WyzGuys Tech Talk

This is reprinted from an email I received from the Libertarian Party on Monday August 24th.

Cryptocurrency has been on an historic run in recent days, reaching heights not seen in years and positioning itself as a hedge against economic uncertainty to rival more traditional safe harbors like gold and silver. As central banks continue printing off ream after ream of fiat currency, the free-market solution of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is quickly hatching from its cocoon of relative obscurity into the fullness of mainstream acceptance and use.

The value of those first bitcoins in 2008 fluctuated wildly, as traders were largely left to their own devices to determine each coin’s value. Among the more notable transactions in that early period was the purchase of a pair of pizzas for the bargain price of a mere 10,000 bitcoins (or about $7.3 million per slice in today’s Bitcoin prices).

Fast forward to 2020 and the perfect storm of economic disaster. The one-two punch of a crude oil crash and a country-wide lock-down has the economy against the ropes and fading fast. So the government does the one thing government knows how to do best: throw money at the problem and hope it goes away. The state fired up the metaphorical printing presses and cranked them up to eleven. The United States government created “value” out of thin air and undermined the already tenuous trust they had in the stability of the American greenback.

The emperor was naked, but he was not ashamed.

As ever, the free market stepped up to provide the solution to a government-caused problem. Bitcoin offered investors the best of both worlds: scarcity and institutional acceptance. The market has in turn rewarded Bitcoin in the process. While nearly every class and kind of investment has suffered a severe beating in 2020, Bitcoin’s value grew by 70 percent since late in December and has risen over 100 percent since the beginning of the COVID-19 lockdowns in mid-March.

The strength of cryptocurrency in the face of government mismanagement and other natural disasters is a testament to the flexibility and resilience of the free market and a shining example of human ingenuity filling the void created by central planning’s all-too-common failure. In a word, Bitcoin proves that freedom works.

Unsurprisingly, the two old parties have been hostile to cryptocurrencies. The Republicans and Democrats share a deep and abiding distrust of that which they cannot control, and Bitcoin has weathered volley after volley of withering fire in the form of regulation and prohibition.

The Libertarian Party stands apart from old parties in a myriad of ways, including in our view of cryptocurrency. We recognize the intrinsic freedom in this medium of exchange, trusting the incredible innovation of the free market over the meddling and manipulation that the American dollar has long represented.