The FTX downfall a half year ago dominated the headlines and calls for crypto legislation, and it is going to be interesting to see if the fall of the Silicon Valley Bank triggers the same kinds of press, considering it is a major provider of investment for the tech industry, handling around 300B in assets, which is a third of all the entire crypto industry cap combined. Seems that the "professional" bankers wankers, aren't any better at handling their funds than crypto noobs - so runs on the banks are still a problem.
And of course, the fear is that the rot is going to spread, which is because of how interrelated and incestual the banking system and the economy at large is, even at the global level. As the saying goes, When the US sneezes, the rest of the world gets a cold, and the US economy is sick as fuck, as is the global economy.
This snip from a post showing the US debt clock from January 15th, 2023:
Right now:
That is a growth of 117 billion dollars in debt in 55 days.
2.12 billion a day.
That means that the debt has grown by $6.40 for every man, woman, child and "other" American, per day. Is that a lot, or a little?
For reference; if you were to buy the equivalent in HIVE at the current price every day for a year, it would be almost 6879 HIVE - $2336 worth.
Is that a lot for you?
And I think that this is what we have to start understanding, that we don't understand the magnitude of these numbers. We have no intuition for them, unless we break them down into the bits that we understand.
With HIVE and the equivalent converted from HBD, the total supply is around 480 million. What is your estimation of the value of your Hive account if all of that debt 117 billion was the market cap of Hive?
Can you do it in your head?
Me either.
But, it would work out to $243 per HIVE.
My account would be worth 55 million dollars.
Now, that is never likely to happen, unless the inflation rate really increases a lot and purchasing power decreasing enormously, but it is a very, very simple example of how we are not overly great at dealing with large numbers.
If I was worth 55 million dollars, I have no bloody clue what my life would look like either!
Debt makes the world go round, which is why the more complex the system gets and the more governments attempt to correct their economic mismanagement with their rudimentary tools, the more out of balance and fucked things become. And, since governments don't have any finances themselves, it is the public who is always left footing the bill, not the banks that are corporations to cover it themselves. They get free reign to earn from other people's money and when they get too greedy and fuck it all up, they get more of other people's money to bail them out.
Rinse and repeat.
It is a pretty amazing system really, because even though it consistently fails, we the people keep giving them more money. it is like handing over our salary to a compulsive gambler who is forever on a losing streak. We are enablers, and the addicts never die.
We are moving into a very weird time in the history of the world I feel, as there has been so much turmoil caused, so much centralization of wealth into a small fraction of society, that it is unsustainable and the reset button will be pressed. But, instead of the World Economic Forum's "Great Reset" plan, I am hoping it is going to be us who push the button that opts out of this clusterfuck of an economy that has been allowed to morph into something that is too ugly to even lock up in the attic - it has to be put down.
But, who is going to move over to the new economy? I mean, at the moment, there isn't really an economy to speak of, just a lot of ideas, random pieces of technology and almost zero cooperation and collaboration. However, if push came to shove, how fast could systems be aligned, how fast will developers and supports band together to patchwork quilt an economy out of the bits and pieces of digital fabric, that doesn't rival the current system, but makes it completely obsolete?
I don't know.
But I get the feeling, that we are getting closer to finding out and hopefully, we will have the ability to move when needed, build when needed, and support through usage when needed, rather than again buying into the idea that centralization can save us, even though it has thus far, failed every time.
No economy is a perfect, but one that runs on increasing debt, is never going to work.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]