photo #4447337

3/The United States is in a peculiar historic position in which it can export domestic inflation thanks to the status of the dollar as the global reserve currency (GRC). Therefore, wages can keep growing at an inflationary pace. But, as debt ceilings have become debt ladders, no one knows for sure for how long this will be sustainable.And it is definitely not sustainable in many other countries with double- and even triple-digit inflation rates.MONEY: WHAT NEEDS TO BE FIXED?So, what patterns can we observe from our monetary history?First, to properly measure life’s energy outputs, the gauge needs to be fungible and standardized, facilitating a feasible calculation of the value of nonfungible goods and services. Second, the gauge needs to simultaneously store value and be portable.These baseline elements provide people with a tool to accurately transform their limited time and energy — life energy — into a productive, well-compensated energy output.When we look at all modern fiat currencies, their stores of value rest on shaky grounds. The problem is, central banks have replaced emperors — but their decrees are no less disruptive.At a fundamental level, the exchange of funds between employers and employees is the exchange of energy. But neither employers nor employees control this compensatory energy’s current(cy). That energy’s current is provided through currency — and it’s entirely controlled by central banks.Thus, it is central banks that uniquely possess the authority to modify that energy current over time, echoing the practice of ancient Roman emperors.The biggest influence on a currency’s store of value is its supply and issuance schedule. Central banks and Roman emperors alike have had a tendency to radically change available supply, negatively impacting this attribute.In turn, this negatively impacts people’s ability to capitalize on their expended energy.ENERGY CURRENCY AS NEW MILESTONE TECHNOLOGYFrom bartering and commodities, to metal coins and fiat paper currency, history’s monetary experiments have delivered actionable conclusions.Alongside portability, maintaining the integrity of the currency’s store of value is of the utmost importance. For this to be achievable, it must not rely on arbitrary decrees.And this is precisely the revolution Satoshi Nakamoto brought with his Bitcoin white paper. The trust must be removed from the centralized entities which have complete control over monetary systems — and the ability for individuals to capitalize on their expended energy through labor: “an electronic payment system based on cryptographic proof instead of trust,” as Nakamoto put it.The question then shifts to: How do we secure that new component of trust?Past intellectuals have argued for backing money with units of energy. Namely, in John Maynard Keynes’ lectures of 1912 to 1913, which provided the intellectual framework for a means of measuring money “in terms of units of electrical energy.”