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Topic: The Real Differences Between Fractional Reserve in Fiat, Gold, and Bitcoin. (Read 2905 times)

sr. member
Activity: 242
Merit: 250
Look, fractional reserve creates money because you deposit money into a money market fund, and YOU supposedly have that money, then someone borrows some of that money, and spends it, and the person they gave it to deposits that money into a money market fund, and now THEY also have the same money. Thus, money was "created".
Why the quotes?
Because its not real money thats being created. Its an IOU, that people think is money. The moment that IOU touches money, it'll explode and disappear. Real M0 doesn't do that.
Of course it is real money, otherwise people would not be able to buy anything with it, nor could it cause inflation, housing bubbles, etc. Despite being money mistaken by debt, it is as real as that mistake.
No Federal Reserve involvement was needed.

I would like to know from where you got the idea that fractional-reserve banking cannot happen without the involvement of a central bank. As I said several times, fractional reserve banking originated before central banking, which should be enough to prove the opposite.
Uh, actually I said the exact opposite, that NO central bank involvement was needed. What exactly are you saying? Fractional Reserve banking is completely independent of a central bank. Thus, a free-floating unbacked currency has 0 to do with fractional reserve banking.
That is also what I have been saying. Hence my finding it strange your telling me so as if I had been saying the opposite.
I can lend you gold, and still turn your debt into money if somebody will accept your debt as payment.
By doing that, you are just transferring my debt to someone else in exchange for their money: debt remains debt, and money remains money. You are not monetizing my debt.
The borrowed money wasn't given its value by the fact that you borrowed it, no, it was valuable because it was gold. So what the heck.
Neither the money for which you exchanged my debt got its value from that same debt, which is the reason why this is not debt monetization.
Except people DO indebt themselves in exchange for debt. We do it all the time. The currency we use is Federal Reserve Notes, which is a debt of the Federal Reserve. The US Government borrows these Federal Reserve Notes from the Federal Reserve. That's debt. They indebted themselves, in exchange for the debt, and their debt is only repayable payable in the resulting debt.

Federal Reserve notes are not "a debt of the Federal Reserve": the central bank is a creditor, not a debtor. Additionally, Federal Reserve notes are money valuable as debt, not merely debt.

The central bank issues money by buying debt instruments from the government. Before buying those instruments, there are neither money nor debt. Once bought, the same debt instruments become debt, which then gives value to the money buying them. The operation creates both money and debt.

The only reason to self-impose a borrowing limit is the awareness that people won't continue to lend to you once they realize that your true credit line, under the current system, is indeed infinite.

Once again, it is the borrower who has a "credit line," not the loaner: your credit line is always limited by how much can people lend you. Therefore, it is never "infinite."
sr. member
Activity: 448
Merit: 250
Sure, only not all debt is 'created money'; only spendable debt is (otherwise known as MZM).

Debt becomes money when banks create new money in exchange for new debt. The process of monetizing debt is first and foremost a process of money creation.
Except thats not the only way in which debt becomes money.

Then show me another way.
The way I just explained in the next bit. :\
~.~

Look, fractional reserve creates money because you deposit money into a money market fund, and YOU supposedly have that money, then someone borrows some of that money, and spends it, and the person they gave it to deposits that money into a money market fund, and now THEY also have the same money. Thus, money was "created".

Why the quotes?
Because its not real money thats being created. Its an IOU, that people think is money. The moment that IOU touches money, it'll explode and disappear. Real M0 doesn't do that.
No Federal Reserve involvement was needed.

I would like to know from where you got the idea that fractional-reserve banking cannot happen without the involvement of a central bank. As I said several times, fractional reserve banking originated before central banking, which should be enough to prove the opposite.
Uh, actually I said the exact opposite, that NO central bank involvement was needed. What exactly are you saying? Fractional Reserve banking is completely independent of a central bank. Thus, a free-floating unbacked currency has 0 to do with fractional reserve banking.
When one person defaults, the trickle-down effect works as if that money was destroyed TWICE, rather than just once.

We have an agreement.

The problem comes when that money becomes spendable, rather than just an asset.

If money were "just an asset," then it would no longer be money, hence indeed also not "spendable."
I meant to say debt, not money. Sorry.
If you deposit into a CD/Bond, you know perfectly well you don't have that money, because you can't spend it. Thus, you might lose your investment, because its just that, an investment. When somebody accepts debt as payment, which is pretty much whats going on behind all MZM, is when the doubling effect actually matters. So, the money supply is increased only when newly-issued debt is treated as transferable payment. The act of issuing the debt didn't create the money, the act of making it spendable leveraged it up.

Debt only becomes money when the promise to repay a loan gives the borrowed money its value. Exchanging already existing debt for already existing money could not possibly turn money into debt.
No. I can lend you gold, and still turn your debt into money if somebody will accept your debt as payment. The borrowed money wasn't given its value by the fact that you borrowed it, no, it was valuable because it was gold. So what the heck.
The difference that matters, is the size of each credit line.

What really matters is whether new money gets its value from new debt.
Exactly. A borrower with a fixed credit line can't ponzi forever, because eventually new debtors will say "your credit line has been consumed, now you have to start paying money back and can't borrow any more."
Central banks can issue notes, so their credit line is basically infinite. Commercial banks have a finite credit line (unless they're being lent to by a central bank).

