Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world. Crude exports earn the country 95 per cent of its foreign exchange. That figure used to be lower, but relentless nationalization and the government's insistence on controlling prices and exchange rates have made other exports unviable. Not that…
Many commentators have compared Bitcoin to gold as an investment asset. "Can Bitcoin Be Gold 2.0?," asks a portfolio analyst. "Bitcoin is increasingly set to replace gold as a hedge against uncertainty," suggests a Cointelegraph reporter. Economists, by contrast, are more interested in considering how a monetary…
(Originally appeared November 27, 2014) Happy Thanksgiving to all of my fellow free bankers out there! Today is our biggest secular national holiday. Not everyone celebrates Christmas or Easter much less other national holidays like Memorial Day or Labor Day, but I don't know anyone who doesn't…
This primer is supposed to introduce readers to the workings of the present U.S. monetary system. So it's only natural that it should take established monetary arrangements for granted, including an official, "fiat" dollar currency managed by the Federal Reserve System. And while I haven't hesitated to…
The Bitcoin system has the great virtue of securely sending value directly from stranger to stranger. It is open to anyone, anywhere in the world. The sender does not need to trust the recipient, nor any bank or other institution, to accurately record the transfer. The Bitcoin…