-What 16th-Century Venice Teaches Us About Crypto — an interesting comparison.
the modern state can be remarkably tolerant of people winning and losing fortunes, so long as it gets some benefit. That can come in the form of a cut of the takings; a measure of control over otherwise chaotic risk-taking; or even the capital allocation functions provided by financial markets. Where those benefits are absent, however, governments grow impatient with the turmoil of unrestricted speculation, and crack down hard.
Though more importantly I thought was the part at the end of the piece about how fragile bitcoins future can be, as it completely relies on being connected to fiat currencies to work.
The moment governments decide the nuisance and destabilization caused by digital currencies is too great, they will ban financial institutions from exchanging them for fiat currencies as vigorously as the U.S. enforces sanctions on its geopolitical enemies. That possibility, once remote, seems more and more likely in an era when America’s fuel supplies can be held hostage for $5 million in crypto.
-Reality Rebellion — a fairly depressing piece, but a warning we should all heed:
The attempted coup of January 6 destroyed two cardinal principles of American politics. The first says that we choose who holds power not through violence but through elections. The second says that when one party wins an election, the other accepts the result and forms a “loyal opposition” while it awaits its chance to win the next time. Today we have in office a restorationist administration that behaves as if proving that “government works” will somehow restore these two principles. It will not.
And the piece makes and excellent case for why we needed a Jan 6th commission:
In the case of the Capitol coup we have thus far ignored the truth. The coup was a crime against the state, and because it unfolded live on television as a grand public spectacle, Americans believe they know the truth about it. But we do not. We do not know what kind of planning preceded the assault and who was involved. We do not know why Pentagon officials for several hours refused to send troops to the Capitol. We do not know what the president was doing as the violence he unleashed was unfolding on Americans’ television screens. And much more. We do not know because there has been no thorough public investigation of what happened. Supporters of the former president within the political system have thus far worked hard to block such an investigation.
