Choice in Money Allows for Freedom of Association

Choice in Money Allows for Freedom of Association

Before bitcoin the currency you used was entirely dependent on which part of the globe you were born and live in. Governments print a fiat currency that only has value because they say it does. Any attempt by other organizations to mint their own money are usually quashed because large governments and special interests benefit by having a monopoly on the money supply. Governments around the world have succeeded in destroying alternative currencies before they take off as there has traditionally always been a centralized location that can be shut down.

Digital currencies like bitcoin use computers to mint money and verify transactions in different jurisdiction around the world making it impossible for any single government agency to destroy the currency. Additionally, the bitcoin code is available online for anyone to understand how it works, contribute to bitcoin to improve functionality, or even to copy and create a different currency.

Choice in money is important because before bitcoin there was no way to opt out of monetary policy decisions from the single currency where individuals have been forced to store the value of their past labor. If additional money is printed to be given to banks through bailouts this reduces the value of your labor performed in the past. Taxation of a single currency which people are forced to use means contributing to social programs you may disagree with or wars on the other side of the world you don’t want to fund. A fair democracy is nonexistent when there is no choice in the money you use, the amount that is created and how it is distributed.

People have many different opinions of the qualities money should have including how it is created, distributed, regulated, taxed and what social programs and public infrastructure, if any will be built from taxation. Everyone deserves to be able to use a currency of their choice and live in a society that best suits their needs. Choice in money reduces our dependency on entities that are too big to fail and allows people to opt out of corrupt regimes.

Bitcoin was created as an open source project, so that additional currencies with different features may be created. Since bitcoin has first mover advantage of any digital currency it has had a strong network effect in attracting the most developers and entrepreneurs making the currency easier to use for everyone. If bitcoin ever failed though or a group of people decided they want different qualities in the money they use they are free to create a new currency that works best for them.