{"id":29464,"date":"2022-11-09T20:32:43","date_gmt":"2022-11-10T04:32:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=29464"},"modified":"2022-11-09T20:32:43","modified_gmt":"2022-11-10T04:32:43","slug":"the-newest-trend-in-stability-or-is-it-a-golden-calf","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/the-newest-trend-in-stability-or-is-it-a-golden-calf\/","title":{"rendered":"The Newest trend in Stability or is it a golden calf?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dr. Saifedean Ammous is an economist who holds his Ph.D. in Sustainable Development from Columbia University. In this book, The Bitcoin Standard: The decentralized alternative to central banking, <\/em>Dr. Ammous presents the economics and history of bitcoin to introduce the workings of the new digital currency for the new digital economy of the future. Bitcoin is the \u201cfirst demonstrably reliable operational example of digital cash and digital hard money.\u201d[1]<\/a> This book was written in three parts to help the reader \u201cunderstand the economics of bitcoin and how it serves as the digital iteration of the many technologies used to fulfill the functions of money throughout history.\u201d[2]<\/a> The first part of the book, Ch.1-4, explains the history of the role and function of money and its properties within human economic society. The second part of the book, Ch. 5-7, reviews the global implications of \u201csound and unsound forms of money throughout history.\u201d[3]<\/a> And finally, the third part of the book, Ch. 8-10, discusses bitcoin\u2019s network, structure, past and present usage, and growth and stability in the form of sound money for the global digital age. This book is beneficial in understanding the foundation of the economy of money and exchange in this digital age.<\/p>\n

More and more in the world, the modern capital peer-to-peer digital economy is replacing the traditional system of government and third-party controlled cash money system. Back in October 31, 2008, Satoshi Nakamoto (pseudonymous computer programmer) introduced bitcoin to the world. I remember hearing about it for the first time back in 2008 because some of my computer engineering friends were raving about it. I had a couple of opportunities to invest in bitcoins back then, but I never did because I didn\u2019t believe that it was going to blow up like it did today. Over the past couple of years, cryptocurrency has been in the news almost every week. And this week, one single ticket winning the $2.04 billion Powerball jackpot in California was the biggest news. If Satoshi were alive today, he would definitely join the list of billionaires today because they estimate that he owns between 750,000 and 1,100,000 bitcoins. The instability in the economy and hyperinflation is a new reality that is fueling people\u2019s desire to find greater stability and accumulating in their wealth. In Chapter 4, the author highlights the beginning of the era of fiat money<\/em>, government money, and how it has progressed over the years. The current government\u2019s fiat money system is based on the value of gold because gold is impossible to destroy and impossible to create more which means gold holds the highest rating in stability. Why does gold play the king of value and stability? Why not diamonds or some other piece of rock from an asteroid? I was curious where was the first mention of gold in the Bible, so I looked it up, and it was interesting to find that it comes out in Genesis 2:11 \u2013 mentioning the first river coming out from the living stream of the garden of Eden that winds through a land called Havilah where there is gold.<\/p>\n

The global governments for centuries after centuries agreed to set the stability and growth of the future of their nations on the value of gold because people trust that gold will never fail. The latest modern paper form of government currency was the latest invention in the economic system, but we see the heartbreaking reality of hyperinflation that brought complete disaster to many countries. Some actually survived the black swan. South Korea\u2019s economy was miraculously saved from complete collapse back in 1997. The nation campaigned gold donation movement to save the nation and it actually pulled off. Everyone participated in this movement to donate gold to save the nation and it was saved and recovered from complete collapse. But, some like Lebanon, many countries in recent years have been devastating by inflation and hyperinflation that brought \u201ccomplete breakdown of the structure of economic production of a society built up over centuries and millennia. With the collapse of money, it becomes impossible to trade, produce or engage in anything other than scraping for the bare essentials of life.\u201d[4]<\/a> In the concluding chapters, the author argues that Bitcoin is the newest digital human invention that is safe and stable and that \u201cBitcoin is the hardest money ever invented: growth in its value cannot possibly increase its supply; it can only make the network more secure and immune to attack.\u201d[5]<\/a> There is no doubt that our society will continue to grow and transform into something new and attractive and supposedly most stable for the time being, but the deeper question that we as the Church and Christian leaders need to ask is to search for true stability. The ministers and Christian leaders need to teach louder that a golden calf can never bring stability to our faith and our lives no matter how stable and indestructible it will become. The word Havilah means land of sand and suffering, and in that land and suffering, there are golds, fine gold. The verdict is clear for Christ’s followers \u2013 chasing after gold will leads you into the land of Havilah. We must never stay permanently in that land, we must continue in our journey to follow the river upstream and enter into the living stream of water that flows out in the garden of Eden. John 4:14 \u2013 \u201cBut whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.\u201d<\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Saifedean Ammous, The Bitcoin Standard: The Decentralized Alternative to Central Banking<\/em>. 1st edition (Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley, 2018), xv.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Ibid, xvii.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Ibid, xvi.<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Ibid, 66.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Ibid, 173.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dr. Saifedean Ammous is an economist who holds his Ph.D. in Sustainable Development from Columbia University. In this book, The Bitcoin Standard: The decentralized alternative to central banking, Dr. Ammous presents the economics and history of bitcoin to introduce the workings of the new digital currency for the new digital economy of the future. Bitcoin […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":145,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2438],"class_list":["post-29464","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-saifedean-ammous","cohort-lgp11"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29464","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/145"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29464"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29464\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29465,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29464\/revisions\/29465"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29464"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29464"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29464"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}