Strike CEO Jack Mallers Calls Bitcoin The “Central Bank Of The Internet”
Bitcoin is a lot of things to many people – digital gold, a speculative investment, a technological experiment, a decentralized replacement for fiat money, etc.
But being compared to a central bank is probably the last thing cryptocurrency creator Satoshi Nakamoto expected his creation to be compared to. However, that’s what Strike CEO Jack Mallers says in a new Twitter thread. He is right?
Jack Mallers Makes Stunning Statement About BTC
Jack Mallers is the CEO of Chicago-based payment provider BTC Strike and has played a crucial role in bringing Bitcoin widely to El Salvador. In a new Twitter thread, he likens the leading cryptocurrency to a central bank – more specifically, the “central banking system of the internet”.
The Bitcoin Network (often abbreviated to #Bitcoinor simply BTC) is the central banking system of the internet (or internet).
—Jack Mallers (@jackmallers) February 21, 2023
Comparing Bitcoin to the Central Banking System
Within the coinbase of the first block on the Bitcoin chain, the so-called Genesis block contains the text “The Times 03/Jan/2009 Chancellor on the brink of second bank bailout”.
The newspaper’s headline references the continued efforts by governments and central banks to save smaller banks from collapsing in the midst of the Great Financial Crisis of 2008. During the collapse, British bank Northern Rock, seeking emergency assistance, opened the first bank in the country for over 150 years.
Central banks were introduced for a variety of reasons – such as controlling the money supply, inflation and interest rates. But most importantly, a central bank’s role is as a lender of last resort, designed to prevent the ongoing bank runs that occurred before the Wall Street Panic of 1929.
Despite Bitcoin being created in protest of such policies, which can have dangerous effects that citizens have no say in, central banks bailing out other banks is exactly what they should be doing. And if that is the purpose of a central bank, is it really accurate to call Bitcoin the “central banking system of the internet” or to compare it to a central bank?
BTC versus the stock market since the 2008 Great Financial Crisis | BTCUSD on TradingView.com
Did Strike’s CEO get it right?
The answer is yes.” Bitcoin was designed to complement the internet as an emerging economy and rescue it from government control and free from the impact of traditional central bank monetary policies.
Maller’s Twitter thread says that the Bitcoin network was made to “alleviate financial crises”, just as central banks are supposed to do. The big difference between Bitcoin and central banks is that the government’s “privilege” cannot increase the supply of BTC like the current fiat system.
It’s been over 14 years since the inception of cryptocurrency and the world is bracing itself for another financial system meltdown. Is Bitcoin Ready to Rescue the Internet from the Next Big Financial Crisis? And do you agree with Jack?