It is borrowers, not loaners that have a credit line, and the credit line of the government is certainly not infinite (as the debt-ceiling soup opera shows). Additionally, for each dollar of reserve money commercial banks can create nine more, so their impact on the money supply is far larger than that of the central bank. The current situation, in which reserves sit at the central bank earning interest is a complete aberration (it is the system starting to eat its own tail).
Its borrowers (or issuers of their own credit) that have credit lines. The currency we use are Federal Reserve Notes, which are effectively unsecured, 0% interest debt. As long as we continue to use Federal Reserve Notes as our currency despite inflation, then we are giving the Federal Reserve an infinite line of credit.

It is the central bank that gives us (via the government) a line of credit, not conversely. Likewise, it is your bank that gives you a line of credit, not conversely. What we gave the central bank was the power to create money valued solely by our promise to repay that money after borrowing it from the same central bank. Only then, having received that power from us, can the central bank in turn give us a "line of credit."

Quote from: theonewhowaskazu on October 28, 2013, 03:54:17 PM
The Federal Reserve uses this infinite line of credit to provide infinite demand for US Debt, which in turn provides the government with an infinite line of credit, in return for an ever-increasing share of their own debt to spend into the economy as they please.

How could demand be provided?

Nobody (including the government) gets indebted in exchange for the resulting debt (whatever that possibly means): they get indebted in exchange for money. It is the central bank that ends up holding government bonds, not the government, which in turn gets money to spend.
Except people DO indebt themselves in exchange for debt. We do it all the time. The currency we use is Federal Reserve Notes, which is a debt of the Federal Reserve. The US Government borrows these Federal Reserve Notes from the Federal Reserve. That's debt. They indebted themselves, in exchange for the debt, and their debt is only repayable payable in the resulting debt.
Quote from: theonewhowaskazu on October 28, 2013, 03:54:17 PM
The debt ceiling isn't a limit on the USG's credit line, but an artificial construct created to make it look like the USG can be trusted with an infinite credit line because they won't actually run it up infinitely. It is entirely self-imposed. The fact that the existence of the debt ceiling actually causes creditors to further DOUBT the united states, is just so ass-backward its not even funny.
The only reason to self-impose a borrowing limit is the awareness that no credit line is "infinite."
The only reason to self-impose a borrowing limit is the awareness that people won't continue to lend to you once they realize that your true credit line, under the current system, is indeed infinite.
sr. member
Activity: 242
Merit: 250
Sure, only not all debt is 'created money'; only spendable debt is (otherwise known as MZM).

Debt becomes money when banks create new money in exchange for new debt. The process of monetizing debt is first and foremost a process of money creation.
Except thats not the only way in which debt becomes money.

Then show me another way.

~.~

Look, fractional reserve creates money because you deposit money into a money market fund, and YOU supposedly have that money, then someone borrows some of that money, and spends it, and the person they gave it to deposits that money into a money market fund, and now THEY also have the same money. Thus, money was "created".

Why the quotes?

No Federal Reserve involvement was needed.

I would like to know from where you got the idea that fractional-reserve banking cannot happen without the involvement of a central bank. As I said several times, fractional reserve banking originated before central banking, which should be enough to prove the opposite.

When one person defaults, the trickle-down effect works as if that money was destroyed TWICE, rather than just once.

We have an agreement.

The problem comes when that money becomes spendable, rather than just an asset.

If money were "just an asset," then it would no longer be money, hence indeed also not "spendable."

If you deposit into a CD/Bond, you know perfectly well you don't have that money, because you can't spend it. Thus, you might lose your investment, because its just that, an investment. When somebody accepts debt as payment, which is pretty much whats going on behind all MZM, is when the doubling effect actually matters. So, the money supply is increased only when newly-issued debt is treated as transferable payment. The act of issuing the debt didn't create the money, the act of making it spendable leveraged it up.

Debt only becomes money when the promise to repay a loan gives the borrowed money its value. Exchanging already existing debt for already existing money could not possibly turn money into debt.

The difference that matters, is the size of each credit line.

What really matters is whether new money gets its value from new debt.
Exactly. A borrower with a fixed credit line can't ponzi forever, because eventually new debtors will say "your credit line has been consumed, now you have to start paying money back and can't borrow any more."
Central banks can issue notes, so their credit line is basically infinite. Commercial banks have a finite credit line (unless they're being lent to by a central bank).

It is borrowers, not loaners that have a credit line, and the credit line of the government is certainly not infinite (as the debt-ceiling soup opera shows). Additionally, for each dollar of reserve money commercial banks can create nine more, so their impact on the money supply is far larger than that of the central bank. The current situation, in which reserves sit at the central bank earning interest is a complete aberration (it is the system starting to eat its own tail).
Its borrowers (or issuers of their own credit) that have credit lines. The currency we use are Federal Reserve Notes, which are effectively unsecured, 0% interest debt. As long as we continue to use Federal Reserve Notes as our currency despite inflation, then we are giving the Federal Reserve an infinite line of credit.

It is the central bank that gives us (via the government) a line of credit, not conversely. Likewise, it is your bank that gives you a line of credit, not conversely. What we gave the central bank was the power to create money valued solely by our promise to repay that money after borrowing it from the same central bank. Only then, having received that power from us, can the central bank in turn give us a "line of credit."

