Escape from Fiat

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Though the writer would hesitate to call himself a Bitcoin maxi, reading his article, that’s the kind of impression I got. I could relate to many landmarks in his journey including marital, financial, and educational. However, he lost me after “the COVID-19 paragraph.” From then on, he started narrating about the recent crypto crashes, criticizing both the fiat system and altcoins for the attempts of the latter to maintain the former and extolling the virtues of Bitcoin.

In this post, I just want to write a running commentary on sentences and paragraphs that speak to me. And here is the opening paragraph:

I was raised in a doomsday cult that taught that God was getting ready to wage the war of Armageddon and bring about the end of the current world order. The governments, all ruled by the devil, would be replaced with the Kingdom of Heaven ruled by Jesus Christ. The cult discouraged any kind of real financial planning because of this worldview. After all, what was the point of investing in a system facing imminent destruction?

Christianity is not a monolithic religion. A faith that does not motivate you to plan for your financial future is alien to a biblical worldview. And besides this world is the Creator’s world and He still governs and sustains it though of course the problem of theodicy is not easily resolved. A perspective that sees nothing but destruction in humanity’s future is just one version among many. Dig deeper and you will see a school of thought that is positive and triumphant in its view of human history.

Though I would concede that the fiat world is a “cult,” to see it as identical to Christianity is an assessment that could be true from one’s personal experience but might be misleading if you deduce from such an experience that the whole Christian world is one and the same.

I studied politics for the first time since members didn’t vote or participate in any form of campaigning due to the belief that all earthly governments were Satanic.

This is another inaccurate analysis. The last time I checked, the evangelicals in the West both from the left and the right are striving to recover their public voice though, of course, I don’t agree with how it is being implemented. It is just sad to see that the writer was raised in a religious faith that views civil government as “Satanic,” not as a gift from the good hand of God though corrupted by man’s sinful desires.

"Love is grand," they say, "but divorce is a hundred grand." I grew up poor and had little formal or personal education in how to properly manage money or what money even really was, so when I finally "made it" I didn’t know how to properly handle it.

The marital and financial journey of the man is a disaster. I could relate to that. However, I consider it a blessing in disguise for through that marital problem, I learned to study financial literacy, economics, and now blockchain and cryptocurrency.

In 2019, I was 42 years old, had escaped the cult, and was remarried to a wonderful woman whom I adore. I spent much of my time studying markets to prevent repeating past mistakes and working to develop a retirement plan. I did well with stocks that year but kept hearing about Bitcoin and how it was like nothing else. After reading “The Bitcoin Standard,” I finally understood why sound money was important and why fiat was doomed to fail.

Wow! Small world indeed. I am not alone in my journey. Though I am ten years older than this man, I could relate to his “retirement plan.” I have the same idea and that is actually my goal for my Hive micro-investing activity. Good for him that he’s done with “The Bitcoin Standard;” though I already browsed the book, I am not that confident to say that I am familiar with its content. Good for him that he found another woman whom he adores. I hope and pray that this time his marriage will stay for life. In my case, though reconciliation is not easy, I would rather choose this path rather than consider another companion for life. Except for the financial aspect, I am too old for that.

When COVID-19 first reared its ugly head in early 2020, I did what many people did: listen to the “experts.” But as the scenes of pandemic theater played out, I began to understand that politics exhibited many of the same attributes as the cult I came out of.

I am beginning to love this guy. Like him, I listened to experts too but from the “other side.” However, when I realized that the pandemic was highly politicized, I stopped. In my mind, since then, I told myself I will revisit this issue in the future once the madness ends. Now, though I am seeing indications of a return to sanity, I lost interest in touching the subject again. I would rather spend my time in something productive just like what we’re doing here on Hive.

From this point onwards, I could hardly follow the sentiment of the writer. All I could say is that in the eyes of this guy, all cryptocurrencies except for Bitcoin are part of the problem for they are still trying to rescue the fiat system. He compares cryptocurrencies to “decks being built” whereas Bitcoin to “the life raft” while the ship is sinking.

How about Hive? If the above writer knows what Hive is doing, would he still insist in such an argument that Hive is also part of the problem?

Grace and peace!

Note: Here is the article I used in this post.