Prominent economist and editorial director of the American Institute for Economic Research (AEIR), Jeffrey Tucker, has urged governments and central banks around the world to let go of the idea of creating state-backed cryptocurrencies and instead focus on the soundness of the fiat system and the banking system.
“Leave Crypto Alone”
In an editorial published in AEIR, Tucker stated that the growing cryptocurrency scene and its associated infrastructure are the preserve of private innovation and enterprise and that governments should not dabble in this field.
Speaking about efforts to regulate cryptocurrencies and bring them under government control strictly, Tucker opined that such efforts run in direct contrast to the stated goal of cryptocurrencies, which is the end of a monopoly on money.
Explaining this point, he said:
“I’m not a believer. They won’t compete in the marketplace. They might achieve the opposite of the stated goal – the end of monopoly. Truly rivalrous competition is just now starting to exist in a sector long monopolized by governments…Thanks to decentralized-ledger technology and some impressive innovations to create digital money and banking solutions — the technology operates peer-to-peer and requires neither government nor intermediaries to operate — we are beginning to see what real choice in currency might look like.”
In Tucker’s view, the rise of state-controlled monopoly over money supply over the past century is what led to world wars, economic depression, constant inflation, huge government debt and sprawling government bureaucracies dependent on quantitative easing for finance and influence.
Cryptocurrency he says, is the “most exciting thing in money and finance on the planet,” so governments have no business putting their hands into it and strangulating the emerging success story or pontificating about any of its perceived failings including its vast range of available choices and its failure rate which roughly rivals that of small businesses.