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Fractional Reserve, Base Money & Bitcoin with Matthew Mežinskis

Peter McCormack

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Fractional Reserve, Base Money & Bitcoin with Matthew Mežinskis - WBD542 Peter McCormack

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Matthew Mežinskis is the creator of the Crypto Voices podcast and Porkopolis Economics website. In this interview, we discuss the definition of money, the importance of credit and fractional reserve banking, and how “not your keys, not your coins” equally applies to bank deposits.

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WBD528, “Everything You Know About the Economy is Wrong with Jeff Snider”, was one of our most discussed shows of recent months. Jeff presented a number of challenging and yet fascinating ideas, that have now spurred a second interview responding to some of the issues raised.

A principle issue was Jeff’s assertion that the system lacks understanding and control. When asked whether he could define money Jeff replied “No, I actually don't. That's I think that's the general problem. Even the Federal Reserve or central banks, economists, they can't define money either.”

Matthew Mežinskis respectfully disagrees: he thinks that there are tried and tested specific definitions that make money comprehensible to all. Matthew promotes the idea that money is chiefly a medium of exchange, and that there are two distinct types of money: base money that confers ownership, and fiduciary money which is a claim for ownership.

Further, Matthew is of the opinion that, whilst criticism of the Fed is valid, it isn’t the ignorant and inefficient organisation some portray it to be. From this cascades a series of additional opinions that are at odds with the mainstream narrative within Bitcoin circles: credit is a natural means of human interaction, that has enabled civilisations to flourish; whilst fractional reserve banking is a necessary part of capital allocation within the economy, and cash use continues to be vibrant.

And yet, in line with the truism that Bitcoiners are a broad church, Matthew is a strong advocate for Bitcoin. He sees that it promises real improvement to the current economic system. He just sees it through a different lens. In this worldview is Bitcoin an evolution rather than a revolution?

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00:01:22: Introductions
00:02:43: Definition of the eurodollar and how it came to be
00:06:50: Definition of money and the history of credit
00:19:07: Explanation of fiduciary media
00:34:38: The global value of fiduciary media
00:47:15: Fractional-reserve banking
00:53:24: The transfer of assets and liabilities, and base money
00:58:51: The difference between base money and fiduciary media
01:06:29: Banking in a hyperbitcoinised world
01:15:31: Stablecoins are eurodollar analogous crypto projects
01:19:10: CBDCs won't win
01:22:29: Final comments

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