Strike CEO Jack Mallers Calls Bitcoin “The Internet’s Central Bank”
Bitcoin is many things to many people – digital gold, a speculative investment, a technical experiment, a decentralized replacement for fiat money, etc.
But being compared to a central bank is probably the last thing cryptocurrency creator Satoshi Nakamoto expected their creation to be compared to. However, Strike boss Jack Mallers says so in a new Twitter thread. Is he right?
Jack Mallers makes striking statements about BTC
Jack Mallers is the CEO of Chicago-based BTC payment provider Strike and played a crucial role in bringing Bitcoin widely to El Salvador. In a recent Twitter thread, he compares the top cryptocurrency to a central bank — more specifically, “the internet’s central banking system.”
The Bitcoin network (often abbreviated to #Bitcoinor simply BTC) is the central banking system of the Internet (or Internet).
— Jack Mallers (@jackmallers) 21 February 2023
Comparing Bitcoin to the Central Banking System
Within the coin base of the first block in the Bitcoin chain contains the so-called Genesis block the text “The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on brink of second bailout for banks.”
The newspaper headline refers to ongoing efforts by governments and central banks to save smaller banks from collapse in the midst of the great financial crisis of 2008. During the collapse, the British bank Northern Rock applied for bailout for the first bank in the country in more than 150 years.
Central banks were introduced for a number of reasons – for example, to control the money supply, inflation and interest rates. But most importantly, a central bank’s role is as a lender of last resort, designed to prevent the ongoing bank runs that occurred before the Wall Street Panic of 1929.
Despite the fact that Bitcoin was created in protest against such policies, which can have dangerous effects over which citizens have no say, central banks bailing out other banks is exactly what they are supposed to do. And if that is the purpose of a central bank, is it really accurate to call Bitcoin “the central banking system of the internet”, or even compare it to a central bank?
BTC versus the stock market since the 2008 Great Financial Crisis | BTCUSD on TradingView.com
Has The Strike CEO Got It Right?
The answer is “yes”. Bitcoin was designed to complement the Internet as an emerging economy and save it from government control and free from the impact of traditional central bank monetary policy.
Maller’s Twitter thread says the Bitcoin network was created to “alleviate financial crises,” much like central banks are supposed to do. The big difference between Bitcoin and central banks is that government “privilege” cannot increase the BTC supply like they can the current fiat system.
It is now more than 14 years since the inception of the cryptocurrency, and the world is preparing for another collapse of the financial system. Will Bitcoin Be Ready to Save the Internet from the Next Great Financial Crisis? And do you agree with Jack?