The Federal Reserve uses this infinite line of credit to provide infinite demand for US Debt, which in turn provides the government with an infinite line of credit, in return for an ever-increasing share of their own debt to spend into the economy as they please.

How could demand be provided?

Nobody (including the government) gets indebted in exchange for the resulting debt (whatever that possibly means): they get indebted in exchange for money. It is the central bank that ends up holding government bonds, not the government, which in turn gets money to spend.

The debt ceiling isn't a limit on the USG's credit line, but an artificial construct created to make it look like the USG can be trusted with an infinite credit line because they won't actually run it up infinitely. It is entirely self-imposed. The fact that the existence of the debt ceiling actually causes creditors to further DOUBT the united states, is just so ass-backward its not even funny.

The only reason to self-impose a borrowing limit is the awareness that no credit line is "infinite."
sr. member
Activity: 448
Merit: 250
Sure, only not all debt is 'created money'; only spendable debt is (otherwise known as MZM).

Debt becomes money when banks create new money in exchange for new debt. The process of monetizing debt is first and foremost a process of money creation.
Except thats not the only way in which debt becomes money.

~.~

Look, fractional reserve creates money because you deposit money into a money market fund, and YOU supposedly have that money, then someone borrows some of that money, and spends it, and the person they gave it to deposits that money into a money market fund, and now THEY also have the same money. Thus, money was "created". No Federal Reserve involvement was needed. When one person defaults, the trickle-down effect works as if that money was destroyed TWICE, rather than just once.

The problem comes when that money becomes spendable, rather than just an asset. If you deposit into a CD/Bond, you know perfectly well you don't have that money, because you can't spend it. Thus, you might lose your investment, because its just that, an investment. When somebody accepts debt as payment, which is pretty much whats going on behind all MZM, is when the doubling effect actually matters. So, the money supply is increased only when newly-issued debt is treated as transferable payment. The act of issuing the debt didn't create the money, the act of making it spendable leveraged it up.
The difference that matters, is the size of each credit line.

What really matters is whether new money gets its value from new debt.
Exactly. A borrower with a fixed credit line can't ponzi forever, because eventually new debtors will say "your credit line has been consumed, now you have to start paying money back and can't borrow any more."
Central banks can issue notes, so their credit line is basically infinite. Commercial banks have a finite credit line (unless they're being lent to by a central bank).

It is borrowers, not loaners that have a credit line, and the credit line of the government is certainly not infinite (as the debt-ceiling soup opera shows). Additionally, for each dollar of reserve money commercial banks can create nine more, so their impact on the money supply is far larger than that of the central bank. The current situation, in which reserves sit at the central bank earning interest is a complete aberration (it is the system starting to eat its own tail).
Its borrowers (or issuers of their own credit) that have credit lines. The currency we use are Federal Reserve Notes, which are effectively unsecured, 0% interest debt. As long as we continue to use Federal Reserve Notes as our currency despite inflation, then we are giving the Federal Reserve an infinite line of credit. The Federal Reserve uses this infinite line of credit to provide infinite demand for US Debt, which in turn provides the government with an infinite line of credit, in return for an ever-increasing share of their own debt to spend into the economy as they please.

The debt ceiling isn't a limit on the USG's credit line, but an artificial construct created to make it look like the USG can be trusted with an infinite credit line because they won't actually run it up infinitely. It is entirely self-imposed. The fact that the existence of the debt ceiling actually causes creditors to further DOUBT the united states, is just so ass-backward its not even funny.
sr. member
Activity: 242
Merit: 250
Sure, only not all debt is 'created money'; only spendable debt is (otherwise known as MZM).

Debt becomes money when banks create new money in exchange for new debt. The process of monetizing debt is first and foremost a process of money creation.

The difference that matters, is the size of each credit line.

What really matters is whether new money gets its value from new debt.

Central banks can issue notes, so their credit line is basically infinite. Commercial banks have a finite credit line (unless they're being lent to by a central bank).

It is borrowers, not loaners that have a credit line, and the credit line of the government is certainly not infinite (as the debt-ceiling soup opera shows). Additionally, for each dollar of reserve money commercial banks can create nine more, so their impact on the money supply is far larger than that of the central bank. The current situation, in which reserves sit at the central bank earning interest is a complete aberration (it is the system starting to eat its own tail).
hero member
Activity: 798
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People don't use paper money in place of gold because paper money is easier to get. They use it in place of gold because they owe paper money, not gold.

And why do they owe paper money and not gold?
sr. member
Activity: 448
Merit: 250
Just what the heck. I don't even know what you're talking about. You seem to be under the impression that the easier something to get, the more likely it'll be used as money, when its really the opposite way around.

Riiight, that whole progression from gold to paper money apparently just went right over your head.

People don't use paper money in place of gold because paper money is easier to get. They use it in place of gold because they owe paper money, not gold.
sr. member
Activity: 242
Merit: 250
How are altcoins the perfect proxy? They float against BTC and therefore aren't a good proxy at all. If anything, the 'perfect' proxy would be coloured coins.

Because they completely invalidate the notion that bitcoin is some special butterfly with reserved status like gold. I guess a more accurate way to say it is that the cryptocurrency market aggregate as a whole is a proxy for money. If bitcoin's price is rising it is unappealing to borrow, so some will borrow in LTC or whatever else, reducing the necessity for FRB. It is far more agreeable to borrow real LTC than proxy-BTC, don't you think? Homerism aside, of course.

