3’37”

2018

A little better is the result of a six-month research on cryptocurrency trading in instant messaging platforms. For millennia, currencies were backed up by physical assets. Then, in 1971, Richard Nixon announced the end of the gold-reserve backed up dollar. Ever since, the value of all world currencies was entrusted to promises made by state authorities and central banks. For the first time in history, cryptocurrencies allow the creation and transfer of wealth within decentralized stateless protocols. Weeks before Nixon terminated the gold standard, he was secretly recorded talking about the economy. In a moment of brutal honesty, or perhaps self-delusion, he admitted, “We are just running the chaos a little better.” Almost half a century later, the rise of cryptocurrencies may be fuelled by delusional thinking and hope. It makes sense to ask if it’s sustainable, or even rational. Perhaps it’s not. But today, neither is the world economy.