Episode 99 Audio: Matt Stoller

This week’s episode with writer Matt Stoller takes us to that million-dollar question (probably more than a million-dollar question, actually): Is crypto just a scam? After all, can’t we apply all of the negatives of crypto to fiat currency? Isn’t it all made-up on some level? Matt argues that the governmental institutions that support fiat currency, as well as its societal usage, draw an important distinction between, say, the dollar and the bitcoin. He also responds to the contention that crypto’s strengths lie in its decentralization and frictionless transfer by making the case for a stronger U.S. banking system in general. There’s nothing necessary or unavoidable about the woes of our financial system, which he traces to corruption.

Crypto, he contends, is really at core just a “shitty spreadsheet” with fake money that allows for money laundering and results in massive crashes and upheavals, like what we saw this week with FTX’s downfall (discussed at length in this week’s episode). So the problem then becomes: What do we do about the corruption in our financial system? And what will come from our taking it on?

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