What exactly do you mean by "reserved status"?

Monetary proxies are used instead of money, not in parallel with it. The use of money and its proxies in parallel constitutes fraud.
sr. member
Activity: 448
Merit: 250
Why, exactly, not? People here seem to be acting like spendable debt is money 'created.' If you make a specific debt spendable, how are you not creating debt any less or more than the central bank?

When I exchange my credit for your money, I am just transferring that credit to you while you transfer your money to me. I am not monetizing credit. When the central bank becomes the creditor of the government, it does that by creating money that did not exist before that moment. For that money not to steal its value from already existing money (which it eventually will), the same value must come from the liability just created.

Ok, ok. I concede that a central bank is the only person who has the power to create M0.

But what about fractional reserve banking? You agree that they're "creating money", right? But they're not creating any M0, correct? So what are they doing? They're taking normal debt, and making it spendable. Thats the extent of them creating money, they exchange money for an IOU, and say "go spend this IOU as if it were money", while keeping your actual money. So now 2 people have the money.


Commercial banks do not make previously existing debt spendable: they create new debt, just as the central bank does

Sure, only not all debt is 'created money'; only spendable debt is (otherwise known as MZM). Changing old debt into MZM has the same real effect as creating new debt which is MZM.
Quote
. The only difference is each one's debtor: private entities for commercial banks, the government for the central bank.
The difference that matters, is the size of each credit line. Central banks can issue notes, so their credit line is basically infinite. Commercial banks have a finite credit line (unless they're being lent to by a central bank).
hero member
Activity: 798
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Just what the heck. I don't even know what you're talking about. You seem to be under the impression that the easier something to get, the more likely it'll be used as money, when its really the opposite way around.

Riiight, that whole progression from gold to paper money apparently just went right over your head.
sr. member
Activity: 242
Merit: 250
Why, exactly, not? People here seem to be acting like spendable debt is money 'created.' If you make a specific debt spendable, how are you not creating debt any less or more than the central bank?

When I exchange my credit for your money, I am just transferring that credit to you while you transfer your money to me. I am not monetizing credit. When the central bank becomes the creditor of the government, it does that by creating money that did not exist before that moment. For that money not to steal its value from already existing money (which it eventually will), the same value must come from the liability just created.

Ok, ok. I concede that a central bank is the only person who has the power to create M0.

But what about fractional reserve banking? You agree that they're "creating money", right? But they're not creating any M0, correct? So what are they doing? They're taking normal debt, and making it spendable. Thats the extent of them creating money, they exchange money for an IOU, and say "go spend this IOU as if it were money", while keeping your actual money. So now 2 people have the money.


Commercial banks do not make previously existing debt spendable: they create new debt, just as the central bank does. The only difference is each one's debtor: private entities for commercial banks, the government for the central bank. The process is essentially the same, although historically commercial banking comes first.
sr. member
Activity: 448
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How are altcoins the perfect proxy? They float against BTC and therefore aren't a good proxy at all. If anything, the 'perfect' proxy would be coloured coins.

Because they completely invalidate the notion that bitcoin is some special butterfly with reserved status like gold. I guess a more accurate way to say it is that the cryptocurrency market aggregate as a whole is a proxy for money. If bitcoin's price is rising it is unappealing to borrow, so some will borrow in LTC or whatever else, reducing the necessity for FRB. It is far more agreeable to borrow real LTC than proxy-BTC, don't you think? Homerism aside, of course.

Just what the heck. I don't even know what you're talking about. You seem to be under the impression that the easier something to get, the more likely it'll be used as money, when its really the opposite way around.
hero member
Activity: 798
Merit: 1000
How are altcoins the perfect proxy? They float against BTC and therefore aren't a good proxy at all. If anything, the 'perfect' proxy would be coloured coins.

Because they completely invalidate the notion that bitcoin is some special butterfly with reserved status like gold. I guess a more accurate way to say it is that the cryptocurrency market aggregate as a whole is a proxy for money. If bitcoin's price is rising it is unappealing to borrow, so some will borrow in LTC or whatever else, reducing the necessity for FRB. It is far more agreeable to borrow real LTC than proxy-BTC, don't you think? Homerism aside, of course.
sr. member
Activity: 448
Merit: 250
Why, exactly, not? People here seem to be acting like spendable debt is money 'created.' If you make a specific debt spendable, how are you not creating debt any less or more than the central bank?

When I exchange my credit for your money, I am just transferring that credit to you while you transfer your money to me. I am not monetizing credit. When the central bank becomes the creditor of the government, it does that by creating money that did not exist before that moment. For that money not to steal its value from already existing money (which it eventually will), the same value must come from the liability just created.

Ok, ok. I concede that a central bank is the only person who has the power to create M0.

But what about fractional reserve banking? You agree that they're "creating money", right? But they're not creating any M0, correct? So what are they doing? They're taking normal debt, and making it spendable. Thats the extent of them creating money, they exchange money for an IOU, and say "go spend this IOU as if it were money", while keeping your actual money. So now 2 people have the money.
sr. member
Activity: 242
Merit: 250
Why, exactly, not? People here seem to be acting like spendable debt is money 'created.' If you make a specific debt spendable, how are you not creating debt any less or more than the central bank?

