When I speak of the four currencies I am not taking bout the currencies of foreign exchange like the dollar or the yen. I refer instead to the fundamental currencies that affect all global commerce. In this blog I will be defining these currencies and giving hints as to where we might be going with finance as we hurtle through the twenty first century.
1 Fiat Currency
Fiat currency represents money that is transacted with the approval and support of global governments and the central banking system. This form of currency grew up when President Nixon took USA off the gold standard and gave the central banking system the opportunity to create money whose worth was manipulated by political trends The money no longer had intrinsic value and could be inflated or deflated at the whim of politicians.
2 Fiat Digital currency
The Fiat digital currency is simply the digitalisation of the fiat system which is converting cash into computer code and increases the control of governments and the banking sector. Fiat currency gave our political masters the power to control how much we have whereas digital currency gives them the power to control how we spend what we have by blocking any transaction that they deem unsuitable for us to purchase. The justification for this system was to eradicate money laundering but once adopted will invade our entire spending behaviour.
3 Crypto digital currency
This type of digital currency is decentralised and is beyond the grasp of the banking and political sector. It is generated by algorithms ( sets of instructions ) that generate problems for computers to solve. When a computer solves the problem it earns a digital coin (mining) which is recorded on a cyber ledger called the blockchain. If Fiat digital currency is adopted so the rich will turn to crypto currency to protect their wealth and spending activity. One will drive the other.
4 Gold currency
Gold currency is the oldest and most effective method of money ever invented. Gold was fused in a Supernova five billion years ago and is therefore very rare. Gold currency is free from tax in many societies and is probably the best store of generational wealth in existence. Unlike the above three it is physical and solid. It has been designed to advance the long term wealth of the rich and as such remains free of tax. In the UK gold currency is in the form of sovereigns which can be purchased from the Royal Mint.
I believe there has been a deliberate policy throughout the world to keep the mass of people across the globe ignorant of finance by refusing to educate children in schools about all aspects of money. School subjects are largely the inheritance of the generationally rich who see education as a social interest rather than a route to financial independence. In fact compulsory education only came into existence due to the industrial revolution who required literacy and numeracy for the hoards to work in factories.
So what of the future ? The alleviation of poverty has to be driven from ordinary people who need to learn all things financial in their millions. Wealth will never trickle down from the top as society leaders have a vested interest in retaining their position. Today the difference today from the past is our ability to utilise technology to learn the secrets of finance and calculated risk. Orwell personified the problem when describing the desires of the proletariat today our drug of choice is relentless junk media , social media and trivia.
The internet has given us a rare opportunity to explore a better world our forbears lacked. If we take this opportunity whilst we still can, the world will truly become a more equitable place.
Peter Bull ( Author of the book Get In Touch With Inner Wealth)