- The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has stated that fiat money “does not have intrinsic value”
- The statement was made in a letter concerning potential storing of cryptocurrencies by banks
- Bitcoin is often accused of being created out of thin air, but it is just as viable as the dollar
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has openly stated in a letter that fiat money has no intrinsic value and that what determines the value of fiat currency is trust in the issuing government. In a letter outlining the potential of banks to store cryptocurrency in the future, the regulator had no issue in confirming what crypto fans have been trying to get the world to realize for over a decade – that fiat money is no more viable than Bitcoin, and even less so because it can be printed at will.
I can not Believe I am Reading This about US Dollar in an Official Document Issued by National Banks Regulators themselves.
“Fiat Money Refers to Instrument that Do Not Have Intrinsic Value”#bitcoin pic.twitter.com/8R5CqFsCza
— Shiv (@Shivfreespirit) July 24, 2020
Dollar’s Value Based on Government Trust
In the letter, the OCC acknowledges the rampant digitization of the economy, and discusses the potential for banks to store users’ cryptocurrency and their private keys in the future. The really eye-opening statement however comes when the OCC describes cryptocurrencies, and in turn fiat money:
Fiat money refers to instruments that do not have intrinsic value but that individuals and institutions are willing to use for purposes of purchase and investment because they are issued by a government. Government-issued currencies, including the U.S. dollar…are traditional fiat currencies.
The fact that the body that regulates American money has no compunction in stating that the U.S. dollar only has value because of the government has issued it sums up the argument of Bitcoiners all around the world. Since the dollar came off the gold standard in 1971 it has been backed by nothing of any tangible value and has been printed by the trillion when the economy has needed propping up, with the result that it has devalued over the years.
Fiat Money Value as Fictitious as Bitcoin
One of the key arguments against Bitcoin, and many other cryptocurrencies, is the one made by President Donald Trump in 2019 when he said that Bitcoin is “based on thin air”. Mr Trump will perhaps then be taken aback to know that the agency that regulates the U.S. dollar itself is fully aware that all fiat money, even the venerated dollar bill, has similarly fictitious value.