When I exchange my credit for your money, I am just transferring that credit to you while you transfer your money to me. I am not monetizing credit. When the central bank becomes the creditor of the government, it does that by creating money that did not exist before that moment. For that money not to steal its value from already existing money (which it eventually will), the same value must come from the liability just created. This is what monetizing credit looks like.
sr. member
Activity: 448
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So, by buying corporate bonds, are you turning debt into money?

Not me: the central bank. I cannot create money.

Why, exactly, not? People here seem to be acting like spendable debt is money 'created.' If you make a specific debt spendable, how are you not creating debt any less or more than the central bank?

Seems like you two are arguing over semantic differences more than anything else.

Quote from: mirelo
However, we need not worry too much about all this because Bitcoin proxies have no inherent reason to be more convenient than bitcoins themselves.

Perhaps not more or less convenient, but potentially more available. If proxies are not available for bitcoin, then the likely result is little lending at all. With or without the proxies, one has to tread a very fine line with bankruptcy risks. However, we know that proxies for bitcoin will exist and they will be plentiful. See: altcoins, the perfect proxy.

How are altcoins the perfect proxy? They float against BTC and therefore aren't a good proxy at all. If anything, the 'perfect' proxy would be coloured coins.
sr. member
Activity: 242
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Seems like you two are arguing over semantic differences more than anything else.

Quote from: mirelo
However, we need not worry too much about all this because Bitcoin proxies have no inherent reason to be more convenient than bitcoins themselves.

Perhaps not more or less convenient, but potentially more available. If proxies are not available for bitcoin, then the likely result is little lending at all. With or without the proxies, one has to tread a very fine line with bankruptcy risks. However, we know that proxies for bitcoin will exist and they will be plentiful. See: altcoins, the perfect proxy.

Altcoins are not Bitcoin proxies: they are competing (or complimentary) currencies.

There is no other social, public reason for the existence of monetary proxies other than convenience. Of course, there is an individual, private reason for their existence, which is to take wealth from other people without their noticing it.
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hero member
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Seems like you two are arguing over semantic differences more than anything else.

Quote from: mirelo
However, we need not worry too much about all this because Bitcoin proxies have no inherent reason to be more convenient than bitcoins themselves.

Perhaps not more or less convenient, but potentially more available. If proxies are not available for bitcoin, then the likely result is little lending at all. With or without the proxies, one has to tread a very fine line with bankruptcy risks. However, we know that proxies for bitcoin will exist and they will be plentiful. See: altcoins, the perfect proxy.
sr. member
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So, by buying corporate bonds, are you turning debt into money?

Not me: the central bank. I cannot create money.
sr. member
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I don't understand ow and why you seem to think the process of making an IOU spendable somehow changes it from a payable IOU to a non-payable IOU.

What you don't understand is that the moment you make any IOU "spendable" you turn it into money. However, IOUs are not money. They are the owing of money: they are debt, not money. The moment you turn them into actual money you need more money to pay interest on old money (debt principal). Finally, since you turned IOUs into actual money, the new money will be more IOUs, which will require more interest payments, hence more debt-based money, then even more interest payments, etc.

So, by buying corporate bonds, are you turning debt into money?

Seriously. Assets are always exchangable for other assets. Money owed to you is an asset. It isn't money because it doesn't have a standardized worth. Calling debt money when its spendable is like calling a house money when you sell it.
sr. member
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I don't understand ow and why you seem to think the process of making an IOU spendable somehow changes it from a payable IOU to a non-payable IOU.

What you don't understand is that the moment you make any IOU "spendable" you turn it into money. However, IOUs are not money. They are the owing of money: they are debt, not money. The moment you turn them into actual money you need more money to pay interest on old money (debt principal). Finally, since you turned IOUs into actual money, the new money will be more IOUs, which will require more interest payments, hence more debt-based money, then even more interest payments, etc.
sr. member
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Monetary proxies exist because they serve a purpose.

Of course, they serve a purpose, which is not making loans possible, but rather making money circulation easier. Before loaning receipts for deposited gold, people loaned the gold, which nobody could multiply at will: Bitcoin makes this possible again. You need not scam people in order to loan them your money.

What are you even talking about. Sure, they make money circulation easier, but so would non-fractional reserve.

That is precisely what I said: monetary proxies are not exclusive to fractional-reserve banking - nor is their purpose.

There needs not to be a centralized authority in order for a fractional reserve multiplying effect to occur. Person A lends person B 10 BTC, person B gives 10 BTC to person C, person C lends person D 10 BTC, then person A & person C want to buy coffee but don't have the money since they lent it, but the person selling the coffee decides to accept Person B and person D's IOUs instead of actual money because they carry an interest rate, and he knows Person B and Person D to be reliable.

Since the 2 IOUs act as currency, 30 BTC worth of goods were exchanged, and 10 BTC is still owned by a borrower about to be spent, so the money was effectively quadrupled, and there was no central reserve authority.

Let us play this game: imagine everyone using Bitcoin IOUs thus partially replacing Bitcoin as money while multiplying the supply of "bitcoins" by, say, ten. Then, answer me: since the supply of actual bitcoins is fixed, from where would come the additional bitcoins to pay the outstanding interest on those IOUs?
The same way all debt is paid back, by the debtor working harder in the future, or defaulting and losing his property.

