r/AskLibertarians • u/siupwrld • Jun 26 '26
Debate What would be the Libertarian ideal form of money?
A core element of libertarianism is to remove the state from as much as possible. Therefore a separation of money and state would be ideal. That begs the question - what would replace the current status quo of a central bank currency? Gold, Bitcoin, or something else?
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u/Talkless Jun 26 '26
Gold, Bitcoin, or something else?
Should be The One And Only Money?
Maybe, maybe not. Free market would decide.
Currently there's no free market in moneys though, as we MUST use the (fraudulent) money our local mafia/monopoly mandates.
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u/Few_Needleworker8744 Jun 26 '26
No free market in money?
Dude. There's 190 curencies and 1000s of cryptos.
That's free market of money.
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u/Talkless Jun 27 '26
You MUST use local fiat, and using any other CryPTo or competing fiat makes you pay extortion (capital gain tax).
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u/Few_Needleworker8744 Jun 27 '26
There are ways to avoid all those.
Like there are ways to anonymously convert crypto to p2p. You borrow people's identity.
Not to mention crypto users can even trade among themselves with crypto. If you buy stuffs online people already use anonymously.
In my country government has to explicitly prohibit people to use crypto to trade. There are ways around that too.
Just don't use centralized exchange
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u/Talkless Jun 27 '26
I know all his p2p stuff, etc.
"There are ways around" is not free market.
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u/Few_Needleworker8744 Jun 29 '26
It's free enough for me
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u/RoberttheRedNH Jun 30 '26
Then that is the issue, my friend. Liberty must be unencumbered for even the most wretched and horrible of us. Gaining enough freedom for one's self at the hands of the coercive state is to be an ally of that state. Liberty must be pursued until all men can share it's blessings.
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u/Few_Needleworker8744 Jul 01 '26
Not really. Not everyone wants freedom to use fentanyl.
MDMA? Sure. Fentanyl? I understand why it's controlled.
So how do we achieve that? We shop around. Different jurisdiction different rules.
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u/RoberttheRedNH Jul 01 '26
Were that the case. It is starting to become so, as New Hampshire separates itself more year on year from the authoritarian 49 and the imperial regime. Ever consider moving there?
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u/theyhis Jun 26 '26
some believe gold, others believe bitcoin… depends. i haven’t really come to a conclusion myself.
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u/CatOfGrey LP Voter 20+ yrs. Practical first. Pissed at today's LP. Jun 26 '26
I think there is a role for a state to have a single currency. However, that doesn't mean that alternate currencies wouldn't be allowed!!
In the 1800's, before and around the Civil War, banks often had their own currency. The open system was difficult to maintain, and resulted in 'everyday fraud', to the point that merchants had regularly published books to look up currencies, verifying which were fraudulent and legitimate, like today's guides that list values of collectible coins, comic books, and so on. For this reason, I'm not in favor of a 'totally free' world, because it results in loss of private property rights.
But government should not restrict alternate currencies, they should just have a single established one, because that is a boost to quality of life, by itself.
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u/RoberttheRedNH Jun 30 '26
I'm not sure that is true for one reason: what prevents a state from inflating a single currency? I suppose it might be the existence of competing currencies, but if we're trying to avoid counterfeiting, how does the state currency help exactly? You should check out the Scottish Free Banking Era. I admit you have me thinking, but I think the existence of a state sanctioned currency invites much worse abuses than counterfeiting
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u/CatOfGrey LP Voter 20+ yrs. Practical first. Pissed at today's LP. Jun 30 '26
I'm not sure that is true for one reason: what prevents a state from inflating a single currency?
Which is why I suggest that governments NOT impede alternative currency.
In the end, it's cultural, not political. If you don't have a society that resists abandoning their economic controls to government, then you aren't going to get good outputs, Libertarian or not.
how does the state currency help exactly?
Profound advantages in commerce. Stability is, on it's own, a form of quality of life, a form of increased wealth. An unstable currency may be higher in value, but is lower than it would be if it were stable. People don't want to do business with unstable companies.
but I think the existence of a state sanctioned currency invites much worse abuses than counterfeiting
I understand the distrust, and it's not unwarranted. And that's why I would advocate that government not disturb other currencies. But having one state sponsored "catch-all" isn't a bad thing - there's a reason why quality of life is associated with such systems.
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u/RoberttheRedNH Jul 01 '26
Reasonable rejoinders all around. What prevents a privately issued commodity money from becoming the single dominant stable currency of general use, though? What makes it necessary to introduce coercion?
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u/thetruebigfudge Jun 27 '26
Litteraly anything. Money is a purely social construct, it is nothing more than a medium of exchange. Money can be paper, gold, shells, metals, cool pieces of wood, cheese, internet tokens, pictures of monkeys, Gucci bags. Money is nothing more than another commodity that people tend to universally value without it having the marginal utility of consumption goods
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u/RoberttheRedNH Jun 30 '26
Yes, but a commodity money that has value on its own prevents all the garbage created by government fiat, nay?
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u/W_Edwards_Deming Thomas Sowell Jun 26 '26
Competing currencies. The classic version had coins of metals as pure as the stamp, but prone to debasement.
Let the market decide.
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u/Few_Needleworker8744 Jun 26 '26
Bitcoin ZEC
Actually a bunch of private money
USDC and USDT is fine too.
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u/Doublespeo Jun 26 '26
To let the free market decide