![](\"https:\/\/media.giphy.com\/media\/xT5LMCd5WtH9tBEaYw\/giphy.gif\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
There are a few things I just don\u2019t understand: Facebook algorithms, people that drive on the road like they are the only one there, those who can\u2019t seem to have their money ready at the register, and cryptocurrency. Somehow, I have a better grasp on the Trinity than I do on bitcoin\/NFT\u2019s. \u00a0Saifedean Ammous, author of The Bitcoin Standard: The Decentralized Alternative to Central Banking, <\/em>shares his passion for bitcoin as an opportunity to remove the third-party control from the economic structure in society.\u00a0 The \u00a0first three chapters focus on his understanding of the theory and history of money.[1]<\/a> He follows this with four chapters that unpack his working out of the Gold Standard.\u00a0 He weaves this with his view of politics and the anthropological influence of time preference for \u201csound money\u201d.[2]<\/a>\u00a0 The last three chapters details how Bitcoin functions as digital currency as well as how he believes it may be used as sound money.[3]<\/a><\/p>\n Some of the more interesting reading for me was found in perusing summaries that critiqued Ammous\u2019s historical accounts.\u00a0 A common critique is Ammous\u2019s misrepresentation of John Keynes and his historical impact on the economic system of The Great Depression.[4]<\/a> Reading these summaries raises for me the question about how our biases or judgements of others impacts the way we interpret a person\u2019s value.\u00a0 Our biases have ways that cause us to wear blinders.\u00a0 Therefore books like Sway <\/em>and Thinking Fast and Slow<\/em> are helpful to keep us aware and maybe honest.<\/p>\n Kristoffer Mousten Hansen takes issue with Ammous\u2019s monetary history regarding stock and flow.\u00a0 He wrote, \u201cif stock-to-flow ratios are of crucial importance, why did silver have an almost constant value in terms of gold until it was demonetized even though it does not have the same stock-to-flow ratio?\u201d[5]<\/a>\u00a0 Mind you, I am not an economist, nor do\u00a0 I understand the real implications of stock-to-flow but I could not help but reminisce about Trueman\u2019s premise of the moral\/ethical failings of sexual identity initiated by the sexual revolution of the 60\u2019s in The Rise and Triumph of the Modern Self.<\/em> So, what is the stock-to-flow ratio of sex?\u00a0 If it was demonetized, would it lose its value as well?\u00a0 Would it help the church to then begin having healthy conversations about sex?<\/p>\n Interestingly, my question about money and sex led me to wonder about the theology of bitcoin\/blockchains. \u00a0As I understand the nature of blockchain the more troubled I become when I consider the implications theologically.\u00a0 Blockchains provide proof and certainty.\u00a0 If one has a theological hermeneutic of the infallibility of scripture, blockchain in an economic system is a safe place to be.\u00a0 For me the beauty of the living Word of God is the ways God speaks in each epoch with a fresh embodiment within the context.\u00a0 Jesus contextualized the word for the people, modeling for us how God\u2019s Word speaks into power structures of each particular time.\u00a0 Equally important is faith is belief in that which is not yet seen.\u00a0 Proof for faith is more ambiguous than blockchain.<\/p>\n Theologically one of the most dangerous aspects of bitcoin is the notion of low time preference. \u00a0Ammous champions the power of confidence in the low time preference or delayed gratification in economic gain.\u00a0 The concept of delayed gratification flies in the face of sacrifice.\u00a0 Sacrifice is giving up gratification for the joy of the other.\u00a0 There is a Greek proverb that says, \u201cA society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they shall never sit.\u201d This speaks to the power of sacrifice that an action is taken for a future that will not be enjoyed personally.\u00a0 Perhaps our economies could benefit from applying some Greek proverbial hotdog tree planting.<\/p>\n Oh, there is one other thing I do not understand.\u00a0 How does my dryer never seems to quell its appetite for eating one sock at a time?\u00a0 Perhaps there is some sort of NFT on the socks the dryer has paid for.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n [1]<\/a> Ammous, Saifedean. The Bitcoin Standard: The Decentralized Alternative to Central Banking<\/em>. 1st edition. Hoboken, New Jersey: Wiley, 2018.Page 17.<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Ibid.<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> Ibid. Pages 17-18.<\/p>\n