Did my bank get left behind?
There was once a time when the interest rate from my current account was higher than the rate of inflation and I would actually visit my bank, use a pay-in book and write cheques to pay for things.
Those days are all gone; for good. I mean forever, forever. Even the idea of money is being threatened as the sovereign currency of whatever developed democratic country you belong to.
Ray Dalio and other investment luminaries have written extensively about the importance of central banks acting as the last resort, propping up the economy and borrowing from future taxpayers to ensure that today’s bills get paid. Central bankers are major players in the financial drama.
Away from the centre of the stage, in the dressing room, a new player has been running over his lines; the opening monologue that speaks to freedom, and no government interference, of an ancient world of honour brought into the future with digital power. Bitcoin. The legend, the coin, the money, the hope.
I have long been a huge admirer of Warren Buffet and the ideas he learned from Ben Graham and the power of human capital aggregated into corporations in a secure legal environment. But always at the edge of this engine there is the threat posed by political influence, broken treaties, lockdown decisions, antitrust or tax issues and finally the deluge of money printing that is so disastrous for those who save.
Bitcoin stepped lightly onto the stage and the audience was divided, all curious to see the character develop, most uncertain as to Bitcoin’s role. Is Bitcoin a bit player, as the name suggests, playing a minor supporting role, or the real protagonist, the challenger?
The story is being written by the invisible hand of the markets. Suddenly some important, significant critics have written Bitcoin a major role, a star role. The lure of the new star is so strong that the old players look incredibly tired under the lights, and vulnerable.
My old bank is totally unprepared for the upstarts strength and vigour, completely unable to compete. And the audience don’t care.
Will digital gold, the once outlaw youngster become the leading light? I don’t know, but I won’t bet against it. In fact I am keen to hodl (which is the totally juvenile, ridiculous, tongue in cheek poke at the spelling error term for holders), so much so that I have bought Bitcoin digital miners. Crazy? Certain to end in tears? Maybe, but maybe not, and if not, then this really is perhaps the beginning of a new money epoch?
The story is a cliffhanger.