I don't understand ow and why you seem to think the process of making an IOU spendable somehow changes it from a payable IOU to a non-payable IOU.
Quote
Would we create new IOUs for paying interest on the old ones? Then create even more IOUs, until we eventually start backing IOUs with IOUs and utterly forget about bitcoins?
the only case in which new IOUs are created to pay interest on the old ones is if both the creditor and the debtor is irresponsible, since nobody would accept such worthless debt as payment and the debt has no way in which it can actually be paid back.
Quote
Of course, this game is meaningless from the start since no coffee seller would prefer to rely on debtors just to gain interest on their debt instead of owning an ever-appreciating money that requires trusting nobody.
So, you think that nobody accepts Inputs.Io? Coinbase? etc...
sr. member
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Monetary proxies exist because they serve a purpose.

Of course, they serve a purpose, which is not making loans possible, but rather making money circulation easier. Before loaning receipts for deposited gold, people loaned the gold, which nobody could multiply at will: Bitcoin makes this possible again. You need not scam people in order to loan them your money.

What are you even talking about. Sure, they make money circulation easier, but so would non-fractional reserve.

That is precisely what I said: monetary proxies are not exclusive to fractional-reserve banking - nor is their purpose.

There needs not to be a centralized authority in order for a fractional reserve multiplying effect to occur. Person A lends person B 10 BTC, person B gives 10 BTC to person C, person C lends person D 10 BTC, then person A & person C want to buy coffee but don't have the money since they lent it, but the person selling the coffee decides to accept Person B and person D's IOUs instead of actual money because they carry an interest rate, and he knows Person B and Person D to be reliable.

Since the 2 IOUs act as currency, 30 BTC worth of goods were exchanged, and 10 BTC is still owned by a borrower about to be spent, so the money was effectively quadrupled, and there was no central reserve authority.

Let us play this game: imagine everyone using Bitcoin IOUs thus partially replacing Bitcoin as money while multiplying the supply of "bitcoins" by, say, ten. Then, answer me: since the supply of actual bitcoins is fixed, from where would come the additional bitcoins to pay the outstanding interest on those IOUs? Would we create new IOUs for paying interest on the old ones? Then create even more IOUs, until we eventually start backing IOUs with IOUs and utterly forget about bitcoins?

Of course, this game is meaningless from the start since no coffee seller would prefer to rely on debtors just to gain interest on their debt instead of owning an ever-appreciating money that requires trusting nobody.
sr. member
Activity: 448
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Monetary proxies exist because they serve a purpose.

Of course, they serve a purpose, which is not making loans possible, but rather making money circulation easier. Before loaning receipts for deposited gold, people loaned the gold, which nobody could multiply at will: Bitcoin makes this possible again. You need not scam people in order to loan them your money.

What are you even talking about. Sure, they make money circulation easier, but so would non-fractional reserve.

There needs not to be a centralized authority in order for a fractional reserve multiplying effect to occur. Person A lends person B 10 BTC, person B gives 10 BTC to person C, person C lends person D 10 BTC, then person A & person C want to buy coffee but don't have the money since they lent it, but the person selling the coffee decides to accept Person B and person D's IOUs instead of actual money because they carry an interest rate, and he knows Person B and Person D to be reliable.

Since the 2 IOUs act as currency, 30 BTC worth of goods were exchanged, and 10 BTC is still owned by a borrower about to be spent, so the money was effectively quadrupled, and there was no central reserve authority.
sr. member
Activity: 242
Merit: 250
Monetary proxies exist because they serve a purpose.

Of course, they serve a purpose, which is not making loans possible, but rather making money circulation easier. Before loaning receipts for deposited gold, people loaned the gold, which nobody could multiply at will: Bitcoin makes this possible again. You need not scam people in order to loan them your money.
sr. member
Activity: 448
Merit: 250
There is a huge difference between a Bitcoin 'proxy' and a Gold proxy. Gox-Bitcoin, Bitstamp-Bitcoin, Coinbase-Bitcoin, those are all Bitcoin 'proxies.' Do those eventually obsolete Bitcoin? Obviously not, because merchants can easily accept Bitcoin itself, not the proxy, and thus the proxy is constantly being converted into the base currency.

Money proxies go through many stages. In the beginnings of gold-based fractional-reserve banking, although goldsmiths gave people receipts for deposited gold, those receipts were not yet money: people started using them as money because they were much more convenient than the gold they represented. Then, goldsmiths started loaning receipts for nonexistent gold. Fast-forward to 1971: Nixon eliminates the last vestige of gold-backing from the dollar. Do not get fooled by the seeming innocence of monetary proxies.
Monetary proxies exist because they serve a purpose. What do you suggest, banning them all? So much for the free market  Undecided
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Still, you are not just talking about money proxies, but about those proxies in the context of fractional-reserve banking. In other words, you already start in a relatively advanced stage of monetary proxy development. In that stage, fractionally backed proxies are loaned recursively at interest, so:

1. Their supply must become a multiple of the money supply they represent.
And how can you possibly protect yourself against this? Banning loans altogether?

