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Venezuela’s New Cryptocurrency: Just Another Form of Control Fraud
Venezuela’s New Cryptocurrency: Just Another Form of Control Fraud
If a currency can’t be converted on demand into the underlying commodity, it’s not “backed by oil,” it’s just another form of control fraud.
The broke and broken country of Venezuela appears to be the first nation-state to issue a cryptocurrency token (the petro) as a means of escaping the financial black hole that’s consuming its economy: Maduro Launches Oil-Backed Crypto “For The Welfare Of Venezuela”.
For context, here is a chart of the black market (i.e. real-world) value of the Venezuela’s fiat currency, the bolivar: a 100,000 bolivar note is worth somewhere around 40 cents USD (US dollar), i.e. near zero. (Venezuela maintains a fantasy-official USD/bolivar exchange rate that has no relation to the actual purchasing-power value of Venezuela’s fiat currency.)
The gee-whiz component of the petro is that it is supposedly “backed by oil.”In other words, unlike other cryptocurrencies/ tokens, the petro has intrinsic value because it’s backed by oil.
But what does backed by oil actually mean?
The only way any currency, fiat or crypto, is “backed” by any real-world commodity is if the currency is convertible into the commodity on demand, that is, the currency can be exchanged for the commodity at a transparent published conversion rate.
If Venezuela’s petro cannot be converted directly into deliverable-upon-demand oil contracts, it’s not backed by anything. It’s important to understand that any currency that claims to be “backed” by gold, oil, rice, bat guano, etc. must be convertible to the underlying commodity at a transparent conversion rate.
If a currency can’t be converted on demand into the underlying commodity, it’s not “backed by oil,” it’s just another form of control fraud, which I define as those holding power in centralized institutions enrich themselves at the expense of the citizenry by modifying what’s legally permissible.
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It’s Not About Democracy: Control Fraud Is the Core of our Political System
It’s Not About Democracy: Control Fraud Is the Core of our Political System
The many are finally calling out the abusers of power because there’s no longer any need to pay the corrupting costs of centralization.
If we strip away the pretense of democracy, what is the core of our political System? Answer: control fraud, which I define as those with control/ power in centralized institutions enriching themselves at the expense of the citizenry by selectively modifying what’s permissible, and doing so in a fully legally compliant process, i.e. within the letter of the law if not the intent of the law.
I addressed control fraud a bit in The Hidden-in-Plain-Sight Mechanism of the Super-Wealthy: Money-Laundering 2.0 (December 29, 2017), in which I quoted Correspondent JD.
Here are JD’s additional comments on Money Laundering 2.0, control fraud and the political process:
Money Laundering 1.0: You make a bunch of dirty money and you have to find a way to make it legit. How can you turn a bunch of drug money into proper investments? This was a problem for bootleggers and persists into current times. With control fraud, you co-opt the legal machinery and use it to steal. The system protects the deceit. In 2008 we bailed the jerks out. The two are often used together.
I think Money Laundering 2.0 is the second part of this equation and the big global trend. With 2.0, the holder of wealth uses the wheels of the world system to offshore gains (legit or not) to safe places where they cannot be taxed or clawed back. The concept is simple, but the mechanisms are by nature complex to conceal the deal. Think Cayman Islands, Paradise Papers, shell companies, etc, etc. etc. Dump money into crazy cars, homes, etc. If physical goods aren’t easy, give to a key foundation or politician and you will be rewarded with complicity at a later date.
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