(本文翻譯自 陳冲 正視加密貨幣的階級鬥爭意涵 2021.06.08.)
Can you imagine this? A gathering of more than fifty-thousand people during the pandemic! It’s Bitcoin 2021 conference just ended in Miami on June 5th. The leaders all over the world should pay close attention to the development of cryptocurrency to avert new class conflict and exert effort for generation fusion.
Digital currency, developed until now, can be roughly divided into three categories: cryptocurrency, stable coin and central bank digital currency (CBDC). Among them, the most discussed and eye-catching one must be Bitcoin (a type of cryptocurrency).
In a speech in 2014, I’ve mentioned an episode aired January 15, 2012, called Bitcoin for Dummies. It’s an episode of the American legal drama “The Good Wife.” In this episode, a group of lawyers discussed the legal nature of Bitcoin in the firm and concluded that it is similar to commodity. I shared my thoughts then that Bitcoin is not currency, let alone fiat money. It’s at best a kind of investment tools. The enthusiasm will be maintained if the participants keep being confident and keen, but the craze will disappear like the mist once the confidence collapses.
In the blink of an eye, the price of Bitcoin has fluctuated greatly in the twelve years since its inception. It is not a unit of account or a store of value, but its market capitalization is now around two trillion dollars, gradually entering the stage of maturation. when I talked with young friends or people in the crypto community, I wondered why this asset without intrinsic value could be so popular. Youth generation thinks they have no role in the financial game of the old generation, the distribution of wealth is uneven, and the gap between rich and poor has widened. Youth generation yearns for their own stage and hopes for a chance to change their lives. And now, digital divide becomes a chance. Due to digital divide, they can get rid of the predecessors of the ‘Stone Age’ and create a new paradise. It feels that a new form of class struggle, or the mentality of class struggle, is gradually taking shape.
In 1818, Marx and Engels wrote in the Communist Manifesto, ‘’the history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggles.’’ And the latest edition of the Economist said ‘’The crypto kids believe that blockchain-based finance is the future and a haven from the inevitable degradation of fiat money. ’’ Coincidentally in the past year, domestic financial media interviewed some people in the crypto community and we could see that these people shared exactly the same views and all looked forward to the future finance they can master. Witnessing endless QE all around the world, while a little worried, they might particularly be expecting for a decentralized finance.
However, the traditional financial sector has no confidence in these kinds of investment tools without intrinsic value. Agustin Carstens, the General Manager of BIS, once condemned bitcoin as “a combination of a bubble, a Ponzi scheme and an environmental disaster.” In addition, no central bank holds optimistic view of its future. Even before Bitcoin 2021 conference kicked off, the Governor of the Bank of England, Andrew Bailey, said “I'm skeptical about crypto-assets, frankly, because they're dangerous.” All sounds correct but one day youth generation will take over this world and if Bitcoin or tools like it is still the rage then, it’s hard to imagine how we will reposition fiat money (or CBDC) and cryptocurrency.
There’s an illustration beside the article mentioned above in the latest edition of the Economist. Two dinosaurs and their long necks resemble the shape of dollar sign. Above them, a meteorite falling from sky says a big B, leaving room for readers’ imagination. Financiers of Stone Age shouting ‘’ Welcome to the Jurassic Park’’ should also think about the development of the Digital Age and stay out of the factors that may cause class conflict.