Can Bitcoin Make War Unaffordable?

Fix the money, save the world. How bitcoin can dismantle the military industrial complex.

Whenever I see war breakout, which has sadly been a constant in my 24 years of life, I think of the engine that enables it all, the military industrial complex. Companies like Boeing, Raytheon, and Lockheed Martin are given blank checks by governments, and told to go make the deadliest weapons imaginable. These blank checks are made possible by our government’s ability to print money. For governments and corporations war is not only free, but extremely profitable. We are living in a society where the destruction of innocent human lives is financially incentivized.

However, what if there was a way to make war expensive?

An economy that runs on the bitcoin standard, could make this a reality. Let me explain:

In 2008, an anonymous computer wizard published the bitcoin whitepaper, a document outlining the first ever, borderless, peer-to-peer monetary system where the “monetary policy” is governed by the individuals (nodes) that maintain the network. In this system, there is no need for financial institutions to mediate transactions (Visa, Mastercard, JPM). For the past 15 years, this system has allowed individuals to store and transfer wealth, without it being diluted by centralized governments.

We can think of the world economy as a pool of resources. Every time centralized governments create more money, out of thin air, they dilute the pool of resources. If the pool were to be split 50% with governments and 50% with individuals (you and me), then governments were to print money, the resource pool would be split 52% in favor of governments, 48% with individuals. However, this sleight of hand by the government becomes less effective every time it is performed. Meaning, governments need to print more and more money, to get the same relative increase in resources.   

Bitcoin has enabled individuals to scoop buckets of water from the Olympic size “shared” resource pool, and place it where centralized governments cannot dilute it, in privately owned kitty pools. As a greater portion of the world economy begins to run on bitcoin, the size of these kitty pools has begun to grow relative to the Olympic size pool. This can be seen by the market cap of bitcoin, which is currently $673B, relative to the world economy, which is ~$100T (0.6%). If the world economy were to run on bitcoin, the bitcoin market cap would assume the value of the world economy. If this were to happen, the government’s ability to create new resources out of thin air would become so diminished, that they would be forced to pay for war with real resources.    

As individuals begin to understand this, a greater percentage of wealth/resources “leave the pool” and gets locked away in bitcoin. The cycle then repeats in an exponential fashion. As more money gets printed, the dollar becomes weaker, causing more water (ie. Resources) to leave the pool. Eventually, it becomes financially incentivized for private companies like Boeing, Raytheon, and Lockheed Martin to only accept Bitcoin as a payment for manufacturing missiles and bombs (because the dollar and other national currencies would lose all value). Governments themselves would then have to purchase bitcoin to pay for wars.

At last, we have made war expensive.   

Bitcoin is humanities greatest hope for dismantling the military industrial complex.

Have an epic week everyone!