Say you are an 'innocent' loanbroker. Mr. Money comes in with 10 BTC, and says 'hey, lend this out and pay me 1% interest.' So you accept the money, and lend it out. Is there anything fraudulent about that transaction? Then, another person comes in with 10 BTC, and says 'hey, lend this out and pay me 1% interest.' What exactly are you going to do, make them prove its not the same money? Of course not, you're going to take it, and re-lend it out as well. And if it was the same money? Then you "created" 20 BTC, when Mr. Money goes up to another person and says "hey, I lent this 10 BTC 6 months ago at 1% interest, want to buy it from me for 10 BTC, you'll make that 1% as profit at the end of the year?"

Who exactly is at fault in this scenario? Mr. Money asked you to invest his money. Is that in any way fraudulent? Nope. You did what he told you to do. Is that fraudulent? Nope. Somebody borrowed from you, using the rates you stated. Obviously, thats fine as well. Then he spent the money, and the person who got the money, who had no way of knowing it was borrowed, invested it in turn.  Is that fraudulent? Of course not. Then, Mr. Money sold your debt, while fully representing what it is, and a person bought it, because buying the debt made logical sense.

Nobody did anything wrong. Unless you are for banning debt entirely, fractional reserve can and will happen in one form or another because  people want to borrow, people want to lend, and money lent to you is an asset, an asset that can be bought and sold just like any other asset.

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2. Even more money must be created to pay the resulting interest.
Okay, no. If I give you 10 BTC, you lend it out, and owe me 10.5 BTC, and get a borrower to promise to pay you 11 BTC, and somebody spends  that 10 BTC again, and that 10 BTC is lent to you again, and you owe 10.5 BTC, and you get another borrower to promise to pay you back 11 BTC, that additional 2 BTC that you say must be 'created', will, in a free market, either be (A) earned by the borrowers or (B) destroyed, when a default occurs.

The only reason why in the USD system dollars must constantly be created to pay the resulting interest is because there is effectively no M0, and every dollar carries an interest rate payable to the federal reserve, who in turn passes a fraction of those profits to banks. There is no such constant 'leak' of value of all Bitcoins, because they don't carry an interest rate payable to anyone.
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Because no more bitcoins can be created, the ratio of bitcoin to its proxy representations must continually decrease, just like that of gold to dollars continually decreased, eventually reaching zero.

However, we need not worry too much about all this because Bitcoin proxies have no inherent reason to be more convenient than bitcoins themselves.
Obviously they are more convenient because, of course, they will earn you interest if you invest your Bitcoins into them. Which means people, for fairly clear reasons, will do so.
sr. member
Activity: 242
Merit: 250
There is a huge difference between a Bitcoin 'proxy' and a Gold proxy. Gox-Bitcoin, Bitstamp-Bitcoin, Coinbase-Bitcoin, those are all Bitcoin 'proxies.' Do those eventually obsolete Bitcoin? Obviously not, because merchants can easily accept Bitcoin itself, not the proxy, and thus the proxy is constantly being converted into the base currency.

Money proxies go through many stages. In the beginnings of gold-based fractional-reserve banking, although goldsmiths gave people receipts for deposited gold, those receipts were not yet money: people started using them as money because they were much more convenient than the gold they represented. Then, goldsmiths started loaning receipts for nonexistent gold. Fast-forward to 1971: Nixon eliminates the last vestige of gold-backing from the dollar. Do not get fooled by the seeming innocence of monetary proxies.

Still, you are not just talking about money proxies, but about those proxies in the context of fractional-reserve banking. In other words, you already start in a relatively advanced stage of monetary proxy development. In that stage, fractionally backed proxies are loaned recursively at interest, so:

1. Their supply must become a multiple of the money supply they represent.

2. Even more money must be created to pay the resulting interest.

Because no more bitcoins can be created, the ratio of bitcoin to its proxy representations must continually decrease, just like that of gold to dollars continually decreased, eventually reaching zero.

However, we need not worry too much about all this because Bitcoin proxies have no inherent reason to be more convenient than bitcoins themselves.
sr. member
Activity: 448
Merit: 250
Fractional-reserve banking based on Bitcoin must replace Bitcoin with a Bitcoin proxy, just like fractional-reserve banking based on gold replaced gold with a gold proxy.
There is a huge difference between a Bitcoin 'proxy' and a Gold proxy. Gox-Bitcoin, Bitstamp-Bitcoin, Coinbase-Bitcoin, those are all Bitcoin 'proxies.' Do those eventually obsolete Bitcoin? Obviously not, because merchants can easily accept Bitcoin itself, not the proxy, and thus the proxy is constantly being converted into the base currency.

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The only difference is that the money supply available for bank reserves would be fixed and easily verifiable, so the central bank no longer could create money against government debt. However, fractional-reserve banking eventually requires the central bank to have that ability which would in turn press for the conversion of Bitcoin proxies into independent money based on debt, just like today.
Wait, what? I have no idea what you're talking about. The only reason why a central bank exists in the first place is because of its government-sponsored monopoly. How exactly would a Bitcoin 'central bank' ever begin to exist? If people really wanted, in a free market, a central bank's inflated money more than Bitcoin, that would prove that the central bank is providing a service that is worth more to people than the devaluation of their currency.
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  So fractional-reserve banking based on Bitcoin is just its own programmed obsolescence.

