20 Liberties, minted 1850-1907; and $20 St. Gaudens, 1907-1933), Eagles ($10 Liberty Head, minted 1838-1907; and $10 Indian Head, 1907-1933), and $5 Half Eagles (1795-1929). Paper dollars were redeemable in gold, like the $20 Treasury-issued gold certificate shown here:

http://www.lewrockwell.com/assets/2014/04/789.jpg

These dollar bills were redeemable “IN GOLD COIN, PAYABLE TO THE BEARER ON DEMAND,” with gold then valued at $20.67 per troy ounce. Americans over age 90 (0.6% of the population) can remember gold coins being used as a medium of exchange. Few Americans today have ever handled a gold coin.

When the Fed began issuing Federal-Reserve-note paper dollars they were also “Redeemable in Gold on Demand at the U.S. Treasury or in Gold or Lawful Money in any Federal Reserve Bank.” That changed in 1933...
https://www.lewrockwell.com/2014/04/donald-w-miller-jr-md/currency-masquerading-as-money/


He goes on to talk about inflation, and the need for competing currencies, etc.

• Have you turned any paper money into BTC today?

Money:  A current medium of exchange in the form of coins and banknotes; coins and banknotes collectively.

Nothing more, nothing less.

I have to put this, as i find the political denigration of existing money to be a rather ugly distraction to what Bitcoin is or can be.  You pollute the well, the general population will roll their eyes and move on, ignoring the rest of the subjects potential. 

Don't forget this thrilling chapter, OP:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Executive_Order_6102.jpg

It could happen again too... I wouldn't mind so much now but 4 years ago the thought of them stealing our gold again made me foam at the mouth.

Today that would be accompanied by the price of bitcoin multiplying x50 overnight. Common hobobama!


Sorry, the distinction of being "Most liquid" is what makes money different than other currencies.

Bitcoin can never be money in a country until it is more liquid than the local money is... I expect to see that happen quite often in the next few years in countries like Argentina, but it'll take the collapse of the USD for bitcoin to surpass FRNs in liquidity.


 

fringe lunatics on the loose...

Where?
I'll keep out a watch for them.  :)


I would have been tempted to keep my gold, but the risk was so high.
Back then $10K was a huge amount of money, and you might get 10 years in jail.

It specifically says on the USD: "This note is legal tender for all debts, public and private." Meaning that the USD is a debt-based currency system. The dollar is inherently worth nothing; exactly like bitcoin. But we believe it to be worth something, just like we believe bitcoin to be worth something. They are no different.

They are no different.
A huge difference is that Bitcoin cannot be endlessly inflated by a central power.

Correct, they are both fiat and both have zero intrinsic value.  The only reason people think "debt is bad"  is their point of view is micro (household).  In macro, debt is necessary for economic activity

People don't like central control because of politics.  But almost all of our institutions are centrally controlled (top-down)