Altered States of Monetary Consciousness • 297 implied HN points • 20 Jan 26
- Cash protects privacy, resilience in crises, and everyday budgeting for low-income and informal economies; losing cash hands more power to banks and platforms and makes payments easier to surveil or censor.
- Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) and dollar-backed stablecoins concentrate monetary control and can be used as geopolitical tools, while Bitcoin and other decentralised options offer a different, less controllable model.
- Digital payments are consolidating into a few powerful firms, threatening small-scale peer-to-peer trade and individual autonomy, which is driving interest in preserving or reviving analog money as a form of resistance.