What you'll learn in this module
- βWhy the money in your bank account is not legally yours
- βWhy inflation is called an 'invisible tax'
- βHow these problems connect to the birth of Bitcoin
πΈ
The money in your bank account is not legally yours
The moment you deposit money in a bank, legal ownership transfers to the bank. What you retain is a promise β an "obligation to return the money later" (a debt claim).
If the bank fails? That promise disappears. If the government freezes your account? You cannot withdraw a single cent. If inflation continues? Your balance stays the same but what you can buy shrinks every year.
This is not a hypothetical. These things have actually happened.
Real events of the last 20 years
This is not a conspiracy theory.
In all four events, a third party (bank, government, or international institution) determined what happened to individuals' money. So β can we build a monetary system that works without a trusted third party? That question gave birth to Bitcoin.