10 Counter-Arguments to Yuval Harari`s BITCOIN Narrative

Yuval Harari tweeted this peculiar video on his X account this week. The white background with his white shirt is odd and the closeness of his face to the camera is even more weird. Tweet

Watch the story he is crafting.

Bitcoin originates from DISTRUST therefore it can’t be integrated, embraced, or used, from FINANCE which is about creating TRUST.

Apparently, the story idea was first broadcast at the BIS summit in Basel, in early May.

Yuval Harari wants to spread this story beyond the walls of the BIS Summit and therefore, created the white-on-white, close-up clip to get the message out.

BITCOIN THE CURRENCY OF DISTRUST CAN’T BELONG TO FINANCE WHICH CREATES TRUST.

1. Authorized Financial players are using dozens and dozens of processes required by regulators that originate from DISTRUST. KYC and KYB, Know your Customer and Know your Business, are the bread and butter of Financial markets and they do originate from DISTRUST.
2. Any Verification process for that matter originates from DISTRUST.
3. Counterparty Risk which is one of the many aspects of Risk management that financial institutions have to manage, originates from DISTRUST.
4. Cryptography itself and all its use cases in financial services and beyond, originate from DISTRUST.
5. Solving the DOUBLE SPENDING PROBLEM in electronic payments, also originated from DISTRUST. Thank you very much, Satoshi Nakamoto.
6. The TRUST crisis is well documented, especially following the Global Financial Crisis of 2008 which originated out of one of the Global Powers and the heart of FINANCE itself. The Edelman Trust Index tracks trends in depth in this area. As early as 2005, they reported that Trust shifted from Authorities to Peers (In Yuval`s narrative, Distrust of Authorities increased and FINANCE is all about Central Banking and Authorized Participants). — The Edelman Index shows that DISTRUST has increased in Developed countries.
7. Peer-to-Peer innovations in Payments, Credit, Investing and Capital markets, have been a major part of Fintech innovations. They have been adopted already by incumbents despite the fact that P2P innovations originate also from DISTRUST but they are major enablers of Financial Inclusion both for the unbanked and mostly for the underbanked. If Inclusion doesn’t build Trust, then what does? TRUST is a Directed sentiment. So, we can’t be speaking about FINANCE creating Trust. We can speak about individuals, organizations, and businesses operating in FINANCE and whether they create TRUST.
8. We can fully TRUST Central Banks that they will do what it takes to keep the Authorized Financial participants alive.
9. We can’t TRUST any organization that our currencies won’t be debased and that socializing the costs of Too Big to Fail will never happen again.
10. We can’t TRUST any organization that inflation will be managed.

Yuval also broadcasts a view that Finance Creates Trust and therefore anything originating from DISTRUST, should be condemned by the status quo.

I am saddened by the fact that Yuval Harari felt the need to align his story with the BIS positioning because he was invited to speak. This is the same philosopher who believes (and I totally buy it) that Money is the Best story ever told.

I hope he doesn’t think his new story will be believed.

BITCOIN IS THE CURRENCY OF DISTRUST.

P.s. There are respected Financial Historians that we should listen to and reflect on their thinking. For example, Niall Ferguson and Manny Rincon-Cruz.

Related articles I have written on this topic:

1. The 5 aspects of Money
2. Gold, Bitcoin, and Geopolitics Shaping the Future of Central Bank Reserves

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