Measuring Value: Fiat Signals Over Time

"They say the ruler is bent, then use the bent ruler to measure the table.

They say the clock is broken, then solemnly read out the hour.

They say the instrument is false, then ask it, with perfect seriousness, for one final certification.

This is, in itself, a form of bondage.

To measure gold in fiat terms is, in Jung’s sense, to deny the shadow: to denounce the paper system in public while continuing, in private, to let it decide what counts as value." 

~ Craig Tindale

1 BTC = 1 BTC. If fiat is broken, why do we still trust it to tell us what gold or Bitcoin is worth? Craig Tindale argues that even the rebels against fiat money remain captive to its grammar – measuring their escape in the very units they claim to reject. But is stepping outside the fiat frame really that simple, or does the nature of price itself trap us in ways even Bitcoiners haven't fully reckoned with?

Check out the original article: Stepping Outside the Fiat Frame by Craig Tindale (Link: https://x.com/ctindale/status/2040918715961901280)

References from the episode

• My recent two‑part series Read episodes: "Number Go Down" by Allen Farrington & Sacha Meyers and "Modern Money Only Works by Cheating" by Tyler Durden – both great companions to this episode.
  • (Number Go Down: https://fountain.fm/episode/fLqds61ds9YbsnqGOkE8)
  • (Modern Money Only Works by Cheating: https://fountain.fm/episode/UN8NHIQ3tR9tdc9ER89h)

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"The cypherpunk's digital cash wouldn't have the threat of state violence to scare counterfeiters
away, and most ordinary digital files can be counterfeited by anyone who can type
Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V."

~ Jacob Goldstein – Money: The True Story of a Made-Up Thing