In my book Truth Decay – How Bitcoin Fixes This, I ask my sister what gives our money value. She responded that gold backs the value of money in the bank. When writing my book in 2019, I shared that according to a recent study, 29% of Americans still believe that gold held in a bank provides their money with its value.
This failure in education is not ours but is a symptom of the systems we have grown up in. Unless we take the time to learn the truth ourselves, we live in a fog of being unable to recognise that we just do not know what we don’t know.
Background
My newsletters highlight this knowledge, which our education systems woefully neglect. The lack of insight into the intricacies of financial matters also leads to a lack of discussion and conversation in our everyday language. Considering that money is a subject that profoundly affects our lives, I believe providing this information in an accessible way is a worthy endeavour.
My recent newsletters, Bitcoin & The Poverty Line, Bitcoin & the Gold Standard, Bitcoin & the Southsea Bubble and Bitcoin & Banking, have laid the foundation to understand how prominent private shareholders established our modern money, and they also hint at how our prominent thought leaders continue to hoodwink us over this subject.
In this newsletter, Bitcoin & Debt, I enlighten you on how debt, rather than gold, has become the foundation of our modern money system. I provide another chapter, assisting you in successfully navigating our world’s financial minefield and emphasising why this makes Bitcoin, as a form of sound money, so important.
Henry VIII and Usury
In September’s newsletter, I outlined what we know about the history of modern banking, extending from the establishment of the Bank of England.
It is worth understanding that around 1694, when the new King William of Orange approved the establishment of the Bank of England, issuing debt was still a relatively taboo subject. The Catholic Church condemned usury (the payment of interest on debt), which was first overturned in England in 1545 after the Pope excommunicated Henry VIII.
Henry VIII had a massive effect on English finances in this way, and along with dissolving the monasteries and stealing their treasures, he debased England’s currency. The locals nicknamed him ‘Old Coppernose’ as the thin silver plating on the coins would rub away at the area of the king’s nose, revealing the copper underneath!
Henry VIII’s daughter, Queen Elizabeth, also played a significant role in the nation’s finances by reissuing the coinage to restore the reliability of England’s money.
The protestants argued for the reinstatement of usury laws after Henry VIII’s death, but then the restrictions on usury were removed permanently in 1571, so the slippery slope began…
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2 Comments
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Many thanks Victoria. These history lessons are so valuable!
Well done on setting up the Satoshi payments via Muun. Hopefully others will be able to follow your example.
Have you considered publishing your newsletter on Substack.com? It might help you reach a much bigger audience.
Thank you for the praise Alistair, the feedback keeps me going! I have considered Substack, but I am sure you know how all us bitcoiners feel about centralised entities! It may take longer, but this audience will be my own. 🙂