Much like a pandemic, inflation has spread throughout the world, clouding the future with dark uncertainty.
Disagreement over how to best manage soaring prices in the United Kingdom nearly caused its economy to collapse and subsequently led to the resignation of Prime Minister Liz Truss after just 44 days in office. Currently, at least 10 emerging economies are hyperinflationary, with more expected to follow. And the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the part of the U.S. Federal Reserve responsible for keeping prices stable,
A truly viable global reserve currency will likely have to break from this fiduciary tradition and be anchored to a stable value.
But none of these concerns seem to be keeping software developers from experimenting with DeFi. There are cryptocurrencies designed for a variety of user needs, from privacy-focused tokens used largely for darknet market transactions to network-specific currencies used to power transaction verifications.
These types of limited practical use cases might be an important distinction for a viable reserve cryptocurrency. The point is not to compete with the dollar, but to give other nations an alternative to the dollar during periods of heightened volatility — in essence, an anti-inflation cryptocurrency to help shift the world away from endless boom-bust cycles and towards steady, sustainable global growth.
One day, many years from now, people will look back on what we did to prevent an impending global catastrophe. Were we content to fiddle with interest rates as the world descended into chaos, or did we commit to bold modernization during a time of great uncertainty? Whatever history remembers of us, the question our actions today will answer is this: If we are indeed living under a broken system where our best policy tools cannot save us from imminent economic failure, why are we not trying something new and different?
It is time for us to take courageous, decisive action and write a new Bretton Woods Agreement to safeguard the world’s future — but this time, in Solidity.
James Song is a behavioral economist and software developer specializing in sustainable digital currencies. He completed his undergraduate career at Harvard University and received a master’s degree in neuroscience from University College London.
This article is for general information purposes and is not intended to be and should not be taken as legal or investment advice. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed here are the author’s alone and do not necessarily reflect or represent the views and opinions of Cointelegraph.
