this post was submitted on 10 Jul 2025
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Couple of issues here - first, for the Euro to be used as a reserve currency, the EU would have to be a net importer of goods (and exporter of Euros). But EU policy is based on avoiding deficits. Second, for the Euro to be taken seriously by other countries, there should be something manufactured by the EU, that can, at least in theory, be bought with it. But the EU's manufacturing sector, particularly in Germany, is collapsing.
Well. There was a time when currencies were to an extent interoperable, via a certain portion of silver called joachimstaler, or just taler, or yefimok, or dollar ... being approximately the same everywhere. Still, that was mostly used in colonies and in international trade, locally they'd use different incompatible currencies.
Funny you should mention that. I was reading some discussion that several countries' central banks are buying up gold. There was also one guy speculating that they might make some sort of gold-backed currency for international trade.
Time is a circle, etc.
This is also funny in the sense that one of explanations of Bitcoin is "digital gold" - that world economies and societies went in a wrong direction once they stopped being gold-backed, except gold and everything RL is controlled by governments, while Bitcoin is a subject to freedom of speech and whatever.
An already archaic viewpoint TBH, that many even western governments respect freedom of anything and human rights. And in another sense too archaic - the idea that a currency being gold-backed is something valuable was kinda libertarian around year 2007.
Which is also an answer to people saying that Bitcoin is not backed by anything (like country's economy in this sense and not technical ability to exchange it for gold), it's the main cryptocurrency, and it seems to work well enough despite high volatility.
This won't be a circle though. Today they really like their control and surveillance. A gold-backed currency is where anyone owning N of M can exchange them to gold with which an M is guaranteed by a rate that doesn't change, load that gold into bags, carry it to another country, go to a bank and exchange that gold to its currency. Perhaps declaring that they are carrying that gold at customs.
Gold-backed for governments - we-ell, maybe in some way.