The bigger picture + a call to action

The promise of crypto

I'm a strong believer in / advocate of crypto, and I don't see a world where it isn't the future. Bitcoin was born out of the prior financial crisis, with the promise to save us from the next one (which many believe will be far worse due to the unsustainable nature of our modern financial system). In the decade since, crypto development & growth has been truly inspiring.

Still I wonder, what if a collapse happens tomorrow? I'd venture to guess that there aren't many experts in the space who believe that any coin is ready to fully fill the void if fiat currencies failed today. Crypto is the future. We're getting there, but even if it's only a couple years off, we're in a precarious situation right now.

What can we do about it?

To those here because they're trying to make the world a better place, I ask - why is the crypto community not broadly raising awareness/education about the problems with the modern financial system, and even going so far as to promote precious metals as an interim solution while crypto matures? If much of the population owned at least a small amount of gold/silver, it would likely be seen as legitimate money during a financial crisis, greatly reducing social instability in such an event.

Would I rather crypto filled this role? Yes, but again, until it's ready for everyone's daily use...

Even if most people had only a few ounces of silver, that would likely be more than enough to jumpstart the economy following a collapse. In the immediate aftermath, precious metals would augment barter to fuel local economies (where the bulk of economic activity would be at first), and crypto would fuel online trade (starting small but bouncing back as crypto could handle it). Eventually crypto would complement and mostly replace precious metals in local trade too.

Better together

An educated population who owns precious metals is good for crypto. Gold/silver are an effective foot-in-the-door to wean people off fiat, especially because (prior to a fiat crash) most people are unlikely to entrust their savings to anything which has a limited track record. Once fiat begins to crash and people begin seeking new solutions, the surge in crypto load (given the state of tech today) will make it impractical for daily use, and gold/silver present an opportunity to avoid this. As crypto can increasingly pick up the load for daily use, people will be primed to adopt it since they 1) will already be skeptical of fiat and 2) will more easily recognize the unique value that crypto brings (for scenarios which are problematic with gold/silver).

Beyond helping prepare for a financial crisis, following such an event, precious metals continue to provide physical support so that crypto doesn't fall over while the tech is being built. At first, crypto will be more for saving and precious metals will be for spending. Rather than store a large, obvious stack of metals, people can use crypto to better conceal and secure vast portions of their wealth, using these crypto wallets as bank accounts. Businesses will be formed to exchange precious metals to/from crypto, and once a month or so (to minimize costs for expensive tx fees), people will "withdraw" their local spending money by exchanging crypto for physical coins. Over time, the need for physical largely goes away.

Call to action

What we need is a holistic plan to avoid chaos, not tunnel vision, an all-or-nothing attitude, or against-all-odds hope. We need to be pouring effort into widespread education about the workings of the financial system (including videos like The Hidden Secrets of Money episodes 4 & 7 but without the infomercial vibe), and to encourage everyone to build at least a small portfolio of crypto for the long term, and precious metals in case of an interim emergency.

Given what's at stake and the time pressures involved, this is at least as important as the technology investments which are so prominent today. Yes, every coin is competing against the others, and it's not in its interest to divert resources into more general education. So to those who entered crypto early, are in it for the right reasons, and have the resources to apply, I urge you to consider doing so. I'm happy to contribute (mostly time) beyond this call to action.

While crypto matures, being able to fall back to a tried-and-true monetary system is our best shot of getting through the next financial crisis in one piece. What ideas do you have to meaningfully move the needle as quickly as possible?