The final question, of course, being "is gold 'obsolete'?"

sr. member
Activity: 242
Merit: 250
Traditional Fractional Reserve: Gold
The traditional form of Fractional Reserve is that of Gold. Depositors, due to practicality, must usually deposit their Gold into a bank so as to allow convenient transactions. There are some maintenance costs associated with storing gold, so the bank must either engage in Fractional Reserve practices, or charge the Depositors, either in the form of transaction fees (this possibility is greatly increased due to the internet) or through periodic holding fees. If Fractional Reserve occurs, it is difficult for the customer to verify how much gold is actually in reserve, thus making the process even more dubious. However, the bank is ultimately responsible for its own lending practices to avoid a bank run, so it can be argued that in a free-market scenario most trusted banks would be responsible with user's deposits. Also, the system is somewhat stable, since without the existence of Fractional Reserve banking, there is still a finite amount of base currency which can be used to sustain market activity, although depending on the gravity of the credit collapse, there is a possibility of severe deflation. Finally, no bank has an infinite line of credit since a bank must still loan out Gold, and cannot loan out more Gold than it has. It can lend the same gold multiple times to create a similar effect, but this cannot be done by the bank "whenever."

Modern Fractional Reserve: Fiat
Currently, fractional reserve banking is done in Fiat, which might also be called "no-reserve banking." In this system, all currency is created through a fractional reserve process which begins when government bonds are exchanged for the first fiat notes. It is difficult for the customer to verify how many fiat notes any bank has in reserve. The bank is not responsible for its own lending practices to avoid a bank run, since more fiat will be lent to it by a Central Bank. This Central Bank effectively does have an  infinite line of credit since it is the issuer of the monetary base consisting of fiat notes. As such this scenario is by definition, not a free market. Finally, the system is not stable because without any debt (public or private) no currency can exist in the system. This means that, even in a 'fiscally responsible' scenario assuming no expenditures on the part of governments, constant inflation must be maintained to pay back the interest associated with this debt. The deflationary problem under this system can be avoided.

Bitcoin Fractional Reserve
Bitcoin fractional reserve is like gold in that the bank's are responsible for their own lending practices and that a monetary base exists outside of the fractional reserve system. However under Bitcoin, it is potentially possible for a bank to provably show it has a reserve, and to quantify that reserve. Also, there is less need to engage in depositing Bitcoins at all, since transactions can easily occur outside of any banking system. The problem of deflation in the case of a fractional reserve collapse still exists, however.

Fractional-reserve banking based on Bitcoin must replace Bitcoin with a Bitcoin proxy, just like fractional-reserve banking based on gold replaced gold with a gold proxy. The only difference is that the money supply available for bank reserves would be fixed and easily verifiable, so the central bank no longer could create money against government debt. However, fractional-reserve banking eventually requires the central bank to have that ability, which would in turn press for the conversion of Bitcoin proxies into independent money based on debt, just like today. So fractional-reserve banking based on Bitcoin is just its own programmed obsolescence.
sr. member
Activity: 448
Merit: 250
Traditional Fractional Reserve: Gold
The traditional form of Fractional Reserve is that of Gold. Depositors, due to practicality, must usually deposit their Gold into a bank so as to allow convenient transactions. There are some maintenance costs associated with storing gold, so the bank must either engage in Fractional Reserve practices, or charge the Depositors, either in the form of transaction fees (this possibility is greatly increased due to the internet) or through periodic holding fees. If Fractional Reserve occurs, it is difficult for the customer to verify how much gold is actually in reserve, thus making the process even more dubious. However, the bank is ultimately responsible for its own lending practices to avoid a bank run, so it can be argued that in a free-market scenario most trusted banks would be responsible with user's deposits. Also, the system is somewhat stable, since without the existence of Fractional Reserve banking, there is still a finite amount of base currency which can be used to sustain market activity, although depending on the gravity of the credit collapse, there is a possibility of severe deflation. Finally, no bank has an infinite line of credit since a bank must still loan out Gold, and cannot loan out more Gold than it has. It can lend the same gold multiple times to create a similar effect, but this cannot be done by the bank "whenever."

Modern Fractional Reserve: Fiat
Currently, fractional reserve banking is done in Fiat, which might also be called "no-reserve banking." In this system, all currency is created through a fractional reserve process which begins when government bonds are exchanged for the first fiat notes. It is difficult for the customer to verify how many fiat notes any bank has in reserve. The bank is not responsible for its own lending practices to avoid a bank run, since more fiat will be lent to it by a Central Bank. This Central Bank effectively does have an  infinite line of credit since it is the issuer of the monetary base consisting of fiat notes. As such this scenario is by definition, not a free market. Finally, the system is not stable because without any debt (public or private) no currency can exist in the system. This means that, even in a 'fiscally responsible' scenario assuming no expenditures on the part of governments, constant inflation must be maintained to pay back the interest associated with this debt. The deflationary problem under this system can be avoided.

Bitcoin Fractional Reserve
Bitcoin fractional reserve is like gold in that the bank's are responsible for their own lending practices and that a monetary base exists outside of the fractional reserve system. However under Bitcoin, it is potentially possible for a bank to provably show it has a reserve, and to quantify that reserve. Also, there is less need to engage in depositing Bitcoins at all, since transactions can easily occur outside of any banking system. The problem of deflation in the case of a fractional reserve collapse still exists, however.
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