Friday 1 September 2017

Blockchain and traditional monetary system

The current global monetary system is based on a system of credit. The credit of any currency is backed by its government, so these with stable values are backed governments with higher credit ratings. Here is a question that why we are trusting the credit of governments and the money they create. The answer is simple, because the existences and the conditions of governments are more observable, they have relationships with everyone in the society they are governing. Therefore, the information asymmetry between governments and their people are relatively eased. This is why we can trust the money printed out by our central banks. This could be proved by our history. Centuries ago, people used precise metals as money, they did not trust any form of money their government produced, especially the paper money. This was because at that time, access to information was extremely difficult that people did not have enough information about their governments, they were unable to monitor their governments' behavior or actions, therefore they were unable to trust their government. Nowadays, when access to information is much easier than previous, many forms of exchange mediums have been invented. Vouchers could be seen as exchange mediums invented by shops that customers indirectly bought in vouchers for their future consumption.

The invention of blockchain can even further improve the information symmetry in the market. Blockchain basically is a tool that sends information to everyone and as everyone knows an event, the event is fully credible and accepted. Under this technology, the information asymmetry is eliminated. As all information is delivered, the trust is easier to be built and treats are impossible to take place. This will encourage further decentralisation, as central government or central bank is a medium for everyone to build a trusted monetary system with each other in the community. 

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